Who's a Good Girl?

 In 2003, there was a hurricane named Isabel that was supposed to come through Arlington. When it became clear that Isabel was really going to be more of a rainstorm than a hurricane, we decided to travel to Pennsylvania and get a puppy. FINALLY! We knew she was cream colored and on the way to get her we were testing out names. I was sure I wanted her to have the name of a flower. We were almost settled on Daisy, but then we met her and it just didn't fit. It came to us as we were driving away; her name would be Isabel. 

I picked her up and stared into her eyes, "Isabel, a strong puppy named after the hurricane that got us off school so we could travel to get you." I declared; she promptly threw up.

After such a grotesquely endearing beginning, you can imagine; puppy training was not as joyful as I thought it would be. She snatched the socks right off our nephew's feet when they were sitting on the couch. She was atrocious on the leash and really thought all tissue on the sidewalk was a delicacy left for her and her alone. Isabel routinely waited until we got back inside from a potty break to actually go to the bathroom. She would run behind a chair in our living room and squat.

"That's it!" I yelled. "I'm hanging a sign around her neck 'Free puppy to a good home.' I am NOT attached!" I shouted, standing hipshot with my hands on my hips and a mutinous expression.

"Umm... I am." Tracey noted.

Of course, those were just puppy pains. Isabel turned out to be an amazing dog. As my first dog, I couldn't wait to get home form school everyday to teach her tricks. (I was an assistant at this time and could come home right after the bell rang.) She got much better on the leash; she knew all the standards: sit, down, stay, roll over - both ways, give her paw. 

But she also learned to limp when I used my fingers to point a "gun" at her and say, "Bang!" once. When I said "Bang Bang!" she would drop down and crawl toward me. If I said "Bang Bang Bang!" she would roll over and "die". 

We have a two story house. I often forgot things on the bottom floor of the house and would yell down to ask Tracey to throw something up top me. I got the idea that Isabel should be able to carry things up to me when I needed something. That was when I taught her the "Take it to Heidi" trick. As a golden doodle, she has a very soft mouth and could even carry fragile items like my vial of insulin, a baggie of corn chips, or my eye glasses.

My favorite trick that I taught Isabel though was "Oh no!". I would say this and point to whatever I "dropped" on the floor and Isabel would run over and pick it up for me. Then, and this is the kicker, she would wait for me to ask her to "give it to me" before dropping it.

"I'll never have to bend down ever again!" I crowed to Tracey after she got it down pat.