German commands for the talking dog

Ahhhh freedom! I went to the Whole Foods Co-op after work. They had moved into a new store last fall--that I'd never been inside. I had missed their grand opening party for members too, because of our convention last fall. The new store is more like a regular grocery store, which is both good and bad. I kind of liked the funky little old co-op, but this new place has everything! Along with the food I bought some Kiss My Face aromatherapy lotion. It was a pretty staggering grocery bill but everything was healthy and organic, and no pre-prepared foods (even the co-op has those.)

After the realization that I'd eaten fast food and pizza both in one day on Wednesday's moving day, I figured I'd better tighten up my eating habits once again. I do eat pretty healthy, hadn't had pizza since--well, I can't remember when. And the fast food is every time we move, which has been three times in three months (us once, Mom twice) plus a couple others in there. So I could be doing much better. I also stepped up the exercise, as watching what I eat alone does not convince my body to drop pounds! And I could lose a few pounds, especially with summer coming up.

Even cutting back on caffeine, had cut back to a cup a day until my Mom moved in with us, doesn't help. Of course I have to work on getting back to only a cup of coffee per day now, as I went back up to 1-3 cups per day. Taking that fun Espresso class didn't help that, bad move! Still, it's better than my adult lifetime habit of drinking several POTS of coffee each day, which I had up until April 2005. I got some more green tea at the co-op too. But too much talking about dieting and eating becomes boring, so on to (I hope!) more interesting things.

I had a brief little half-hour lunch with my ex co-worker and now friend. She called me last minute, so I grabbed my CPA book and diploma to show her. I also told her about the latest sessions and the shooting spree, as we started to call it. She was impressed. So impressed that she was going back to her office to call about joining the Police Ox! It would be nice to have a friend volunteering there too. I do a lot of stuff alone, which is fun but having a friend along is more fun.

There are several CPA things that I haven't written about in depth or at all. One was the K-9 demonstration that they held for us out at the shooting range. Our police have one dog who does it all, finds lost people, attacks on command and sniffs out five kinds of drugs. One of my classmates asked if the dog lets his handler know which drug of the five it is! That would be a NO, of course. The police test the discovered substance and have to keep careful records of the lab work--which we had in the evidence session of our CPA classes. The police dog cannot tell the handler which drug it is. Last night I did dream that my little dog was talking to me!

The police dog was imported from Germany and only understands German commands! The handler would yell something like, "Foomphhh!" and the dog would drop to the ground and stay there. When the dog had a vicious shaking grip on the protective gear of another cop, the handler yelled something like, "Oussst!" But since I don't know German that may not be completely accurate, it just sounded like that.

He was a beautiful dog, German Shepherds have such a beautiful, expressive face. And he was talkative too. While the handler was telling us interesting facts and figures, the dog was talking too! He'd do this up and down noise in his throat like huskies do. But when we were asking questions one kill-joy classmate asked how they got the dog to shut up! "Swear at him in German," the handler said, and demonstrated. The poor dog slunk down at being yelled at. But soon he was "talking" again. I thought it was endearing, I like when dogs do that.

The police dog was very eager to sniff out drugs. He loves to work and gets called out, often along with the dog the county has, from 180-200 times each year. As a demonstration for us, the cops had hidden drugs in the police chief's car! The dog went nuts as soon as he got even close to the car. Then he actively sniffed and pawed out the pre-hidden packets, vials and pouches of drugs.

They had another officer (properly protected with gear) get a head-start run when the handler gave a command to the dog. The dog caught up with the fleeing "suspect" in two bounds, grabbed him and threw him down. The handler had to call him off as the dog really enjoys his work, including the attacking part of it! Another plain-clothed officer came up to the handler and started talking to him, then yelling at him and then (tried to) attack him. The police dog leaped between them to protect his master. It was so cool to watch!

The police dog goes home every night with his handler. The handler has a wife and two children, ages two and four years old! The dog is gentle with children and totally trustworthy. The only bad thing, the handler said, is that the dog will not take commands from his wife, even when she learned a couple of German commands. But he is a well-behaved, gentle housedog when he's not working. I fell so in love with this gorgeous creature!

Well, it's Friday today and barely seems it to me, after having Wednesday off for moving. Have a great day and weekend!