102 DAYS TO GO TO 'ANNIE'

GREETINGS FROM SOUTH AFRICA!

MAXMOM here...

Hello there everybody.

There are only 102 days left before the curtain raises on
"ANNIE"

It’s turned into a truly hectic time here in our household with all the training I have to do with Toby for his stage debut in the musical production of "ANNIE", in May this year. Almost every spare moment I have is concentrated on something to do with this production. Consequently, I’ve not had much time to visit and leave comments on your blogs lately.  I am really sorry.

The bad news - and my sincere apologies for this -  is that I am sure that my time constraints are going to continue until the end of this big challenge.

Please may I appeal for your understanding about my time difficulties. I will do my best to continue to write about our progress, but this too might not be as regular as usual.

(Toby and "Aunt Tam" share a blade of grass)

Toby’s training for his role as “Sandy” is progressing nicely, even though we haven't met the rest of the cast yet.  I must say however that the training is both intensive and painstaking. Just when I think I’m making excellent progress, young Toby turns himself into a hooligan!!!

 It’s at these times when I simply have to stop, take a breath and allow him to be ‘just a dog’.  I have to remember that I am working with a pup who is only 6 ½ months old.

(Toby chasing his tail)

There might be some wisdom in the old adage:

‘WORK HARD and PLAY HARD’!

Toby however thinks (correctly!) that the “Play hard” part takes priority.

He spends all of his spare time playing with "Aunt Tam" in the garden.

(Can you believe that Tammy is 10 years old?)

("Gotcha, Aunt Tam!")

On Wednesday we met up with the director/producer of Annie and had a long discussion with her.  We chatted about each ’scene’ where Toby will be involved.  I am very happy to report that she is incredibly dog-friendly and empathetic about the intricacies involved with animals on stage.  She understands the things that could go wrong and really does have Toby's best interests at heart.   She tells us that the rest of the cast is really excited about having Toby on their team. They have even offered Toby his own dressing room, LOL!

There are four scenes where he has to take part and we used the meeting to dissect them to the nth degree in order to try and work out each step of Toby’s training.

I am both excited and daunted by this big challenge which lies ahead of me. I have to remember that although I am aiming for Toby's best behaviour, he might actually produce exactly the opposite.  If this happens, I have to still be pleased with the result. Afterall, he is trying his best for me. 

 This is is going to be a growing experience  - not only for Toby, but  for me as well. But I feel really honoured to have this opportunity to work towards such a project.

For this reason, I would like to extend my sincere thanks again to

Shannon McKay

at

McKAYNINE TRAINING CENTRE

as well as Toby's formal obedience trainer,

Belinda Thomas,

for their patience, encouragement and help with this awesome project!

---xXx---

Yesterday morning we were invited to visit a Grade 2 class at our local primary school. The children loved having Toby in their classroom and I did my best to make our visit interesting for them too.

(Toby at the school - old picture)

They got to interact with Toby and to help him get accustomed to all the sounds which young children produce.

(The children had great fun clapping 'loudly' for him )  

I also told them a little about the Golden Retriever Breed and caring for animals in general. We listened to their little stories (Children LOVE telling you about their own animals!) and then Toby did a few tricks for them.

We got the children to stand in line to greet Toby and shake his paw. Then I asked Toby to ‘play dead’ so that two of the children (who we'd identified as being nervous of dogs) could come and stroke/brush him. I then got Toby to ‘talk’ (bark) to the children and I demonstrated his new move....his ‘stage bow’. 

 I must say that I am delighted and still can’t believe that I have actually managed to teach him how to ‘bow’! (For the final curtain call) In my ten years of training Maxdog, I was never able to achieve this, yet Toby got it first time! Although it’s still a very new command, he understands what’s required and enjoys trying to do it.

Finally Toby gave them a little card which I’d make . One of the grade 2 students got to read it out aloud to the class.

Despite all the fun with this visit, it wasn’t one of Toby’s best days. He was keen to sniff at the kids' shoes in the front row and broke his ‘Down Stay’ a number of times - much to the delight of the children. He also tried to fish in the classroom dustbin (from the end of his lead). I am learning how tricky it can be to keep an eye on a dog in these settings when his attention is not quite on me.

Once again, I must mention that it is virtually impossible to get pictures of Toby at the school at the moment. I have my hands absolutely full at these times, so please forgive me.

So...we have 102 days to go...and counting!

"Get some sleep while you can, Toby!"

Sending lotsaluv to you all and wishing you all a happy, fun-filled weekend with your animals.