A New Trick

I’m an exuberant student.  I love learning and doing tricks.  What can I say?  I’m a bit of a ham.  Sometimes, however, my exuberance gets the better of me.  You see, whenever someone has a treat in their hand, I immediately go into overdrive.  Rather than simply doing the trick I’m asked to do, I feverishly go through my entire arsenal drooling wildly with anticipation of getting the tasty treat I've been promised.

Well, when Sister came home this afternoon at lunch time she told me that it was high time that I learned a new trick.  Sister has taught me most of my tricks including how to shake hands, do figure eights between her legs, jump through a hoola-hoop (at least when I’m not trying to grab it and carry it away), wave, and drop to the ground when someone yells “Bang!” to name just a few.  Today’s lesson was how to bow with my chest on the floor and my back end sticking up in the air.

How did my lesson go?  Well, after a half hour of practice I…

• ...rolled over twice (wasn’t asked to).
• ...spun around one time (wasn’t asked to).
• ..nearly knocked Sister over three times with impromptu figure eights (the human knee apparently cannot withstand a good solid head-butt).
• ...left large scratch marks up and down Sister’s arms from my enthusiastic attempts at pawing the treats out of her hands (Sister says I need to file down my claws a bit).
• ...slobbered and frothed all over Sister’s hands.
• ...mistook Sister’s fingers for chicken flavored treats two times (Sister only yelped once).
• ...punched Sister in the face and left a scratch mark on her cheek.

So, in other words, my lesson was a great success!