School is starting and the Mayor is booking gigs!
August 12th, 2009 - 8:08 pm KY Time
Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Lily book Lovers! So far this week the Mayor has booked 3 gigs for the upcoming school year! Chaps and I read to school kids and teach dog safety. Who can be better than him at that?
Chaps and I always do a dog safety lesson for the kids. That is how we start out out visit. We explain how to act around a dog. After the lesson the kids practice on the Mayor…..
The Mayor makes the rounds!
The Mayor wonders if this kid had a PB and J? Yummy!
We have so much fun. After the dog safety lesson I read the Lily book!
More about Chaps booking gigs later……..Love, Cat, Chaps and Emma
Comments(13)
That is so very cool. I’ve seen you blog about this before but never get tired of hearing about the mayor’s “gigs”. So how did you learn how to teach children how to act around dogs?
I love seeing the pictures from the Mayor’s school visits!
Hey Cindy! I teach kids with my own technique. It starts with asking your parent if you can ask to pet the dog. That is a bit dicey! If the child asks to pet the dog you, as a dog owner decide of that child can pet the dog. If you say OK, like me, I instruct the kid to put the back of the hand to the dog’s nose. Then I take that moment to instruct the kid to do the same with any dog they approach. Petting a dog is a risky situation and all kids want to do that so I try to teach them that you cannot do it without asking!
CAT
Great technique! I wouldn’t trust Jethro or Harriet with kids. Jethro would probably be ok if he were just getting pets and loved but he does not have patience and gets mad pretty easily. And you can’t put your face in his face unless he knows you. Oz and Rugs wouldn’t hurt a fly. Except I thought Ozzie was going to kill Jethro tonight. But Jethro deserved it. It was all over one single grain of rice on the floor. You’d think these dogs were starving and they’re getting too fat! Jethro always starts it but Ozzie has figured out that he can whoop his butt. One of these days Jethro is going to learn not to mess with Ozzie.
I didn’t now that you and the Mayor do this! How cool! I have thought often that Nell would make an excellent therapy dog or a reading dog (dogs that go to schools and spend time with kids struggling with reading. They are having good success in improving the kids reading ability just by having them read to the dogs).
Sophie would get too excited and pee all over every time a child patted her on the head. My husband picked Sophie out when she was a puppy because she looked like a little Princess. I now refer to her as “Princess Pees-a-lot”.
I am sure that you and the Mayor are the best with the kids. Gee, I wish we could book you guys to pay a visit to “Hannah-Bear Elementary School”!
I think this is wonderful, the Mayor has such a social conscience. I myself would like to come to one of the Mayor’s “gigs”.
Slinky is very social, when I take her out she is always very gentle and curious. Slinky thinks everyone out there must want to dote on her, and even better give her a treat.
By the way Cindy, a Basset is NEVER “too fat”! They are solid, have presence and are well-rounded!
I agree Maureen! But my vet doesn’t. Shux! I like to say that Ozzie is just “thick”. He looks much better this way than he looked when I got him all skinny. I do have them all on a diet but I recently got the wrong kind of food so it must be higher in calorie. I just have to adjust until I can get back on the other food.
Cindy, Bassets and diets don’t go together. Tell your vet (since he doesn’t seem to know) that diets cause depression in Bassets. Bassets can become neurotic, paranoid, and fall in with the wrong crowd, etc.
Please email me your address, Slinky would like to send a letter to Jethro, Rugby, Ozzie & Harriet.
Email: maureen_halleran@nylim.com
Ya know Maureen, Jethro tells me that every day with his attitude and actions. Maybe he needs doggie prozac!
Cat,
As a retired teacher, I so appreciate what you are doing in the schools. Since the advent of “THE TEST”(does not matter what state you are in) we no longer have the luxury of including these types of life lessons in our day to day instruction so when the opportunity does arise, it is great to have someone as fab and dedicated as you willing to do it! Thanks for making a difference. Would loooooove to see you in action and, of course, kiss the Mayor’s sweet nose! PS-in a weak and less lucid moment I was coaxed back in to the fray as a long term sub last year so I am still in the trenches!
Hey Paula – what is the “THE TEST”? It sounds scary. Chaps says he is not taking a test! LOL!
We love it! You should see Chaps hop down the halls of a school. It is like he has on bouncing shoes. OMG he just beams.
Cat
Hey Paula – also, thanks for your teaching service. We love teachers. Chaps also does libraries and Emma is trying to get into the School for the deaf and blind in Cincinnati. She is a bit too wild at the moment but her day will come.
Cat
Cat,
“THE TEST” is whatever standardized test the state requires; in my case it is the OGT. I was HS Social Studies so that is what drove my daily instruction. In KY it is still the CATS test that gives many of my friends a huge headache! Since I(and you too dear lady) am so blessed to still have both of my parents and they still live in my old hometown in KY, I get down there as often as I can and many old friends teach so I hear hear about it.
Paula