When I was in 9th grade I brought home a progress report that had a few “U”s in the behavior category. Somehow I was able to convince my mom that U stood for “Unbelievable” rather than “Unsatisfactory”. Since she’s a teacher I’m not sure how I pulled it off, but for a day or two I got away with it. Of course, eventually she talked to my teachers and the whole scheme fell apart. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

I bring this up because I recently realized that I never posted about any of Lunchbox’s report cards. For a few months he went to Supplemental Obedience and Socialization (SOS) class once a week and brought home a progress report each time. He’s been on summer vacation the last month or so (more accurately, our trainer hasn’t been sending her kids in for tutoring so we haven’t been able to do a trade for SOS class), but here are some of his report card highlights. Let’s just say that if I had brought home reports like this it would have been a lot harder to convince my mom I was doing unbelievable.

5/27: This is from his first day of class. Shae said dropping him off was like dropping off a kid the first day of school. He cried, Shae tried not to, and the teacher threw him in a crate. Well, maybe not exactly like the first day of school but close.

He/she did good on: Most obed.
He/she needs to work on: Calling out of play. Pulling.
Notes: Lunchbox was a bit of a wild man today! He should be tired!

He was tired alright. He came home and slept all afternoon and evening. Of course he woke up around midnight full of energy and ready to play. That was fun.

6/3: A few weeks later. Lunchbox did much better, but as you can tell he still had a few issues.

He/she did good on: Good stay
He/she needs to work more on: Don’t hump!
Notes: He had a great day!

If I ever brought home a report card that contained the phrase “Don’t hump!” I’m pretty sure I would not get to have a great day.

7/1: One of the last sessions he went to. Doing great, but still not what I would call a perfect report card.

He/she did good on: All obed
He/she needs to work more on:
Notes: Lunchbox had a great day! He listened, he came out of play when he was called, he didn’t hump (much). All in all, an excellent dog!

Again, if my report card said “he didn’t hump (much)” it wouldn’t be followed up by anything close to “excellent”.

See mom, it could have been a lot worse than unbelievable.

In other Lunchbox news, we took him to the dog park yesterday. There were quite a few dogs there, but the highlight was a full-grown Great Dane. LB had no idea what to do with that giant thing. He gave Shae and me a look that said, “You guys see that thing, right? It’s freakin’ huge! What the hell am I supposed to do with that thing?” Mr. Box’s day at the park can be pretty well described in one sentence: “Needs to work more on: Not humping.”