Near-Ultimate Stay

   Only a few minutes after entering the Pet Expo with Ginny and Sheryl, they announced the "Ultimate Stay" competition. You put your dog in the ring and tell them to stay, back up, and watch while volunteers tease the dogs by bouncing tennis balls in front of them, dropping food, and just generally being extremely distracting. I thought Aki could do it...

Taylor watches from the sidelines (there's no way he'd ignore pieces of sausage being dropped in front of him!)

I told Aki to "wait."

And Aki waited.

...And thought about calling for a pizza.

Then we were asked to back up again. Only 4 dogs left!

   Aki finally got bored and caved, so she came in 4th. (You could read her face right before she moved: "Is this all there is? C'mon, seriously? SERIOUSLY? Give me a break. I'm outta here." She wasn't a bit interested in the distractions—which is why I knew she would do well. But she couldn't resist boredom. Better luck next year! Thanks to Ginny for taking the photos (and also for holding Taylor)!