Fritz has a pretty good handle on the English language. (He has a better handle on Spanish, but I can't test him since my vast Spanish knowledge includes about 2 sentences.) We've figured out that he knows about 25 phrases and probably closer to 40 individual words (granted the 40 words are in the 25 phrases) He regularly chooses whether or not he will act on the phrases he knows, but he knows them none the less.



For Fritz there are several buzz words that we have to be careful of. Not the kind of careful that requires me to spell...I get lost after letter 3. I never was good at spelling on the spot. Come to think of it, I think I've been in 1 spelling bee in my entire life. I was probably designated as the spelling bee water girl after that. I'm getting distracted.



You see, these buzz words are action words for him. They are associated with his favorite things... go, walk, treat. For example, if we happen to mention the word "walk", or especially the phrase "go for a walk," within floppy earshot he will whine and sneeze at us until we either banish him to the backyard or take him for a walk. I have to admit we take some pleasure in teasing him sometimes with nonsense phrases using the word "go." Of course, there's also a certain tone of voice that goes with it, "Do you wanna go to the store? Wanna go to the Olympics? Wanna go to the moon? " He doesn't get quite as worked up as he does with the walk idea, but he stares at you with his ears perked up trying to figure out if you're talking about walking or treating.



Lately, his obsession with walks has soared to new heights. He has figured out that J puts on his running shoes when it's time for a walk. As soon as J sits down to put his socks on, Fritz pays attention. If the running shoes come next, you'd think Fritz suddenly developed allergies. (I'm not sure how he associated sneezing with excitement/getting attention, but I think I prefer it over barking as long as he's at least 4 feet away.) With our recent gym membership, though, Fritz has had regular shoe time disappointments. Poor guy.



Tonight, we were watching the Olympics and J decided he would take Fritz on a walk. He made the mistake of putting on his shoes before he was ready to leave. Oh. Man. You would not believe the whining. You'd think he hadn't seen the outside world in years! We got him to calm down so we could watch Allison Felix in the women's 200m, but anytime either of us would move more than 2 inches he would jump to his feet and look at us like, "Now?" Then he'd let out a huge sigh and lay back down. When it was finally time to go, he nearly jumped out of his skin. But then he just sat pretty by the door while J got the leash. I guess we'll keep him around a little longer...