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| Pleasanton Class |
2012 has almost past and when I tried to remember what happened this last year all I could remember was the Presidential Election and the looming Fiscal Cliff. I had to do some goggle searches to help jog my memory. The Presidential election seemed to take up every minute of the news cycle and drowned out everything else. However, some memorable things did happen this year other than politics.
We started 2012 with the Cruise ship, Costa Concordia running aground at Isola de Giglio, Italy. Following in February Eli Manning lead the New York Giants to a 21-17 victory over the New England Patriots. In the same month Queen Elizabeth II marked her 60th anniversary as Britain's Monarch. Also, in February the largest prehistoric penguin, Kairuku Grebneffi, nearly 5 feet tall, was discovered. Bet you didn't remember that one!
In March Vladimir Putin won (cheated) the Russian presidential election. Rick Santorum suspended his run for the GOP Presidential nomination in April at the same time the United Kingdom dipped back into recession. I'll bet you don't remember this one; Edvard Munch's famous painting "The Scream" sold at auction for $119,992,500.
Then in May Paeleoclimatological research revealed that dinosaur flatulence may have warmed the earth! In the same month President Obama officially states support for same sex marriage. May was a big month because scientist also discovered the missing Mayan calendar piece that disproved that Dec. 22, 2012 would be the end of the world. To end the month of May Facebook went public.
In June San Francisco Giant's Matt Cain pitched the first perfect game in the franchise's history. Also, in June Mohamed Morsi was sworn in as Egypt's President.
The summer Olympics in London began in July and in August the first amputee, South African Oscar Pistorious, competed in the Olympics. Later in August Mitt Romney was officially nominated as the GOP's Presidential candidate. Ending August Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven Toure de France titles.
On September 11th the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was stormed, looted and burned down, killing five, including the US ambassador.
Best of all events, the San Francisco Giants defeated the Detroit Tigers in a four game sweep to win the 2012 MLB World Series in October.
November finally came and Barack Obama won the Presidential Election.
Yeah no more politics! Well except for THE FISCAL CLIFF!
A couple of final notes for 2012; Twinkies went bankrupt, Linsanity faded, and the Voyager 1 spacecraft, launched in 1977, reached the end of our solar system and entered into interstellar space. I somehow think that all three of these events were cosmically related.
On the home front Annie our 15 1/2
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| Audrey helping Barney |
year old Cocker Mix is still hanging in there. Suzy still takes her for her short walks around the block where she likes to sniff everything.
Audrey our 5 year old Beagle has now been with us for over a year and 4 months. I take her to my classes and she helps me with dogs that are dog aggressive and leash reactive. I have also started doing Nosework with her and in November she passed her NACSW Odor recognition tests and will be competing for titles in 2013. We also did Circus Class I and II this last year and will be enrolling in more classes in 2013.
Business has be slow throughout 2012 but steady. In 2013 watch for some new classes such as Canine Good Citizen, Tricks, Off Leash and Nosework.
I hope you all have a joyous Holiday Season and a very Happy New Year!
Cheers,
Steve Bettcher, IACP Certified Dog Trainer
The Dog Squad
