Superstar Ace and His Stage Mom

I have often wondered what goes into the making of a child star. I hear people say that their children "want" to do it. That they are merely supporting their child's dreams. I admit that at times I'm skeptical. This may be because my children tended to have dreams like I dream of floating on my Mutant Ninja Turtle sled, rather than simply using it in snow, therefore I will flood my basement with three feet of water so I can float atop this item just like I've seen people in tropical climates do in the ocean.

Good times. Good times.

Give me a moment while I find my happy place again.....oh yeah....back to my current story-so I have wondered what makes a child want to be a star? Because while my children were creative, they never once expressed desire to be a *star*. They mostly just focused on being children.

So for these little ones that the parents say this is what they want to do, is this something unique to child stars and why? It is just put in them by their maker? Or do the parents have something to do with this? And I'm not talking about the psycho parents who are clearly trying to live through their children when I ponder this. In those situations, it is quite apparent to me that the child has no choice in the matter. I'm more talking the kind of kids that do indeed light up while performing and treat it as children treat play. Where you can tell they do enjoy it. Did the parents plant that seed or does the child truly just know that this will bring them joy and beg the parents to help?Fast forward to Auburn and Ace. Auburn and Ace have given me some interesting insight into this. I know, hardly scientific given he is a dog but it has similar parallels to child star and stage moms to be sure. Ace has always seemed to perform tricks well from the time he became one of the family. It's hard to say whether he enjoys it because it's hard to tell what Ace likes given his mellow personality. But he really does seem to like showing off his tricks for others.

I can't say if he'd have had this desire on his own by any means because I've never come across a dog that tried to shake on his own. But I do think he would be the type of dog to be looking for attention by being as close as possible to humans all day long if he could choose. I'll never know for sure because Auburn has proven to be the ultimate stage mom with Ace and just dove into the training from day one. She hovers, she pushes, prods, praises, kisses and hugs him with fierce devotion. He doesn't seem to mind at the very least and he adores her at the very most so it seems to be a great combo for the two of them.

I'm pretty sure there are dogs that would be neurotic with the kind of attention and drilling she does with Ace. And I'm pretty sure if he couldn't handle it, she would back off. Because they seem to mesh well with this style of training, he now knows around 30 tricks.

I thought we'd show him off some. Ace standing up tall:

Getting his tail:

Giving her high five:

Playing dead or at least wounded:

And the beginnings of him walking on his hind legs (he can back up doing this):
It's so cool to watch. She hopes to be an animal trainer some day, working with dolphins if she can. I think this is a great way to get some practice in now.


I also have to share that I am so excited that we finally have a grill. Half a year on the road and we just now have purchased this invaluable item, and it's not the one we will eventually buy, but it's a beautiful thing to me because I hate to cook. Any night that we can "grill" means an easy night for me.
We're just living the life here in Florida!