Dog Days in School Years

I was telling you (whoever you are) yesterday about my journal book, the one given me by my student. There's a dog pictured on the front cover - and the same dog on the back cover! This dog looks a bit like a beagle, but more scholarly.  He's settled himself into a chair and has both front paws on the desk before him. His head is clad with one of those graduation caps (a mortarboard, I think it's called), and on the desk is his diploma. But what would a dog study? Ah. Obedience. At obedience school. Of course.