Saturday, February 4, 2012

Training, day 5

How is it already day 5 of training? I can't believe that I'm half way through class at this poingt, or that things are going as well as they are! Today was a short day, vecause it was Saturday. We went into Portland in the morning and did escalator work. Lenore did great with this, and handled the escalators like a pro, which is great, as she'll be doing thema lot when we get home! When we got back to campus, we were given the opportunity to let our dogs run free in a fenced area. Lenore loved this, though I've learned not to interact with her to much when she's playing outside, as this causes her to jump and get very excited! She ran around for a few minutes, and also spent some time sniffing and being a dog. It was great to see. When we got back inside we had a meeting where my instructor asked me how things are going with the new dog, how I liked her, and whether I had any questions. I said that I absolutely love my girl, and we talked about some things I need to do a little differently with my new dog. One of them is that I need to let her guide me and go when I say forward rather than me using the harness to direct her. This is a habit I'm eager to work on braking next week, because I want my dog to work as effectively as possible. I also want to make sure that she's able to run free somehow a couple times a week. That's one of the drawbacks of living in the city, no real great place to take her to run. GDB doesn't recommend dog parks,when I asked why, they explained that it's because you don't know the dogs there, and whether they are friendly, have had their shots, etc. This makes sense to me, but I do think that walking with Mom and Yahzee girl in Rock Creek eventually would be good, because we know the vast majority of the dogs we meet there, and that they are a good friendly bunch! I also think that I should be able to walk my dog on leash after we've bonded at home, and I feel like she's doing her routes well. Not sure what the official line is on this one, though I think that with a cane it's OK as long as I'm not asking her to work. This would at least give her an opprtunity to get some sniffing time in every evening and let me be the one who gives her fun and play as well as work. She seems to walk very well on leash from what I've observed and I just really feel like she needs to have some outside time where she's not expected to work. Do any other guide dog people out there have thoughts on this one? How do you give your dogs outside play time when living in the city? Anyways, back to my day. When I was done with my meeting, I did laundry and had dinner. After that I chattted with my classmates for a while in our living room area. I got down on the floor with my dog and she promptly did a summersalt into my lap! It was the cutest thing ever! I just love her! Now, I'm going to bed. Tomorrow is a day off, so I'll take it easy, maybe go out to lunch, but not quite sure what my plan is yet. I'll write and let you all know how it goes! Thanks for reading tonight's installment!

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