Training, Day 7

Today was a pretty good day for Jim and me. He is at the point in class where he is testing me to see what I will let him get away with. This happens when a dog ralizes that it is no longer with it's instructors, and that it now has a new handler who might cut it some slack and let it get away with things like sniffing or running curbs. Jim certainly tried to sniff a lot this morning when we were on our way to a coffee shop downtown, but he quickly got the messae that I wasn't going to let him get away with being sniffy or distracted by things like dogs. Every time he stopped to sniff a bush I put him in a sit, corrected, and we went on our way. At one point, I had to put Jim on a gentle leader, a sort of contraption which goes over the dog's nose, so that they can't sniff, this fixed Jim's sniffing issues, mostly, ad we got through the rest of the route pretty well. My instructor said that I should consider this a posative route, because even though Jim was distracted, I was able to get him back under control and stop him from sniffing.
This afternoon, we walked over to a mall accross the street from campus, and practiced work on stairs, escalators, and elivators. This was a much beetter route, and Jim didn't sniff at all. I really think that he got the message this morning. He did well dealing with the escalators and I was proud of him. I was also very glad that ie didn't seem to mind the escalators, because he'll be dealing with them on a daily basis when we get home and I go to work on the subway.
When I got back to campus, I relaxed for a while, and had a very enjoyable dinner out with a friend. We went to an Applebees near campus, and it was just great to get out into the real world, have a drink and some dinner, and spend time with my friend. We were able to take a tun of pictures, so when we figure out which ones came out well, I can try to post them here, or send them to those who would like them via email.
Tomorrow, we go into San Francisco. I am very excited to see Jim work in the city. I'm also looking forward to a quick trip to the Apple Store on Chestnut Street, just to give Jim a quick glimps of the conditions he'll deal with every day when he gets home. I can't spend much time, because the instructors need to work with everyone, but it will just be great to walk inside and work him a little through the displays, people, etc. I'm sure he'll do great! I'll probably take the iPad along, because we'll have to spend a lot of time in a coffee shop, and it will be nice to have it with me.
Well, I think that's about all of note for today. I'm having an early night because I want to be ready for San Francisco tomorrow morning! Goodnight, everyone!