Day 13 - September 27

Today turned out to be a slow day.  We met in the office at 9 am and through the questions being asked we ended up having our going home talk.  This is where we are given tips on flying with our dogs, like to stop food approximately 12 hours before flying and water 6 hours.  Always to get the dog out for a run if it is possible.  This goes for any trip that you might be going on where you can’t control when the dog can relieve itself, like train trips, bus trips or even long car trips.  Courtney clipped the nails of any of the dogs that need it, like Gonzo.  We talked about getting food at home.  In the west we don’t have Purina products, so Bill and I will have to switch our dogs over to a new food with a similar protein content.  She talked to us about keeping our dog on a leash for at least the first day after we get home.  Also, to relieve it before you take it into the house or apartment.  If you have a house, you are to always leave through the same door, usually the back door, for relieving.  Even if you come home and want to relieve the dog in the back yard you need to walk through the house and use the back door.  That way the dog knows that if it needs to go outside, that is the door it goes to.  So if the client can’t find the dog, the first place to look is by the door.  She says it’s amazing how often the dogs stand there staring at their handler, not knowing they can’t see them.  She showed us little booties for the dog called Pawz.  They are pretty cheap and are like little balloons you put over the dogs feet.  She said there are some other products that you can put on the dogs feet that will provide a layer of protection. They are basically vaseline. 

We decided to work on targeting and a few other small items in the morning.  Courtney went over how to teach your dog to target an object and how to reward them.  When we get home I will work with Gonzo to teach him bus stops, garbage cans and cross walk lights to start with.  We haven’t used any treats at school, so I’m going to try to teach these things without treats.  We’ll reassess when the trainers come to visit me in a few weeks if I have had success or if I will need to incorporate treats.  I also worked on the wait command.  This is where I get Gonzo to sit and I tell him to wait.  I drop his leash and walk away, count to 5 and then call him to me.  He did great at this.

In the afternoon we did what might be our last walk.  It wasn’t too complicated but a nice brisk walk.  We had no problems except Gonzo pulled over to have an unscheduled poop.  I also walked a bit with Gloria doing sighted guiding to see how Gonzo would deal with that.  He heeled pretty well so that will be nice for Susan and I to be able to walk together without having a dog dragging me this way and that.

When we got back we just sat out front of the building talking amongst ourselves.  We’ve had another incident today.  Betty had a fall upstairs on the way to her room.  We think she might have a concussion.  Courtney called 911 and Betty was sent to hospital.  Everyone is hoping she is okay.

Tonight I did a more thorough job of brushing Gonzo.  Pet Value, one of the schools biggest sponsors, is one of my sponsors.  They will do a photo shoot with us tomorrow so I wanted to be sure Gonzo looked good for his big break.

Now everyone is starting to feel a bit of anxiety about going home.  We are all worried about screwing up our dogs training no matter how experienced some of us are.

Off to sleep now before a very busy day tomorrow.