HEAT!

Another student and I left campus at 8:45 to work our dogs individually in town. The instructor took me first and reviewed the Elm Street Loop backwards. With that I set out on a solo without a partner. It wasn’t stellar as I needed some help along the way, but we did well over all. I got mixed up at the first crossing (Dehart and South) because I could not hear the locator tone for the signal button. She had taken me to the Dehart crossing rather than the South crossing. Off we went again and I made the next turn. Later, a citizen took it upon himself or herself to do a great traffic check driving into a parking lot. Thinking it was a corner; I told Trinity to turn right and ended up in a church parking lot. That seems fitting for my Trinity. This was incorrect because there was to be no right turn for several blocks. It is not a perfect route that “wins” the prize; it is the way in which such problems are resolved. Mistakes will happen on both our parts. Well, the heat was rising and my Instructor cut the walk short as a result. The other student did a shorter walk because of the climbing temperature.

We went to a mall this afternoon and worked on stairs, escalators, and an elevator with a glass wall where the dogs can see the floor dropping away. Trinity did well with this. I have had quite a bit of practice with escalators and feel much more comfortable with them than ever before. There is the slight possibility that a dog may get a pad caught as the stairs fold away at the end. This has kept me from wanting to use an escalator, but Trinity seems to be very aware of the approaching edge and takes it upon herself to get moving at the end of the ride.

One student left last Friday and some are leaving tomorrow. Several are going on Thursday, and those who are training with their first dogs have one additional week.

I had my exit interview this afternoon and there was a lecture after dinner on dealing with loose dogs and dog attacks.

The packing starts for me tomorrow. I plan to be home in less than 48 hours now. They tell me that the temperatures are rising at home in time for my arrival. Wonderful!