TURNING OUR THOUGHTS TOWARD HOME

I went right after breakfast with one other student and our trainer today. We visited a grocery store working on clearances. The trainer reserved the middle of the day to take the other two students into New Your City. Once they were back, we went out again and worked our way through an office building with narrow halls and many tight corners. On the way back to the van we stopped at Starbucks again and Puffin remembered the clicker training from before and took me right to the counter. She did fail to stop at one down curb and she did suddenly stop for a #1 along our way. I will need to be scheduling extra park times before trips to minimize and avoid these once we are home. I relate these stories to let you know that we are still a work in progress.

We had another evening lecture. This time it was on going home with a new dog. We must remember that our dogs will be leaving everything familiar and finding themselves in a strange new world. This means that others can help us by not throwing a party with lots of excitement. We will need to introduce our dogs to their new homes and other occupants in a prescribed way so as to allow the best possible acceptance by other pets.

As with Trinity, it will be very helpful for those we meet to refrain from making eye contact with Puffin. Try to avoid any interaction with her initially. We will begin with shorter routs that I know well and gradually build up to the longer walks that Trinity was able to do. Please try not to make comparisons among Sydney, Trinity and Puffin. Each dog is as different as any three people. Some work errors will be expected as Puffin learns her new job. I like to make the comparison that she is now “green broke” as in horses. She knows the basics, but can be easily overwhelmed at first. She certainly does not know my favorite stopping places. Having said that, she is a quick learner and I think she will be catching on quickly. Remember that it takes six months to a year to become a smoothly working team. We cannot rush that process.