Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Rex had some new training experiences the past week or so along with some familiar ones. I'm very pleased with the progress he's making at just over 9 months old.

We met up with friends to train at Home Depot on a Saturday. It was mobbed! As we were standing in front of the store someone walked by with their barking dachshunds. Rex worked hard and held his sit-stay at first, but eventually the ruckus was too much for him to ignore. He stood up wanting to go check the other dogs out. I turned him away from them and had him sit and refocus on me.

Training at Home Depot with Michelle & Beep and Veronica & Hestia

Once inside the weekend crowd was a bit much for him. After going back outside to focus we went in again and worked on heeling, sits, stays and downs (and of course attention) through the aisles.

Working on staying nicely. Rex really wanted to go see Hestia!

Home Depot is one of our regular training places, but the huge Saturday crowd made this visit more challenging than usual.

I picked a quiet day this past week to visit the Museum of York County so I could introduce Rex to the taxidermy there. Often we don't consider how a dog might react to things like that. For a future service dog it's important to make sure your dog is comfortable with all sorts of things. Rex was a little concerned when we passed the first big cat at the museum, but with encouragement and treats he gradually became more and more comfortable with the different displays. We also listened to some owl calls at the owl display. Since we were alone and I was focused on Rex we didn't get any photos. Maybe next time.

Another new experience this week was popping into Office Max after doing some training at Petsmart. I wanted to just walk Rex past some stores there in the shopping center with the traffic and people going by, and he was doing great heeling along with me on the sidewalk. I was super thirsty. Since he was doing so well I decided we'd go into the Office Max so I could grab a bottle of water. Rex did a nice job heeling with me and sitting/downing when asked.

The other new thing we did this week was voting in the presidential primary. Our polling place wasn't too crowded, and we were able to move through without any waiting. This was not only a new place, but different in setup and different from what we usually do. Rex needed a few reminders to focus on me and heel, but he behaved nicely.

Other places we visited and trained were Lowes hardware, Tractor Supply, Riverwalk and we met up with Veronica and Hestia again to train at Cherry Park.

Aside from the people and other dogs to work around both, Riverwalk and Cherry Park have grates to train on. The first time Rex encountered a grate he did not want to set foot on it, but now he's happy to step on one when I ask.

Also at Cherry Park we encountered another small dogs barking challenge. This time Rex held his sit-stay with no problem!

Catching Up

It's been awhile since I posted anything here. So what's been going on?

I said goodbye to my beloved miniature poodle Juliet on November 13th. She was 15 years old. Juliet was an amazing dog. She loved to train and to work with me. For years she was my partner in everyday life, going everywhere with me, as well as in the obedience and rally ring. I will always treasure the memories I have of her, especially the way she could make me laugh.

I especially love this photo from our Rally Team win. We are second from the right, looking at each other, of course.

Poodles in Black and Brown Rally Team at the GCOC trial.

Rex will be 9 months old in a few days. He is growing into a very handsome boy. He is beginning to mature and settle down a little more, though he's still got plenty of silly puppy in him!

We have been getting out and about in the world to train. We began with the usual pet friendly places like Tractor Supply, Petsmart, Animal Supply House and local parks where he could see and take in different people, sights, sounds and smells as well as work on his leash manners and basic obedience.

Next we added Lowes and Home Depot. These hardware stores used to be pet friendly, but they changed their policy to no pets (although some individual stores may still allow), so Rex began wearing his vest with the Service Dog in Training patches. We usually work on focus, sit, down, wait, and heel.

Working with Rex to be comfortable walking on a grate

As Rex progressed and did well we began to visit other places to train such as our church office, our small downtown shopping district (outside only), Gander Mountain, the Post Office, and the outdoor patio at Starbucks.

We train at the Charlotte Dog Training Club building one night a week after I finish with the Rally Novice class I'm assisting with this session. This is a great place to let Rex get more exposure to other dogs in a safe setting as well as learn to keep his focus around other dogs. He has learned to love his soft crate and wait quietly in it until I'm done with class. After I work with him inside we go out to watch the teams training on the agility field. He's doing terrific watching calmly and being able to re-focus on me.  We also spent some time at the recent CDTC Rally Show-N-Go which was little bit different atmosphere than class nights.

Me and Rex at the Starbucks for the first time

Other places we have been/trained include in front of the entrance of Office Max at a busy shopping center, the pharmacy, and my doctor's office (a brief stop in to pick up a prescription).

We have been meeting up once a week with another local SDiT team to train and sometimes take a walk in different places around the area. This has been wonderful for both training and motivation.

One of our early training outings with SDiT team Veronica and Hestia

That's about it for now. I'll try to do better at updating regularly in the future.