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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
