And the Beat Goes On

Rex and I are continuing to train regularly. I have been taking him to Walmart when I am up to it. Our last visit I needed to buy a couple of things which I couldn't carry in my arms, so we took a cart. This was only his second time with a cart, and I was really pleased with how nicely he walked alongside me. The first item was another freezer pack in the sporting goods sections, then we headed across the store to get a large jar of coconut oil in the grocery side of the store.

We are still working in our regular training places including the training building, hardware stores, Tractor Supply, Petsmart, local parks, etc., but we added a few new places since the last update.

Rex had his first visits to Harbor Freight Tools and Walgreens. He did a really nice job in both stores. He is walking nicely with me as we approach and enter stores. This took a good deal of work, and of course we'll continue working on it.

He has also been riding in the van in his Sleepypod Clickit Sport safety harness rather than in a crate. Depending on who is with me and what I'm carrying, he has ridden in different seats and done fine with it. He seems to be more relaxed as we arrive at whatever our destination is now that he can see the travel route and approach.

I was very happily surprised that on the occasion we needed to drive my little Honda CRX Rex needed no coaxing to hop into his seat and was very relaxed for the whole trip. The Honda is so different from the van, much smaller, very low to the ground, a manual transmission, and a somewhat loud exhaust.

We also spent some extra time at the training building this week.

On Wednesday we attended our training club's pot luck dinner and meeting. Rex got to ride in the van in his harness with Veronica and her SDiT Hestia with us. I wasn't sure if he'd settle for the trip or not, so I had his crate in the back in case, but we didn't need it. He was wonderful!

At the pot luck he layed at my feet right net to Veronica and Hestia and behaved himself even with people eating plates of food all around him and next to him. I wasn't eating, so I was able to stay focused on him. Toward the end of the meeting he started getting a little antsy, but he really did well for such a long down time.

On Thursday morning we went to help setup for our club's agilty trial. Rex hung out in his crate in the van with the tailgate up while I helped move jumps and equipment. I took him out for a break for a bit, then put him back in his crate to work a little more. When I ran out of steam I brought him out again, and we just hung out for awhile until the sun gave me a migraine, and I had to head home to medicate and rest.

On Saturday we returned to the training building to spectate and visit friends at the trial. This was terrific for the ongoing training to get him used to working with other dogs around. He also got to be petting by a couple of training savvy friends who made sure he was sitting nicely and behaving to get his pets.

Last, but not least, he had his first two visits to the public restroom at the training building where he was asked to sit and wait with me in the stall. He did a pretty good job, although he was somewhat curious. He doesn't have access to our bathrooms at home, so he was intrigued with the movement of the toilet paper on the roll. He wasn't entirely sure about the loud flush as we exited, glancing back at it as we exited, but he didn't seem overly concerned.

Until the next update...