I want to keep this thing up to date, I swear I do. It's so hard to find the time, I know that's a bad excuse, but I really wanted to write down as much about the training as I can! So, time to play catch up...
Thursday:
As expected, we did the horse shoe in the morning, along with the strip of rounded curbs in front of the school. Traveler decided to get a little scooty during the horse shoe walk in the snow, but other than that he has pretty good. He decided to be a little speedy because the other dogs were in front of us, but we worked that out. :) I started teaching him to watch the ice, so when I say it he will hopefully slow down to keep us from slipping.
After these walks, we headed back to the school, had lunch and so forth. Doug informed us that we would be going to the mall in the afternoon, which sounded promising. During the AM walk, he mentioned that since I was in class not that long ago, that he would let me explore the mall by myself. I never forget a mall. :) And sure enough, he kept to his word, and Traveler and I set out for our very first solo walk! It was a little scary at first, I wasn't sure I was ready to do this, but since Doug had faith in me, and I wanted to challenge myself, we did it. He was a little slow at first, it seemed like he was looking for Doug. Maybe he could tell I was nervous as well so I made it a point to praise him lots and keep myself positive. As it turns out, he listened, and we walked all across the mall! This is amazing, considering I'd only known him for 2 days...we did well too, and found Claire's, bath and body works, and starbucks. The people in the mall were great about giving out directions...I'm sure they get these situations alot being so close to the school.
While I was in line, Doug came in with another classmate, so I waited for them, and went back to the food court to meet up with the rest of the group. I was glad to see them, so I could follow back. Shortly after, I got a chance to get to sears to buy a pair of khaki pants for the posh pictures coming up. I wasn't in to spending much money, so I figured sears would have a sale, which they did. Traveler handled the whole things beautifully. It was very realistic; going through Sears, the fitting room, the checkout...To be honest I was a little bit nervous about heading out on my own so soon, as we're still really just learning each other, but things were a success. Doug even had me lead the others out to the bus while he drove it up to meet us! He's really making this fun and challanging for me.
Thursday night was a lecture on how our dogs are trained and conditioned. This was given by the wonderful Jody, with Mike D. sitting nearby for "dinner and a show." It was okay, though truthfully a bit boring as I've heard it all before, and most of the lecture was filled with new students asking questions. Traveller behaved well of course!
Thursday was quite a day, things are really moving fast!
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