Monday, October 31, 2011

Training days 2 - 6...time flies


Day 2 is over time to take Viva home and introduce her to the Harley and our neighbors....

Training Day 3 -- Another intense day of training Viva or should I say Viva's parents. We started out our AM session with a bit of tracking work. Maddie ran off with another trainer and Viva searched her out in about 5 minutes. Maddie was hiding behind a shed and Viva was so excited to "find" her. I started to tear up realizing that my greatest "fear" of losing Maddie has been lessened by the mere presence of Viva. Then we worked on basic obedience and then ended class with Viva teaching us how to “lap” (putting her paw or muzzle on Maddie) and “over” which is laying on Maddie for deep pressure input. Our evening ended with a fast pace 1 mile heel walk and then books in bed with Madison; where Viva stayed for 10minutes before jumping down. Our goal is for her to sleep all night in her bed. A wonderful day had by all. Now to attend to Maddie girl who has a cold. Thank you to all those who have left wonder posts of support.

Day 4 - tracking and outing to the mall. Viva did fantastic in finding M in the woods and was a trooper while we walked around the mall for 3+ hrs and no loot in hand! She even tolerated an extremely rude/uneducated woman (Mommy not so much)....and to top it off she laid on M while I gave meds and cleaned her nose..no screaming and she just spent an hour in her bed. Yippee a great day

Day 5 - Saturday morning started with Viva tracking Madison and Mommy. The first track was rough because Viva is still trying to memorize her Madison’s scent but she found us. Then onto basic obedience and lots of loving from Maddie. It is amazing to watch the bond form! We took Viva to Subway for lunch where she wasn’t even noticed while we ate our subs…and Madison was easily directed to sit back down “next to Viva” normally we would have to chase her around the restaurant a few times. Then back to the center where we learned about the feed/grooming of our service dog. Back home tonight and we tried our own tracking trek in the neighborhood tonight…and Viva did well until she meet a neighbor’s dog but she did find Maddie on a swing set and was super excited. Then at bedtime with protest from Maddie to brush her teeth I decided Viva needed her teeth brushed so we did that first and Maddie was then happy to comply! As I write this post Viva just came down the stairs after two hours of laying in bed with our little girl who is coughing up a lung!

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