why I do not regret failing as a foster mom
This past week has been an awesome week for Allie dog. Thursday she went to school with me for De-stress with Dogs day at the college. We did not actually enter the de-stress area, as I was being an overly protective or proactive dog-mom, depending on your point of view. I did not like the insecurity of the fencing material (some sort of blue mesh) or the fact that there are over half a dozen dogs, most of whom had never met before, only 2 human workers, and 3 toys. So instead, Allie and I had our picture taken for the Only Love campaign. Rachel tells me the picture is adorable but that Allie looks huge. Allie is also wearing a lilac feather boa in that photo, which I hope to see (and post) soon.
In my lab class, Allie got to see a newly hatched chick - from a distance, of course. She also noticed the dragon girls for the first time and found them utterly fascinating. Likewise, the cart in my lab was very interesting, particularly since it moves. Allie was unfazed by its movement, so she went for a ride on the cart. We also worked copiously on sit-stays in the classroom, and Allie did awesome.
At day's end, she was completely exhausted, despite the lack of physical exercise.
Saturday all 3 dogs went hiking with the biology club. Allie provided the entertainment, plowing into deep water and splashing every one (it was around 80 degrees so no one minded this), trying to catch floating leaves, trying to fetch logs floating in the pond (literally, logs, not sticks - 4 feet long and six inches in diameter). She also walked on every downed tree, like it was a balance beam. And acted like a mountain goat on the graveyard of mill stones. She demonstrated talent by walking on a 2x4 to the millstone in the center of the quarry pond and then jumping up to that stone. She demonstrated her unflappability by swimming calmly when her attempt to jump back down to that 2x4 did not quite work. Her persistence was clear to all when she refused to give up searching for the cow tail we took away from her, but she did impress my students by willingly ignoring the rest of the dead cow.
So Satruday was yet another day that I managed to exhaust the little dog.
Yesterday I did not exhaust her but she did impress me by demonstrating that she has an understanding of the term "bottom," which I use to indicate that she needs to stop at the bottom of the dog walk or A-frame. We have worked on this literally 4 times now and she is getting it 90% of the time. Now, whether or not that training in the basement on our equipment translates to the training facility and Bud's equipment remains to be seen, but I have to say, I am loving this whole idea of training a young novice dog. She makes me look good.
In my lab class, Allie got to see a newly hatched chick - from a distance, of course. She also noticed the dragon girls for the first time and found them utterly fascinating. Likewise, the cart in my lab was very interesting, particularly since it moves. Allie was unfazed by its movement, so she went for a ride on the cart. We also worked copiously on sit-stays in the classroom, and Allie did awesome.
At day's end, she was completely exhausted, despite the lack of physical exercise.
Saturday all 3 dogs went hiking with the biology club. Allie provided the entertainment, plowing into deep water and splashing every one (it was around 80 degrees so no one minded this), trying to catch floating leaves, trying to fetch logs floating in the pond (literally, logs, not sticks - 4 feet long and six inches in diameter). She also walked on every downed tree, like it was a balance beam. And acted like a mountain goat on the graveyard of mill stones. She demonstrated talent by walking on a 2x4 to the millstone in the center of the quarry pond and then jumping up to that stone. She demonstrated her unflappability by swimming calmly when her attempt to jump back down to that 2x4 did not quite work. Her persistence was clear to all when she refused to give up searching for the cow tail we took away from her, but she did impress my students by willingly ignoring the rest of the dead cow.
So Satruday was yet another day that I managed to exhaust the little dog.
Yesterday I did not exhaust her but she did impress me by demonstrating that she has an understanding of the term "bottom," which I use to indicate that she needs to stop at the bottom of the dog walk or A-frame. We have worked on this literally 4 times now and she is getting it 90% of the time. Now, whether or not that training in the basement on our equipment translates to the training facility and Bud's equipment remains to be seen, but I have to say, I am loving this whole idea of training a young novice dog. She makes me look good.