Hardy's having mixed feelings about the holidays! Poor guy, since we came back from New York City, it's been really boring around here. Most classes were canceled for the Holidays, Hardy's dew claw was oozing blood again and I was trying to rest up from our trip and in preparation for our CPE Agility trial over New Year's weekend. I used to feel really bad for Laurel when things got boring for her but I came to realize that since downtime is a part of my life, it needs to be part of my service dog's life as well and that if Laurel couldn't handle it, she wasn't the right dog for me. And, sure enough, even with her energy level, she learned quickly to adapt and has become quite the bedbug when she has to be. I have created and learned games that we can play when I'm not able to do much physically and when I'm stuck in bed but there are times when even that is too much.
So I don't feel sorry for Hardy - he has to be able to just chill out at times and he has Laurel to bother besides. Our first two days home were pretty boring, I'll admit. Wednesday, the 29th, Laurel and I had an agility lesson and worked on our contacts, start line stays and weaves. I taught my class so Hardy and Brent attended and worked on the long down, attention, Zen and loose leash walking.
Thursday, we had a Christmas celebration with my parents and then we left for the Red Roof Inn in Poland (Youngstown), OH. Friday, Saturday, and yesterday, we were at Four Seasons K9 Athlete Center in Washingtonville for a CPE agility trial. It was Laurel's return to agility since her 6 month layoff due to our Canadian summer adventure and her injury. We struggled some on Friday, with 3 NQs and a surprise Q in our fourth class. Saturday was much better with 4/4 Qs and Sunday was a blast even though we only Q'd in 2/4. Hardy spent a lot of time in his crate with some visits and a bit of work. He handled it very well although we are paying for it today when he is into absolutely everything! Tomorrow classes start back with obedience and agility for both Labs!
Welcome to my blog, From Puppy to Public Access. Selecting and preparing a puppy to train as a service dog - the most important time in a service dog’s training happens long before the dog is ever ready to learn his job; it is the stage commonly known as “puppy raising”. Join me as I journey from finding a puppy through raising that puppy in the hope that he will become my next service dog. (Photo credit - Jack Powers)
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