DAY TEN (Thursday): The Week In Review

Today was exactly that....a major review of everything!  Wow, we've learned a lot and have come a long way from when we walked into the doors at 4 Paws just ten days ago.  The first part of this morning was spent  on all of the commands we've learned since our first day of training.  It doesn't even seem possible that we've been here ten days and will take our public access test tomorrow.   Time stands still for nothing.                  

Behavior Disruption: "Nuzzle"

After this we went tracking for the last time with the trainers.  I had a bumpy start for the first track.   I know where it went wrong in the beginning, which is good, and once Jeremy backed me up, and I was good to go.  Twinkie was on it and found Zachary without any problem.  Jeremy still ran with me and answered my questions all of which have definitely helped me.   I began the second track more deliberately and slowly which is what I need to do each time.  It was a shorter track since Twinkie was tired and there wasn't much time between both tracks.  Joe and I will each run a track with Zachary tomorrow morning then head off to the mall for the public access test.   Our test is scheduled at 11:30am at Fairfield Commons Mall.   The test takes 30 minutes.  

We went out to lunch with Twinkie at Applebee's again, and she was great!  It was a fast lunch, but we wanted to get one more eating out experience under our belt before we left.  This is the time to practice and get help if you need it.  After lunch, Jeremy gave us a run down on  bringing our dogs home.  He covered flying home with your dog, driving home with your dog, how to manage your dog if they go to school with your child, transitioning from 4 Paws to your home environment, introducing other dogs/pets and tracking.  Everyone had lots of laughs this afternoon.  I think we're all  slap happy at this point!  :)

Behavior Disruption: "Over"

There is just so much for us to learn and do while we're training, and it will continue once we get home.   It has to continue.  Zachary will ultimately get out of this experience what Joe and I have put into it.  And, when we look back at ALL of the time and effort we HAVE put into our 4 Paws experience it wouldn't make sense not to continue working hard once we're home.  As much as we love Twinkie and as adorable as she is, this experience was entirely about Zachary and Twinkie becoming the very best of friends, and we think they're well on their way!!  :)