Sunday, September 23, 2007

Best kid in IKEA

We made a big trip out to IKEA today. I was one of the only well-behaved kids there. Most of the other kids seemed to be screaming and refusing to listen to their parents. My parents were super proud of me, as usual.I have been working on WAIT a lot. I am increasing my waiting time but I have a long way to go to get to the 5 min. mark. Another thing that I have been working on is retrieving different things - besides my toys. I am comfortable with keys now. It is super fun to retrieve keys!

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Teaching and learning

I get out and about quite a bit. I am the first ADA dog to be raised in Sydney's Inner West and with that has come the responsibility of teaching my community about my organization. Many shops, pubs and restaurants in my area don’t know about my organization and my goals. They don’t know that I need practice behaving in the community. Mommy and Daddy have to explain these things to people all the time. We get to meet a lot of managers. Fortunately or unfortunately, so many puppies have such cute outfits these days, my ADA Learner coat is often just thought to be fun fashion and not as an indication of my association with ADA.
Another thing we have been teaching other people about is my training halti that I wear around my face when I am out walking. Some people seem to think it is a muzzle or something horribly inhumane. I guess it is sometimes hard for people to embrace new technology. My halti is very gentle and I can still eat, drink, yawn and so on, while I am wearing it. When I pull ahead or start heading away from where I need to be, there is a gentle pull on my face. It is a gentle reminder that I need to focus back on where I need to be walking. Before I got a halti, I had my lead attached to my collar during walks. When I pulled ahead, my collar would hurt my throat. I would cough and cough. That was really unpleasant. Choke collars can cut off the air supply and can do serious damage to the esophagus. The halti is a more gentle training tool but alas, it is not foolproof. If someone were to pull on my lead violently when I am wearing my halti, I could get whiplash. But fortunately, my parents know that a very gentle pull is all that it takes to remind me that I need to make a correction.