Training day 5

Well, again I learned you can't plan in dog training. I had a pretty mellow and fun day planned for Bailey since tomorrow he is getting neutered and that won't be fun. But my trainer is also a boarder and one of her boarders was not feeling well. She has a "dog room" where I usually work with Bailey. But since her boarder was in that room, I had to take Bailey and go.

I have wanted to take him to Petco to get a seat-belt, but because he had worms, I couldn't take him to places where other dogs would be and could pick up the parasite. So I figure this would be a good time to go. He did pretty well. He was great with people, even when a store employed measured him for a harness. He did however bark at a few other dogs. It was definitely not a mean bark- he greeted one golden retriever very nicely after barking at him first. But it's definitely something I will have to work on with him. We walked around and he saw birds, rats, chinchillas, and mice and was not fazed by any of it. I got him a tag (my trainer had a visitor tag on him) with "Service Dog" and her phone number. The reason I didn't put his name is because people might try to call his name and distract him.

After Petco, we went to Starbucks. He was an angel- just laid down and slept. It was pretty busy too! But he didn't seem bothered by all the people. I did encounter my first drive-by petters. Three to be exact. For people who don't know, drive-by petting is when people sneak up and pet your dog while he is working without asking you. This is a problem for service dogs because they lose focus and it teaches them to seek out attention while working. Two other people asked first and we politely said no and explained why.

We went back to my trainer's house and I went around the side of the house while my aide went to get the door for me. Then suddenly there was this pitbull and I was like "Hi?" I obviously knew she was friendly but I know my trainer prefers that the service dog puppies play with some dogs and not others. So I was not sure if this dog was one of them. Bailey did great. He was definitely interested but did not pull or whatever. Turns out she was "puppy approved" and we headed inside to eat lunch. Unfortunately Bailey couldn't eat lunch with us because I had to eat in the dining room while Bailey was hanging out in the kitchen with 6 other dogs. After lunch because the puppy room was still occupied and because it was 104 degrees outside, I decided to cal it a day. I usually see Bailey on Wednesday, but not this week. The next time I see him, he'll be coned. Today as not the day I planned, but a good day none-the-less.