Training Day 39

So today was kind of different. I don't usually work with Bailey on Mondays but I have an appointment tomorrow so  I asked my trainer if I could come by today. She had made plans to have a guest at the house and I couldn't work with Bailey in the den. So instead I decided today would be a good day for an outing. So when we got there I stayed in the van while my aide went to go get Bailey. He was playing in the tennis courts and when he was let out through the gate he said a quick hello to my aide and then zoomed around the back yard to the den door excitedly expecting to see me. My aide put him on leash and lead him out to the van. She said at first he seemed a tiny bit confused as to why I wasn't around, but as soon as he saw me in the van his tail began swishing wildly and immediately he ran up the ramp and hopped onto the back seat for our outing together.
I decided to take Bailey to Starbucks to work on his long down stay. When we got to Starbucks and sat down he settled in pretty quickly laying next to me. At one point  some foolish young guy left his dog outside the front door of Starbucks unleashed. I only noticed this because Bailey let out a mild bark in the dog's direction. Now I could have handled this one of two ways; I could have said "no' and collar popped him.,or I could have re-directed his attention and rewarded him for being quiet. I chose the latter and used this moment as a great training opportunity. Bailey did very well and even turned his back to the window where he originally spotted the other dog. The reason I didn't collar pop him was because he would have only learned what not to do and not what he should do instead.
At another point during our coffee stop a man sat at a table near to us and Bailey went over to him, sniffing his leg. He was told "leave it" and  he quickly turned back around towards me and was rewarded with a treat. He soon laid back down quietly. A little bit later he got up again and I thought he might need to get busy so I asked my aide to take him out front to the grass area. She grabbed his leash and lead him towards the door but as she was opening the door he instead tried to exit through the clear glass window. A loud thunk ensued and all eyes in the place turned to Bailey. Luckily it sounded a lot worse than it actually was and Bailey then walked through the front door unfazed. My aide and I were cracking up and I kind of felt bad for laughing, but we just couldn't help ourselves it was just too unexpected and funny. When Bailey was back inside next to me I heard a firetrucks sirens and saw one driving down the street. I was a bit concerned that Bailey might start doing the firetruck howl but he didn't even look at it when it passed us.  What a good boy!
By the time we finished chatting and enjoying our drinks Bailey had been in Starbucks for almost two hours and had done amazingly well. We packed everything up and headed back to my trainer's. When we got there I took Bailey out back to get busy before it was lunch time. At lunch Bailey crashed out and I left soon after that.