Training Day 42

When I got there today I couldn't find Bailey anywhere. Thankfully I knew that he was probably on an outing with my trainer and would be back soon. When he got back from his outing I was waiting in the den and he was super excited to see me. He quickly jumped up on me and gave me lots of kisses. My trainer had taken him to the grocery store for a training session and focused primarily on the "leave it" command. She said she took Bailey up and down the aisles with many smells such as dog food, soap and meat. He did great. She also commented on how well he walked beside her, never pulling at all. What a good boy!
 We went straight into a light switch session and he nailed it! He's turning on the mobile light switch 85% of the time, which is awesome. Then we did an old classic, bell training. He did phenomenally and got up/looked up at me every time I hit the bell. Even when I barely hit the bell and it gave off a quiet "ping" he still jumped up to attention. Then it was time for hide and seek and I decided to do something a little different today. Instead of playing hide and seek in the tennis courts we just went out to the back yard by the pool. My aide would take Bailey around the corner near to the tennis court entrance and practice sit/stay. While she did this I would hide in the back yard.When my aide said "go find Eva" Bailey would pull my aide around the corner to find me. During one of the games a funny thing happened. Remember how Bailey loves to run on the pool cover? Well when Bailey came zooming around the corner to find me with my aide in tow, he decided to take a short cut and began running across the pool. My aide had to slam on her brakes (so to speak ) and barely missed landing on top of the pool cover. Bailey did great because even though she stopped him from running he chose a different path and still pulled her to find me. After hide and seek it was chill time. I gave Bailey two bones to chew (he always needs two) and he quickly passed out.
While he was sleeping  a couple brought over three of their dogs to be boarded overnight. It was the first time these three dogs Butch, Lucky and Charlie had been to my trainer's house so it was quite a symphony of barks and howls. At first Bailey was trying SO hard not to bark, you could literally see him trying to fight off the urge. But after a few minutes he gave in and started barking to see what was going on and say hello. So we did some basic obedience practice to redirect his attention. Bailey is funny-when he is doing basic obedience and in a down stay he randomly let's out little "boofs" , because he just  can't help himself. Overall he did really well despite all the commotion.
Before lunch we did one more light switch session. This time I had Bailey on leash and I walked him over to the light switch (as I will do when he lives with me). At first my aide would say "get the light" and Bailey would flip the switch. Then we tried it with me walking him over to the switch and her not saying anything (again how it will be when he lives with me). After a minor delay he hit the switch and was rewarded. What a good boy. After that it was lunch time, and Bailey just chilled.
Once we finished lunch it was play time and I wanted Bailey to meet the three new dogs staying at the house. Everyone got along very well and Bailey made a new friend, Charlie a twenty pound chihuahua mix. All in all a very good day!