Training Day 51- Home Visit

Today was different. I wanted to bring Bailey home for a visit. So I drove over to his trainer's house and my aide went inside to get him. Bailey was super excited to see me and immediately ran up into the van and jumped on the back seat ready to begin our adventure. When we got to my house my aide hooked Bailey's leash to my chair and I took him inside. He was a bit nervous and sniffing all around. My Mom came in to say hi to Bailey. Although still shy his confidence seemed better and he did not growl at her, in fact he warmed up pretty quickly. Then  I took him through my room and into the back yard. I let him off leash and Oh My God was he happy! He zoomed from one side of my backyard to the other. We just had some rain out here so he was having a blast running through the soft dirt and making his feet look as though he was wearing brown boots. At one point while he was playing he kept running zoomy circles around our avocado tree. Watch...



So after that we washed off his paws and I brought him back inside to my bedroom. I wanted to make him  comfortable so I let him off leash and just ignored him (so he could sniff about as he liked) while I checked my email. I had already set up a dog bed for Bailey's visit and eventually he crashed out on his bed next to me. My aide had taken some video footage of Bailey playing in the yard. We began watching the footage and Bailey hearing his own collar tags jingling on the video jumped up and began barking at himself. Knowing that since this was his first day here he was probably a little more jumpy than usual, I just muted the video and he quickly settled back into bed. Then it was lunch time. I wanted Bailey to be next to me while we were having lunch and not roaming around the house. So I put him on leash and set up his mat next to me at the table. This was a great way to simulate a public restaurant visit. After giving curious looks to my aide as she fixed lunch he quickly settled on his mat next to me. He stayed there for the entire time.
After lunch I wanted to see if he needed to get busy so I took him back outside. I just let him cruise around for a while and get acquainted with all of the new smells. Then I brought him back inside and put him back on leash for his first bathroom visit. I was kind of nervous that when my aide moved me onto the toilet that Bailey would try to give me kisses, jump on me and knock me right off the john. So that's why for this first time, I kept him on leash. He did great and after a minute just settled right down onto the bathroom floor. When I was back in my chair safely my aide began brushing my teeth. Bailey has never seen this before. He sat up and was staring at this new activity with the funniest quizzical look on his face. It was so cute! After that I went back to my computer to get some work done and Bailey crashed out on his bed again.
My trainer was having lunch about 15 minutes away from my house. She offered to meet up with us and take Bailey back to her house for me. So we all got into the van and headed up the road to meet her. We got there a few minutes early and just chilled in the van. Here are some photos of Bailey while he was waiting. A great day but a bit hard to leave him.