Posted 2/5/2008 11:06:09 PM
A cold is trying to sneak up on me but I pretend that it isn’t really there. I’ve been fighting a stuffy nose, scratchy throat for 3 days now along with about 3 other people in the class. I was paranoid about the kids getting sick before the training because of the medically fragile children in the class. So Iyal and Morasha seem to be fine. I’m the one who caught the bug.
Today was a transition day as my cousin Adair left Ohio to fly to Las Vegas for a conference. I don’t know how I would have managed without her physical presence and moral support. There has been so much to keep track of during the last 9 days. Every time we go somewhere, I have to manage 3 adults, a large dog and 2 kids who think they are squids…tentacles reaching into places they should not be...slithering out of the spot I thought I had placed them. It’s just a lot of logistics to maneuver in and out of a vehicle with so much stuff! Definitely a flashback to my days of being on the road shooting video for Caterpillar machines. I would be managing a crew of several people, but also be in charge of some major equipment that needed to make it from our departure to our destination in tact.
My dad took Adair to the airport around 11:30 this morning. (Unfortunately, due to fog, her 2 O’clock flight had not yet left by 6:30. I later received a phone message that she had made it to Minneapolis, so at least she was half way there. It was so wonderful to spend a week with my lovely cousin. She was able to observe me and give me some pointers after class when I would be giving Chancer commands back in the hotel room.
My brand friend, Jodee Kulp, from Minnesota arrived in Dayton last night and we arranged to meet at 4 Paws. Jodee has been exclusively training poodles over the last several years. She designed a pilot program that includes working with a poodle trained to assist a young man who has FASD. Jodee spent the evening with me, my dad and the kids, just schmoozing and talking “shop”. I would love to pick her brain more as it pertains to some of the FASD research she has accomplished. Jodee is currently working on 3 new novels.
It is truly a gift to have her come to observe our training and get to know Jodee and her work in the field of FASD.
Back to 4 Paws.
I took Chancer and Iyal out with me to Wal-Mart to have one of the other trainers observe. Jennifer, the trainer, was able to provide a few pointers and suggestions. Maneuvering a boy who is literally one step ahead of you, or on you, along with a big dog and a grocery cart isn’t as easy as it looks. It felt like a 3-ring circus! We did a lot better today than the first day I took kids, Chancer and the shopping cart with me. Chancer was great and Iyal wasn’t too bad when he wasn’t trying on shoes all over the place.
He’s obviously accumulated a taste for shoes or and obsession for feet. Not sure which.
Before I forget, one of the evenings early on in the training we were back in our hotel room. I had brought several small snack bag type treats for the kids for the trip. I also had purchased a variety of dog treats for the training class. And of course all the grocery bags filled with our stash of snacks were on top of the refrigerator. Well my dad, being the “snacker” that he is, reached up and grabbed some goodies from a small bag and started munching. I caught him out of the corner of my eye and asked him nonchalantly, “Dad, how were the Charlie Bears? He did one of his famous gestures indicating “so-so/not great, not wonderful.” I took out the bag of Charlie Bears and asked him would he prefer liver over chicken? We had a good laugh over this one.
And last night while supposedly sleeping, Morasha rolled into me in bed and yells out in her sleep-talking voice, “Chancer, get down!!” I laughed out loud!
This afternoon I took just Iyal and Chancer with me to the mall, for some review. Jeremy followed us around and ultimately said, “He thought we were in pretty good shape”. Our certification test for ADA Public Access will be one half hour in length. We’ll be given the commands and Jeremy will determine if he feels we are in control of the dogs at all times in public. It sounds as though they try to keep it low-key without extraordinary stress on any of the teams. Some parts of what we’re doing feel totally natural, other issues require a concerted effort to think through the steps of a command.
Before I forget, one of the evenings early on in the training we were back in our hotel room. I had brought several small snack bag type treats for the kids for the trip. I also had purchased a variety of dog treats for the training class. And of course all the grocery bags filled with our stash of snacks were on top of the refrigerator. Well my dad, being the “snacker” that he is, reached up and grabbed some goodies from a small bag and started munching. I caught him out of the corner of my eye and asked him nonchalantly, “Dad, how were the Charlie Bears? He did one of his famous gestures indicating “so-so/not great, not wonderful.” I took out the bag of Charlie Bears and asked him would he prefer liver over chicken? We had a good laugh over this one.
And last night while supposedly sleeping, Morasha rolled into me in bed and yells out in her sleep-talking voice, “Chancer, get down!!” I laughed out loud!
This afternoon I took just Iyal and Chancer with me to the mall, for some review. Jeremy followed us around and ultimately said, “He thought we were in pretty good shape”. Our certification test for ADA Public Access will be one half hour in length. We’ll be given the commands and Jeremy will determine if he feels we are in control of the dogs at all times in public. It sounds as though they try to keep it low-key without extraordinary stress on any of the teams. Some parts of what we’re doing feel totally natural, other issues require a concerted effort to think through the steps of a command.
Hopefully we can practice again in the mall tomorrow evening after class.
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