Talk about tuckered out puppies! We’ve been making our dogs work really hard so they can show mommies and daddies what they can do. This afternoon during class almost all of the dogs were passed out on their mats.  Here’s why…

This morning, half of the class had in-class training.  That’s what London did.  We worked on staying in the ‘sit’ or ‘down’ positions while being distracted (walking around them, clapping, talking to them, stepping over them, petting them). Any time a dog got up they were told “No.” and they returned to their position.  They usually didn’t need to be corrected again.  We also spent time working on ‘Heal’ while being distracted.

Then later in the morning the classes switched, and we got to take London to her first outing. We went to a park that had playgrounds and sports fields for tracking.  London is trained to track me down if I get away. She uses my scent to find me.  Everyone leaves a “scent trail” of skin cells when the walk.  Right now London is still tracking her trainer. By this time next week London will be trained to track my scent. I went with Mommy and the 4 Paws trainer to hide in the woods just off one of the soccer fields.  London put on a special harness used for tracking.  She wasn’t allowed to see where I went.  As soon as the trainer told her “Where’s your girl? Find your girl!” she took off like a lightning bolt.  Daddy and the trainer had to run super fast to be able to keep up with her.  They said she didn’t slow down the whole time.  She ran the length of the soccer field, to an opening in the woods, and down a trail until she found me just off the trail. Then, we all celebrated and praised her with a big party of treats and a ball.  She thinks this is just a game – she doesn’t realize that to my Mommy and Daddy, this is a big deal.  You see I’ve already wandered off a few times and fortunately each time a stranger kept me safe.  Now London can find me!

After lunch, we were back to class.  We talked about the dogs’ first night in the hotel rooms.  We talked about new commands like “Come” and “Lap.” ‘Come’ is pretty obvious, but we won’t be using it all the time like we would with pet dogs.  ‘Lap’ is a really cool command. When London is told ‘Lap.’ she puts her head on me wherever Mommy and Daddy point. They can use this command any time I need to be comforted, like when I’m sad or after I have seizure. We also practiced ‘auto-stand.’ London is trained to stop and stand still whenever we stop walking so that she doesn’t knock Kye over by sitting down.

Tonight, after class we went to Wright State University.  This is where the only Service Dog Park in the world is located. Wright State is known for its accessibility for students with disabilities. London got to run for a just a few minutes, but I’m sure we’ll go back.  Then we took London to dinner at our hotel . She laid in the ‘down’ position the entire meal and didn’t move a muscle (and we were sitting right next to the door, so people were coming in and our the whole time).  Not many new pictures today, but there are videos on the Team Kye Fan Page on Facebook.

Tomorrow we get to do more tracking training and go to the mall.  London will get her service dog vest!