Home Training: Day Two
Jan. 25th, 2011 09:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unsilenceddreamToday has been exhausting, both mentally and physically, although in a good way. Not only did I put in a few hours of training with Dalton, but I also had classes to attend to. All of that combined makes for a very long day.
Training went very, very wel today, all things considered. Dalton seems to already have down the route from my house to the building where my classes are, the classes themselves, and the route home. He was much more controllable today as far as pace went, save for one time when he was just being silly. I thought he had to park, and so stopped and took the harness off, but he then just proceeded to play in the snow. Crazy dog! I worked him some of the time with his booties on, because of the salt that was put down on the paths and such. After doing the route to school, we then went over to the student union. He did well with this route, too. A good part of the route is in wide, open space, and Dalton will take the initiative in picking out which way to go. I really don't like to depend fully on him like that, but sometimes it can't be helped. To me, I feel like I'm in the middle of nowhere. I am getting an idea for distance in relation to the various turns and such, which does help. Inside the student union, in the bookstore, there is a turnstile to get into it. There was an unfortunate incident the first time he and I went through, in that the turnstile came back and caught on Dalton's harness. He was then a little shy of it, but some counterconditioning made him less so. We plan to go back to the bookstore tomorrow to try and reinforce positive associations with that.
Classes themselves went fine and without incident, unless you count for whatever reason Dalton deciding to pick up a classmate's braille eraser that had dropped to the floor in his mouth. Can we say awkward and slightly embarrassing? While apologizing profusely, I was able to extract the eraser and all was well. I have no idea why that happened; maybe it was a sign of stress? Who knows. Dogs... My first class was Activities of Daily Living, and then I had Assistive Technology. Both seem like they will be fun. I started to target one specific chair in the classroom that I nine times out of ten sit in, (there is one classroom for 99% of my classes - it's a small department), and he picked up on that quickly. It really is amazing to me how quickly he picks up on things. When I was doing the route from school to home for the first time today, he was fantastic at knowing just what to do and when.
I'm honestly at a loss of what else to write about. Oh yes: we did some practice with the 'follow' command in various places, and Dalton did a good job with that, too. He also had no problem settling in while classes were happening or while I was getting coffee prior to said classes.
I think I'm going to call this an entry and do I'm not sure what. I'm utterly exhausted, and so the better idea for me would probably be to sleep, but I do have some reading to finish for tomorrow - the same from the other day. The other side of that, though, is if I read now, how much of it wil I retain? I may be making more work for myself by trying to read now versus later when I'm in a better, more awake frame of mine. I shouldn't be this tired! Alas...
The plan for tomorrow is to do more work with my dog in the morning and then eventually end up at the pet store. I need a few things, and what a great place to practice dog distractions! I have Low Vision class at 6:00, which ends at twenty to nine. Hopefully I'll be more rested and can get through that class more alert than I did tonight. It's a nice thought, anyway. Right, I'm rambling; more tomorrow.
Training went very, very wel today, all things considered. Dalton seems to already have down the route from my house to the building where my classes are, the classes themselves, and the route home. He was much more controllable today as far as pace went, save for one time when he was just being silly. I thought he had to park, and so stopped and took the harness off, but he then just proceeded to play in the snow. Crazy dog! I worked him some of the time with his booties on, because of the salt that was put down on the paths and such. After doing the route to school, we then went over to the student union. He did well with this route, too. A good part of the route is in wide, open space, and Dalton will take the initiative in picking out which way to go. I really don't like to depend fully on him like that, but sometimes it can't be helped. To me, I feel like I'm in the middle of nowhere. I am getting an idea for distance in relation to the various turns and such, which does help. Inside the student union, in the bookstore, there is a turnstile to get into it. There was an unfortunate incident the first time he and I went through, in that the turnstile came back and caught on Dalton's harness. He was then a little shy of it, but some counterconditioning made him less so. We plan to go back to the bookstore tomorrow to try and reinforce positive associations with that.
Classes themselves went fine and without incident, unless you count for whatever reason Dalton deciding to pick up a classmate's braille eraser that had dropped to the floor in his mouth. Can we say awkward and slightly embarrassing? While apologizing profusely, I was able to extract the eraser and all was well. I have no idea why that happened; maybe it was a sign of stress? Who knows. Dogs... My first class was Activities of Daily Living, and then I had Assistive Technology. Both seem like they will be fun. I started to target one specific chair in the classroom that I nine times out of ten sit in, (there is one classroom for 99% of my classes - it's a small department), and he picked up on that quickly. It really is amazing to me how quickly he picks up on things. When I was doing the route from school to home for the first time today, he was fantastic at knowing just what to do and when.
I'm honestly at a loss of what else to write about. Oh yes: we did some practice with the 'follow' command in various places, and Dalton did a good job with that, too. He also had no problem settling in while classes were happening or while I was getting coffee prior to said classes.
I think I'm going to call this an entry and do I'm not sure what. I'm utterly exhausted, and so the better idea for me would probably be to sleep, but I do have some reading to finish for tomorrow - the same from the other day. The other side of that, though, is if I read now, how much of it wil I retain? I may be making more work for myself by trying to read now versus later when I'm in a better, more awake frame of mine. I shouldn't be this tired! Alas...
The plan for tomorrow is to do more work with my dog in the morning and then eventually end up at the pet store. I need a few things, and what a great place to practice dog distractions! I have Low Vision class at 6:00, which ends at twenty to nine. Hopefully I'll be more rested and can get through that class more alert than I did tonight. It's a nice thought, anyway. Right, I'm rambling; more tomorrow.
home training day 2
Date: 2011-01-26 12:32 pm (UTC)Ron & Pal