Birdie’s heat continued into January, and with that, she had no public access, and no boy dogs were allowed! So, during this period we went on numerous on-leash walks on various wooded trails in different parks around the area and as far away as Penticton and Summerland (@ Sun-Oka Beach Provincial Park). Sometimes Birdie wore her new light-up collar in the early evening since it still gets dark quite early, but luckily the days are slowly getting longer. The weather is strange here up in the mountains, sometimes we were hiking in full snow up to our knees (@ South Canoe trails) and at other times there was no snow at all (@ Thomas Hayes Ecological Park or the beach in Summerland), depending on the elevation. We also checked out the trails at RJ Haney Heritage Village in Salmon Arm.
I celebrated my birthday at the Cactus Club in Vernon without Birdie beside me and she also stayed home while we went out for Wing Wednesdays or shopped for groceries. I sure missed my sidekick. She also missed another in-person PADS class due to her heat.
Finally, after the middle of the month, Birdie’s heat was over, and we could once again put on her cape and resume our regular public activities together such as dinners out, grocery shopping, chiropractor visits, One-to-One reading with the kids at school and in-person PADS classes.
Near the end of the month, PADS was invited to the Vernon resort community of Predator Ridge’s inaugural PRED Talks (a take on Ted Talks) where Brian, our fearless leader, gave a presentation to the residents on all things PADS. Since Birdie was named and sponsored by Predator Ridge, she was the honoured guest, accompanied also by the raisers of PADS Bingo, Phoebe, Texas, Stellar and Peony. The pups settled nicely, and dispersed around the room, for the hour-long presentation. At the end, we were presented with our annual donation in support of PADS and afterwards, the pups enjoyed meeting the residents and receiving pats.
Birdie and I joined a new activity this month: a 5-pin “Club 55” bowling league here in Salmon Arm. I was matched up with a group of bowlers to create a team of 4 and every week we play one of the other 11 teams in 3 games. At first, Birdie was curious about all the people, noises, balls rolling and activities. At first, she stayed right in the thick of the activities as we took turns at the lanes throwing our balls, but eventually, she settled under the table and just watched.
We had three PADS Zoom classes this month, two with Heather, who is going over the PADS Handler course and one with our trainer Tamara on a snow day, instead of driving to an in-person class. (See picture of Birdie & Jeff, our grand pup watching a Zoom class.)
On the last day of the month, we finally returned to our PADS in-person class, which we hadn’t attended since the middle of December. Birdie was especially excited to be back in class to see her pals. We practised dog distraction manoeuvres: passing and approaching another dog, and then walking past a lineup of all the pups. By that time, they had all settled down, so we switched handlers and practised on our perch pots. After class, we went on a long hike, in the fog, with sitter Carol and PADS Texas, along the Grey Canal in Coldstream.
At 18 months old, Birdie has grown into a beautiful, well-mannered mature dog and is ready to tackle whatever path she is meant to take, whatever that may be. Hopefully, she will become a service dog for some lucky individual/group or a breeding mamma for PADS, but in time, we shall see.
Submitted by: Chris Buitinga
