April – our first full month of spring, and I was out and about enjoying it, taking in all of the pretty flower and plant scents! I’ve kept up with my training by continuing to be well-behaved in public, at malls and grocery stores. Where there are oh so many tempting smells and things dropped on the ground for me to ignore. There are also so many people, different surfaces and stores to go in and out of. And my favourite mall has glass elevators to ride up and down to practice my safe entry and exit protocols. Even when we are waiting for our online grocery pickup, I train in the back of the car, practicing my Sit, Stand, Down and Touch cues – you’ll see in one of the pictures that I did a nice “Chin” as well. It’s fun to train in a wide variety of places. I have become quite an adaptable puppy as I get older.
My best outing this month (and it’s hard to choose) I went with my raiser to the Imagine VanGogh exhibition at the Vancouver Convention Centre. It was a good experience for me. First, it was nice to be downtown again. There were lots of things going on in the show that could have been scary for a pup-in-training. Still, I held it together, and my raiser was so happy that we had a kibble/cuddle party afterwards. The loud noises, the lights, the moving pictures on the walls and floor, and the squishy floor were no match for me! I went from place to place in the exhibit, and I would just relax in a Down while my raiser took it all in. I have to say there were a lot of hoomans there, and they were taking a lot of pictures of the images, but quite a few of them snuck in a few pictures of me, which was funny!
It’s good to show regular folks assistance dogs in training learning to work in all sorts of situations so that they can see how we will do at the side of our PERSON one day. Until next month, enjoy the spring and all of the beauty it has to offer!
Submitted by: Caroline Lewis
