You won't be surprised to hear that hubby and I are head over heels in love with Worthy! He has one naughty little adolescent habit, which is bouncing just beyond my reach in the potty yard! But I have a mild solution to that, by just attaching a Flexi-Lead before taking him out. He's so cute when he does it, I can't get mad. But of course it's not a good habit, so we'll just work on it!
Saturday was a big day, with outings to three stores! In my state it is legal to take a WELL-BEHAVED assistance-dog-in-training into public places. There are no ifs ands or buts about the behavior--if the dog misbehaves, you must leave! But Worthy had been to WalMart and a couple of other places before, and was approved by the assistance dog organization director for me to take in.
So, Saturday we made short trips into three big stores, and he was great! Yippee! Sunday we made another short trip into a local store and it went fine, too.
I'm also doing a month of long down and long sits (Volhard idea, and a VERY good one!), and continuing his formal retrieving training. All is going well. Also, his ears are all cleared up. He had a fairly mild infection, and it responded beautifully to medication from the vet. My vet says he's a keeper!
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series articles at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=SRC&S=1&SourceID=47
