yikes..... apparently someone (? me?) did not pass the message along that the shatting would be held over til the 19th and done at dogfest..... along with hockey things and quilt....
It is shocking the number of people who volunteer here who have volunteered here for years and I still can't keep their names straight .. along those lines we now have an entire chicken Department which consists of Lori I'm pretty sure that's her name and a mother with two kids who are extremely reliable and show up every day to wash and refill the chickens water dishes .…
The initial baby chickens--- the white ones should be getting old enough to lay eggs now and they might be accept we have an egg eater in the crowd so all we're getting at the moment are shells we have to watch out for that one
.the baby Guinea hens Have now graduated till the formal chicken coop back left hand corner and hopefully have made it through the night .. the overall plan for them is to figure out how to open their little outdoor area to allow them into the pond area … they eventually will fly and will be safe from the dogs-- we just have to be very careful for about a month or so to explain to the dogs with those are not lunch----I think Gemini has it without putting up the wire … every time he looks at them he quickly turns and looks at Me at which point I remind him no . Do I trust him 100% ? no but he's got the idea .. A work in progress .
A well trained dog can have so much more freedom then one that doesn't behave . I think our service dogs have the best life going .. they love their work and they can enjoy a lot of freedom . they are smart…they do have minds…..
We Try never to use our muscles to control the dog ..This stems from having some trust in the dog to begin with… an awful lot of people Quite rightly assume all dogs are idiots and will put them on a leash in cages behind walls because they haven't established some rules of the game
Situations will present themselves where you can use that to Remind the dog that there are rules or you can the force the dog to mindlessly behave . It just takes a minute
Case in point …
the overnight sitter was in the sunroom and sizzle was loose in the house -----finally poor thing .. and Germany was barking Outback … so she let Gemini in at which point she closed the gate between the Mail call area and the sunroom … basically locking sizzle away from looking after her pups .because she was unsure of jiminey’s … Behavior ..I happen to notice that at my 2:00 AM wandering and she explained that she didn't want Germany to come in to the sunroom . she's sitting in a chair 4 feet away from the door to the sunroom .. and she assumed she couldn't keep him out .. I explained his training is coming along very nicely
now if I'm sitting in that chair and Germany approaches the door he won't even put a toenail over that threshold and just stand there and look ----- at which point I tell him “good boy, you just stay there “ ….How did I get him trained ?
if he offered to step over that threshold I woiuld tell him loudly… no and back up ---… if he didn’t I could Stamp my foot at him To startle him --- and he would back up . No problem .
Wait whoa and back up are two 3 all the first commands are dog learn ….the object is to use these suggestions.
I remember when Linda started here she didn't realize she could control these dogs and now with the help of some specialized language that I've been known to use she can have them line up and wait to go out a door…. no problem .
what is so startling about our dogs is that they end up with the vocabulary about a two or three year old .. they know darn well what they're supposed to do at times .. Case in point a perfect example when we go to a nursing home with Bentley and sizzle I purposely take off the leash and collar .. there might be just a smattering of showmanship because we then enter the adult day care center or wherever and I pretty much can control them step by step . I open the door It asks receptionist if there are any other animals in the building then I ask each of the dogs just step through the door and then tell him to wait and they just stop then I go through the door
And we walk on . they are not in a correct heeling position. .. but their position is farm dog style----stay within 3 feet of Me ,And Pay attention .
the real reason I have no collar on them is the number of people who would grab at the collar to control the dog is about 99% of the general public . I can't take a chance in a nursing home that the patient wouldn't grab the collar ..
in The adult daycare centers Judy and I had it down perfectly with the frying pans .. she wandered around the wheelchairs and give someone the frying pan and drop a cookie in it then me at the other end the room with the dogs I would tell which dog to go get it .. everybody is very impressed . It has been 100% reliable cookie fetching .. and presents the perfect photo op at the same time .
and cov arrived and ruined all the fun.
