jan 27 2021

 SOMETHING SORELY LACKING IN OUR TRAINING PROGRAM

2021 1 27

 

I never realized the combination of COV and a new recipient might involve having a new person take their new dog into a Cemetery for practice .. very logical nice and quiet place not a lot of traffic things like that to practice with the dog .. except from the dog standpoint the place is loaded with squirrels ... so it is perhaps the most unstable place to practice with the dog .. with the possible exception of college campuses where we have before had a problem with squirrels I was very happy to get the following email from Mary who has Abby ... she was afraid that if the dog behaved so badly in the Cemetery what on earth was it going to do in a Boston subway system when in fact The Boston subway symptom is not nearly as upsetting to the dog as a bunch of squirrels so Mary found out and sent the letter confirming but she behaved perfectly in the urban situation ..

 

 Dear Carlene,

 

Like so many other SDP teams, Abby and I have been riding out the pandemic from home. When we do venture out, it's mostly for solitary walks in quiet places. Last summer, right around the time Abby and I were matched, I started a new job at a downtown hospital and have been lucky to be able to work remotely this whole time. What it's meant, though, is that Abby and I have had very little experience in urban settings.  

 

I've been wondering what it will be like to commute to work once we have the all-clear to be back on site. Honestly, the prospect has been a little daunting. Getting to my office will mean negotiating all sorts of unknowns: parking garages, elevators, city sidewalks, fierce wind tunnels, revolving doors, crowded hallways and curious passersby. Last week I found out I have nothing to worry about. Abby is the consummate urban professional!

 

I had a doctor's appointment in the hospital where my office is located so in effect we had a commute-to-work practice run. Abby couldn't have behaved any better. She got me safely over every obstacle, kept her focus the entire time, and left a sea of admirers in her path. During the appointment, she executed a perfect down-stay and even put a reassuring paw on my knee when the syringe came out for a shot. 

 

Thanks to Abby, I'm feeling very confident about my ability to get to my downtown office when the time comes ... and very grateful to the entire SDP family -- staff, volunteers and supporters -- for making this possible! Attaching two photos: one of us striding down the hospital hallway and the other waiting our turn to enter the clinic. And, just because I can't resist, a third photo of Abby as a three-pound puppy that I just discovered on SDP's Facebook page. What a remarkable young lady she's become.

 All my best,

 Mary

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Around here we rely heavily on Goldie ... who was our ghost of the left hand drawer ...  many times we've been presented with a problem only to have a perfect solution fall in our laps -----we've always said that compliments of Goldie ... it may have happened again  --  becausw Ella was shall we say unstable around other dogs we were not comfortable putting her out with a handicapped person although otherwise she's perfectly trained .. so I went through our book of perfect pet possibilities and found a young couple who just bought a house in Newton maybe .. she does something with kids and he as a dog walking business ..They now have metella it seems to be a perfect match and he's not the normal dog Walker he runs them they live right next to a long trail and he he runs dogs .. and he seemed to have a normal sort of neck in meeting Ella so with that background I'm wondering if maybe Goldie as planned that we invite him to spend a day or two a week here trading dogs I wonder if we could make him into our kind of dog trainer .. it's a distinct possibility however I haven't mentioned it to him yet unless he reads this thing first it just kind of would go together

I'm glad you all have heard from Pam .. it was a pain in the neck how all of you accusing me of firing her when I knew she was sick and in the hospital and I just couldn't tell you so hopefully you all keep each other in line if this kind of thing should happen again there are sometimes things I just can't but the daily doggy because there are times when I had put it in the daily doggy and caught health everybody so Pam has that cleared up she is on our payroll she is helping from afar Anne that's the status quo for the moment Fortunately she left her address in the comment column so you can send things directly to her not get me in the middle ..

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I have heard from Claudia Bohemia in Czechoslovakia who will be breeding for another litter in the spring .. I've always liked the looks of her dogs they all seem to look like chaos we have one of her bloodline a male Merle Sir Richard parked away for breeding ... we did try and use him once when he was not quite a year old .. and he had not yet finished reading the instruction manual about the reproduction process .. he is very well bred .. his mother is supra who has an impossible number of championships in Europe ... A pedigree on a dog from Europe has much more to it then the typical AKC pedigree .. and to be honest there's some of it I don't understand so if all of you people want something to do crank up Claudia Bohemia is the kennel name and supra   is Sir Richard's mother and is the dog she would be breeding it in the spring there is some sort of rating given to showdogs that has nothing to do with winning or losing but supras rating is 306 and I've never seen any other dog with it that high whatever it means .. figuring out that pedigree who is a super thing for somebody to do who's sitting around in the house because of COV ..and after you figure it out let me know .. I'm very familiar with the HD rating hip dysplasia A or B ---  I think C is something like no visual signs oh hip problems and D I think is not to be bred .

or something like that----

- have a good time