Lesson 5 – PetsMart

~One of my favorite pictures, she was worn out after an afternoon of pictures taken by Heidi Clark~

Sorry for my long silence. We just got back from a trip to Utah so that threw me off schedule. My next post will be about the trip with some pictures. This post is about our first “out in public” lesson with C at PetsMart on a Saturday – MADNESS! I’d venture to say that any PetsMart is literally a zoo on a Saturday and our PetsMart was no exception. Not only where there a lot of customers with their dogs, but there was also an adoption event in the parking lot, so there was something exciting to distract Georgia at every turn. Since Georgia is social and wants to be-friend everything and everyone this is tough for her. There were also a lot of children which she likes as well. I had to work on getting her to focus and work for me. We started out inside the store but quickly had to go outside since there was just too much going on.

Once outside we had to walk away from the store to get her to re-focus. The people and their pets going in and out were just too exciting. After we got some distance she calmed down and started to work with me. We working on heeling and me rewarding her with a treat at times and other times verbal praise for staying on my left side (not ahead of or behind me). Normally she’s great a sitting when I tell her to, but a few times she had to be “helped” a bit. By this I mean pulling up the leash (not hard) and slightly pinching a certain point on her hips. Sounds worse than it is, trust me.  Once she was more focused we tried going back inside, but if she started to pull we’d turn around. She had to walk calmly before I’d take her back in. She did OK in there, but not great. We need to get her used to that many distractions. She has to be able to listen to me when things are going on around us. While a nursing home or hospital most likely won’t be as active as a PetsMart on a Saturday we still have to be prepared. She has to be reliable, controllable and predictable.

The hour went by quickly and C and I discussed me taking Georgia out in public several times a week. This could include parks, PetsMart, other store where dogs are welcome or just outside other busy areas, like a strip mall or Wal-Mart. I just need to get off the couch and do it. With the weather becoming nicer this will become easier for me. This lesson concluded the 5 lessons we signed up for with C. Just this morning I e-mailed her setting up another five. The next five should be it…hopefully after that Georgia and I will be close to testing. It is my choice when I set up the testing, but I want to be prepared, even though I know not passing is very much possible, that’s ok because we can take it again and again. That about wraps it up; hope all is well and enjoy your day!