I’m writing this blog feeling three emotions: sad, proud and nervous. This past Saturday was our last lesson with C. This final lesson lasted longer than an hour and was a group lesson. It involved us and two others working with C and their dogs. Again, I won’t use their names, just initials, but will give the dogs’ names. Both students were ladies; they were K and her female lab Kelly and M and her male mutt Miles. K & Kelly were also on their last of 10 lessons. M & Miles still have several more to go. This gave us all a chance to work our dogs with other dogs; this is part of the Delta test. We have to be able to walk up to someone who also has a dog on a leash and shake hands while your dog remains sitting. I was worried about this as Georgia is friendly with other dogs, but she did well and sat during our practice runs with the other dogs. We all took turns running through different parts of the Delta test and C told us things that we could get dinged on. A tight leash is one…have to work on that when turning. Georgia tends to get a little head of me. Must have a loose leash!
Back to my emotions, we’ll start with sad. I am sad because C has become a friend to both me and Georgia. I am sad to not have another lesson with her to look forward to. She clearly loves dogs, people and her job. She works miracles. She would never say that, she’d say that it’s really me and Georgia, but I think it’s all three of us. We could not have done it without her, that’s 100% true. Georgia is my team mate and does give me confidence, but it was nice to have someone to literally say, “You can do it”. C believes Georgia is meant for this and that I am too. Once she called Georgia a “heart dog”, meaning she captures your heart right away. I like that. I’m almost in tears writing this. Clearly Georgia has captured my heart! J
The next emotion is proud. I am so proud of how far we have come as individuals and a team. From where we started to where we are today is a huge improvement. Do we still have work to do? Yes, I think we always will, but I’m proud of how far we’ve come and will go in the future. My puppy is growing up and become a well behaved dog! I was also proud watching the other teams we worked with on Saturday. It was the first time I’d met them, but C gave me some background info on where they started. Both teams looked good; another testament to C and her skills.
Now, some more detail about our last lesson and some other exciting news. We’ll get to my nervousness later. We had our group lesson outside of a public library in a shaded area (it was 100 degrees Saturday!) This is when we practiced greeting a person with a dog and did other items that will be on the Delta test. Something else we did was C tried to scare the dogs by opening a large umbrella near them and waving it around. All three dogs didn’t seem to notice, so that was good. C said to pass this part of the test we just have to re-assure our dog and keep them calm. In the test they may do something like that or knock something over that makes a loud sound. I’m not too worried about this part, Georgia normally does OK if I re-assure her. By re-assure her I mean I just gentle pat her and say, “It’s ok”.
After we had worked outside for a bit and worked up a sweat we were able to go into the lobby of the library. This occurred because as we arrived at the library C saw a former student and her dog entering the library. She was there as part of the ‘Read to the Dog’ program which happens two Saturdays a month at this particular library. C asked if it was OK for us to just enter the lobby area with the dogs to practice entering a new place with a good amount of people around. So, off we went in a single file line into the library lobby. We had all three dogs lie down and ‘stay’. This wasn’t too difficult for them since they were all worn out from being in the heat. As we all stood their cooling off and having the dogs ‘stay’, a woman came out of a nearby restroom. Georgia and I were the closest to her (of course) and she saw us first, then she saw the other two dogs. Her eyes got huge, she started screaming, “OH MY GOSH” & slammed herself against the wall. I told her it was ok and that my dog and the other two were nice and wouldn’t hurt her. This didn’t seem to help, she continued to panic and breathe hard. C then stepped in-between the woman and us and the dogs. She told her it was OK and that these dogs weren’t aggressive or they wouldn’t be out in a public setting like this. None of this seemed to help. C had to take the woman by the arm, tell her to breathe and walk her out of the library. It was one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen. The dogs never got up, they all remained lying down. Maybe this woman had a terrible experience with a dog, it sure seemed that way, but it was very dramatic. I just had to shake my head. After she was safely out of the library we had some kids come by and asked to pet the dogs, everyone did well. While it was a strange situation, at least it reminded me that some people do fear dogs and I need to be prepared for that.
Next we left the library and headed to C’s house to get some cool drinks, do a bit more training and discuss the next steps. Once there M brought up the CGC test (Canine Good Citizen). I had heard of it but knew it wasn’t something necessary to become a therapy dog so I hadn’t given it any thought. I learned that C is authorized to administer the test for the American Kennel Club. We got out the paper work and went through the nine items required to pass. We had completed them all at the library except for one; separation. This requires the owner to leave the dog for 3 minutes without the dog whining, barking or panicking over his/her owner leaving. So, I went outside for 3 minutes and Georgia was perfectly fine – she passed! Georgia is now Canine Good Citizen. It is really just a title that shows your dog is well behaved. She will get a certificate and tag for her collar from the American Kennel Club stating she is a CGC. This is not the test to become a therapy dog, but it’s something nice to have. I’m so proud of my Good Citizen Georgia! Georgia becoming a CGC is the existing news I mentioned earlier in the blog. Yay!
One more emotion to discuss: nervousness. This blog entry is long enough, so I’ll touch on that in another one & finish detailing our last lesson with C. Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend. We did, but it was too short! Thanks for reading!
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