I do apologize for the significant lack of posts. Marley started off his training, and then winter happened and it became a bit difficult. Significant snow several times per week, plus below freezing temperatures meant no one wanted to venture outside, let alone this super skinny, wheelchair girl. But those of you who live in the northeast know exactly what I am talking about. Well, the weather has finally started to become a bit milder, and so winter hibernation is over, and training has resumed.
This past week, Marley and I took two outings together. Our first, was to several local shops for a few hours. Getting Marley ready in his boots and harness took a few minutes longer, since we were both a little out of rhythm. My mom came and picked us up, and we drove to the Lowes up the street to pick up a specialty screw. Not only was this knocking off an easy item on my list, it provided the perfect setting for us to get used to each other again. The aisles are wide, and fortunately, the store was pretty much empty. Perfect for getting the kinks out again before going to smaller stores.
I was unsure of how Marley would do, since we had not been out at all for almost two months (we had several outings that I did not blog about, sorry guys, I am going to try to do better). But Marley was more than ready to start working. Marley loves pulling my wheelchair. He can really get on a roll and he practically runs. One of the major things we need to work on is him going a bit slower so we don't leave our friends behind. We were just getting the hang of that before winter happened. Anyway, turning was a bit rough, as it usually is at the start of our sessions. Part of it is my fault because I always forget what I'm supposed to do, poor Marley never has a chance. Regardless, although it was not perfect, we managed, I got what we needed, and we headed off to our next stop, a brand new pet store that had just opened a few days prior.
Now, pet stores are a huge challenge. One space, dedicated to a lot of stuff intended to catch a dog's attention? Definitely hard work. Especially for someone as new to the game as Marley. So I proceeded cautiously through the store. We had some issues maneuvering, but as I said, I expected this to happen considering how long it had been. What I was more impressed with was his general lack of interest in the actual contents of the isles. He briefly sniffed at some cat food, but responded to his 'leave it' command without hesitation. I browsed through the treats, looking for something new for him for training. He ignored most of it without a second thought except for the self serve bins, which he did sniff, but did not get into any trouble (my mom even commented, 'I wonder how many dogs steal treats out of here'). Ok, so he is a little rough, but overall, he did well. I purchased some new cheesy treats for him, and off we went to the next store.
We walked next door to the Kmart. I made my mom walk in front of us so he could get used to walking at a normal pace. My mom and I wandered a bit through the beauty section, and settled on some sale bins. I placed Marley in a down stay, and searched for anything worthwhile. (I discovered stick on nail polish, and I love it, I am never painting my nails again.) At this point, I could tell Marley was getting tired. Not so much physically, but the mental work of the day was enough. He whined at me a bit, and was a bit antsy, so I knew he had reached his limit for the day. Home we went.
After a day of rest, I took Marley out again with my mom and my brother's girlfriend to the movies. We stopped at the food court first, which is my favorite place at the moment for training in a restaurant type setting without the confines of one. It allows me to put distance between us and other diners to get him used to being at a table, and to easily remove him if anything becomes too much, or he slips up. It is also a great place to teach him how to tuck himself out of the way and under a table, since there is more room to maneuver. Very important for training a 150 pound dog!We got our food and picked a table. Marley, the wonderful dog that he is, immediately knew to get under the table. He had his butt sticking out a bit, but considering this was one of the things he is really going to have to work on due to his massive size, I was happy. To his credit, as we sat, he continued to shimmy himself under the chairs and got his full body under the table! I was a very proud momma.
Once we were finished and ready to head to the theater, I gave Marley the command to get up, and he shimmied himself out from under the table and through the chair legs without knocking it over. Impressive. Our last outing may not have ended so well for the chair! Anyway, off we went, got our seats, and settled Marley down. I was sitting in the companion seat next to the wheelchair space, and I left my chair there, and had Marley get down next to my seat and stay there. Our theater recently renovated, and so we now have those awesome red leather recliners and assigned seating, and the handicapped row had plenty of room for Marley. We were seeing Cinderella, which I figured would be perfect. It is relatively short, not any loud action scenes or sudden loud noises expected.
The movie began, and all was going fairy well. I was prepared for the worst. I had no idea how Marley would react to so much noise and what not. My biggest fear was him barking, and me having to leave the theater. Marley does not bark often, but when he does, boy is it loud. Fortunately, all I got from him was some soft whining. About halfway through, he got a bit antsy, and he stood up from his down stay a few times. But I got him settled with a few treats and scratches behind his ear. By the end of the movie, he had sprawled out a bit and was sound asleep. Not too bad if you ask me! We made it all the way through our first movie without having to leave. And that is all I could have asked of him. He was not disruptive (except to me, needing to reposition him, the theater was mostly empty but for a few people several rows behind), and no barking. His down stay is one the biggest things we need to work on. He is not always great at them if I am not actively keeping an eye on it. But we will work on that. He did much better on this outing than the one two days earlier, which I expected. The first day was really to help work the kinks out from two months of no practice.
Although we did struggle through quite a bit, and his endurance is a bit lacking at the moment, I called these days an overall success. Why, you may ask? Marley is very inexperienced when it comes to public access work. A few outings are not enough to perfect all behaviours. There is no poof! Service dog! No, that would be far too easy. It requires work, and patience, and time. Time that Marley has not yet had. So yes, he was not perfect pulling me, and he sniffed a few things he should not have, and he did not keep a perfect down stay, but he listened, he did not break anything, he did not bark, he did not solicit attention, he didn't misbehave in any real sort of way. True, a fully trained service dog will be able to ignore the cat food. But he is not fully trained. If the worst thing he does at this stage is sniff a few things, but listen when told to leave it, I think he is doing fairly well. It is early yet, and we have a long way to go still. He will only get better.
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