Tuesday

 

As we pulled out of the driveway for the third outing of the day, John said “This must be what it’s like to be a soccer mom.” We were exhausted and it was just past noon. Toby had his morning walk, we took him to doggie daycare while we walked the causeway, we picked him up and put him in his crate for a quick nap while we walked the neighborhood, then we headed to Petsmart for training.

Toby was so much better today in training. Whether it’s because he played with other dogs in daycare for three hours before class or because we were more relaxed in the afternoon or because we had already had the classes so nothing was new, it’s hard to say. But Toby was on task and got several compliments. Our confidence is growing too.

You can see the eye contact and concentration in the photos. At one point, we were all at the front of the store at the busy doorway practicing “Down/Stay.” The goal was for the dog to maintain eye contact and remain down for 45 seconds without repeating the command. Toby locked onto my eyes like he’s looking at John’s above. It was so intense and prolonged that I couldn’t help gushing, “I love you so much, Toby!” Fortunately, it did not break the spell, for the trainer also noted his focus and intensity.

We were a little afraid he’d be worn out from daycare, so we picked him up an hour early to take him home for a nap before training. This was probably his most active day, physically and mentally.

John rewarded him with a chew bone and this giant lifesaver, leftover Halloween merch.

I think this class has two more weeks left. We’re thinking that since it’s in the afternoon, we’ll be able to tire him out without daycare, so we can space out his visits on days when he’s not going to training. We’re still figuring it all out.

When we dropped him off this morning, the daycare was clearly short staffed. There was no one at the desk, and when someone finally came to get Toby, she said they were only staffed for two rooms. She said, “We’ll see how it goes.” As we left, two more huge dogs were entering. Plus, Toby was reluctant to leave us and go with the worker. He headed for the exit. She tried to calm us both by saying he has a good time and is happy to be there once he’s inside playing. So we had a lot to talk about on our walk. Our imaginations were working overtime.

When we picked him up, we got a glowing report: he played with everyone; no one ganged up on him; he was a good playmate to all. They noted that he was shy with the staff, but friendly with the dogs. The one bad habit they are working on is his jumping up on people. We are also working on that one.

Trusting other people with your dog is hard. It’s going to take more practice until we can truly relax.

In addition to all that, it was a gorgeous day: high temperature of 75 degrees and a low of 65.

Miles walked: 10.2

Miles biked: 0