Pictureless Travel Report

If I took the time to download and put in pictures, I wouldn't have time to tell you anything about our trip. So I will do the trip report now and see about pictures later.

Let's see... we arrived on the 3rd in the evening. I told you that already. Thursday the 4th we mostly just chilled out at my parents' place, adjusting to the time difference. We got a walk out back and got all those nice pictures of Molly in the grass and my Mom gave Molly permission to play with Dumbo's bunny, which she loved. Thursday night we crated Molly while we went out to eat with my brother and his girlfriend at a Mexican place. Molly did fine in her crate and got a doggy bag of goodies from the restaurant.

Friday was a more hectic day. I had a doctor appointment and started by taking Molly in with me. But she had trouble settling down--there were a couple kids sitting and talking in the office and people moving around and I think she was just too excited about being in a new country. So my DH took her back out to the car while I got examined.

From there we went to Walmart, where she did really well working for me. I was in my wheelchair at that point and she is comfortable working with that now thanks to all those practice rolls at home on the bike path. My mom finds it odd that so many people look at her in her vest then talk to her saying, "You're working. I'm not allowed to talk to you. But you're a nice puppy" or something like that. I appreciate that they at least aren't walking up and handling her without asking, but it is a little distracting and she'll sometimes start her butt wiggle and jack-in-the-box spring butt effect. She's getting better though.

Friday night we went to my grandmother's. Molly got to be in the car part of the time while I greeted my grandmother's dog Jenny, who has always loved me. Then later we brought Molly in and tried to put the two together. It sorta worked but both were a bit edgy--neither has a reputation for being good with other dogs. So they took turns for the rest of the evening. Molly dug out 4 of Jenny's tennis balls that were hidden around the room and engaged everyone in play. She likes to make sure that everyone in the room is involved.

Molly impressed everyone, including me, with how quickly she learned to identify people by name. She already knew my parents as grandmom and granddad but by the end of the evening she was also delivering the ball on command to my aunt and uncle by name and getting better at IDing my grandmother.

The weather ruined our original plans for Saturday--the Green Lane border collie trial. But my old friend from high school was in the area for the weekend, so we changed our plans to spend the day with her. She has a small car, so Molly got to spend the afternoon with my parents' without me and DH. She did very well with that too and my dad got her out for a bit of a walk.

Saturday night my brother and his girlfriend came over for dinner and Molly got to help pick things up off the floor as needed, play with everyone with Dumbo's bunny, and just generally be a cute little lovebug.

Sunday was a big day. The weather had cleared, so we headed for the Endless Mountains Fiber Fest. As well as having sheep and llamas and other fiber animals, they had a sheepdog demonstration. A lot of people there knew or suspected that she was a BC and she got a lot of praise by knowledgable people. Several people did ask whether she was a mix or something because they weren't used to the smooth coats. I found it pretty odd when we got to the sheepdog demonstration when all the dogs there were smooths as well.

The demo was really neat and Molly was totally fascinated. We stayed through most of it and Molly got a little introduction to the crowd as a BC doing another job. I will try to get the pictures up eventually. When they started working a less trained puppy, we had to go because Molly was just whining like crazy in jealousy. She wanted to get out there and work the sheep.

When we left the festival, we took a very scenic drive home along the Delaware River from the Delaware Water Gap down to the New Hope area. Molly and I were tired and did some napping.

Monday was another busy day. We went to the college I graduated from (Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, PA) and visited the people I knew in the library. Molly came in as a working dog and met some people and spent some time chilling on the floor. Then she waited in the car while DH and I got a tour of the horse barns. We met two clicker trained horses, one of which was trained to pick up a toy from the floor. That was really cool!

Then Molly and I waited while DH checked out the dairy barn and some other stuff.

Finally we went to visit my mom's coworkers in the admissions department and Molly came in and made a great impression. She worked well and behaved nicely and it turned out that my mother's boss has BCs and his wife works with a rescue. So he really enjoyed her visit and it was nice talking to someone knowledgable.

Much of Monday evening we spent packing for the road trip. Tuesday was a hectic day with packing and errands. Molly had to stay home when we went to the grocery store because the car was packed with my chair. But she got to come later to Walmart and impress people again with her demeanor and skills. We met more of those people who say "you're working so I can't talk to you" in silly voices.

Wednesday morning bright and early we hit the road for Virginia, our first overnight stop. Molly camped out between me and DH in the back seats and we tucked her in under the blanket when she looked cold. Molly came to breakfast with us and lay down nicely under the table at Perkins. We were really proud of her for settling so well and being so quiet. DH sneaked her a few goodies as a reward. She also got to work while we toured a museum around the middle of the day. She again behaved well and made a good impression on everyone we met.

At the hotel Wednesday night, we put her crate on the bed because there wasn't any floor space. She settled happily into it on her mat. She was too tired when we arrived to eat, but got up and ate at 11pm after a potty walk. She got us up again at 1 for another walk.

Thursday we let her stay in the car during breakfast because we ate in a Waffle House and the space is limited. She also had such a big day ahead of her. Lunch we had in a park in Spartanburg, NC, and she got to come out on a long line tied to the picnic table.

After that, we had to Erin and Z at the Good Dog Academy for a training session. Erin has given us several tips before on our training and we thought it would be a good idea to see her while we were in the area so she could check out Molly for herself. Molly did really really well. We started by working on teaching her not to jump on people. Erin made some progress with her in a short training session and gave us a lot of ideas for working further on the problem.

Another big problem was Molly's tendency to be noisy while working. We have a good idea for that one now--having my DH do Molly's job if Molly is noisy because Molly _hates_ for someone else to do her job.

Then we worked on some socialization with Erin's dog Z and that went really well. Molly started settling down around Z and wagging with a loose tail. She got lots of clicks and treats for short and prolonged looks at Z.

We had a few play breaks in all this when DH played with her with her kong. We ended the session with some mat work. I've had trouble getting Molly to find her mat from a longer distance. Amazingly she did great and was even able to pick her own mat out at about 10 feet with a choice of 3 mats. Wow. We'd been doing some training there, so it doesn't count as a levels test.

Then from Erin's we drove to another Internet BC friend, Brenda with her boys Jake and JJ. Brenda did great helping us work more on the not jumping thing and Molly really seemed to get the rules. Then we introduced her to JJ. It took some slow work, but Molly was soon wagging at JJ with a loose tail. We let the two of them loose and Molly ran after him all over Brenda's fenced back yard.

It was going so well that we added Jake to the mix. By then Molly was playing like a dog and it was a beautiful sight. They ran up and down the steps to the deck and chased balls and frisbees and just played like dogs do. She also was quite comfortable drinking their water with them around. I didn't do any training in the backyard then successfully recalled Molly at 40' or so through the other two dogs... So that's a recall pass for my levels tests! YAY!

Then we headed for the hotel and another night's sleep. She behaved well all night. I have determined that my body is not happy about picking up after her when she potties. My DH had done it at the earlier stops, but this time there was a grassy patch right outside our door so I took her out myself. It is a little backwards to have an SD that has a primary job of keeping me from bending over then to have to bend over to pick up after her... Hmmm...

Now my family is itching to hit the road, so I want to get this posted. We had breakfast here at the hotel and let Molly stay in the car. Now we're heading for a few scenic stops before we spend the weekend at my brother's with my family.

Tomorrow we have an appointment with Robin at Shoofly Farms for a herding lesson! We're so excited!

A Visit to the Doctor

I had to make a visit to my doctor yesterday and took Molly with me for the first time. She hasn't been in that sort of environment before--where it was quiet, only few people, and she had to lie still and quiet. The challenge did not come easily for her. She was a little uneasy and whiney, especially in the beginning.

When the next patient came into the waiting room, she jumped up excited and tried to say hello. But when nothing came of it and I had her sit and lie down again, she settled back down. The next time someone walked in, she only looked at them with interest, but said and did nothing more.

Unfortunately, she tried to jump on the doctor, but he didn't seem to mind. I need to work really really hard on ending this behavior.

But in more good news, I now have a letter from my doctor confirming my need to take my service dog with me on our upcoming trip.

Lots of Public Access Practice, Eating, and Training with a Toy

Wow. We've been busy. Too busy to blog enough.

Two days ago when DH and I ran errands, I took Molly into a big store in town. For you Americans, it reminds me a lot of Best, if you remember those. You walk around the store and look at all the stuff. When you find something you want, you fill out the info on an order slip. When done shopping, you hand in the order slip and wait for them to get your purchases out of the back--in nice sealed packages and without anyone in the store having had the opportunity to fiddle with them. Some really cheap and special sale items you can just take out of bins, but most stuff works on the order slip method.

So anyway, the first time we were in the store ages ago, I'd seen someone come in and wander around a little while with a small dog on leash right past store people without anyone saying anything. It wasn't an SD. So I didn't bother about asking for permission, figuring I'd explain, apologize, and leave if asked. But no one said anything. So while DH returned the broken item we had, Molly and I walked around. She was so good!

Then DH also wanted to look at some other stuff so Molly and I went with. She continued being quiet and very well behaved. A very successful PA practice. Also the floor there is superslippery, so it is really good practice for the airport and other businesses.

Yesterday DH needed to go see the dentist for a follow-up so we went into town again. We sat down on a bench and worked on sit stays and mat for a while. Molly did really well and was much quieter and calmer this time. I think she'd just been a little excited the first time in town because of having been stuck home so much while in heat. She only made noise once and it was to bark once at a little kid wandering around alone. No idea why she barked at him. But maybe she was picking up on something I didn't notice. It was a 5-6 yr old boy walking through a busy town without any signs of an adult, so who knows. But parents are much more relaxed here in DK about leaving their kids alone, so it might have just been someone who lived locally.

This morning I started working on clicker training again. I got a lot of tips from Erin (Z's owner) so I am finally feeling confident that I won't devalue the clicker by not giving treats but playing instead. It showed me how way out of practice we are. I tried training Watch, a very important L3 behavior. She used to be able to give me 10-20 secs eye contact on command without much trouble, but I was lucky to get 10 this morning and she wasn't responding well to the cue. I realized I needed to back up and rebuild the behavior.

When I put the toy away, Molly wasn't happy--she really wanted to play with the squeaky yellow hedgehog, the only one she's ever had WITH squeaker (usually DH pulls them out for safety). I decided to use this excitement as a training opportunity and sat down near where the toy was on the shelf and invited Molly up on my lap on the sofa. After a while, she volunteered eye contact so I clicked and treated. In a little while, I got up to 15-20secs of voluntary eye contact. She was even offering eye contact while the toy was in her mouth. A few more days of this and I should be able to recue it and get her back on track for L3 watch.

As for eating, Molly got 1 handful yesterday morning (we went from one kibble the night before to the small approx. 32 piece handful). She immediately ate it and kept looking for more. So last night it was 2 handfuls, again eaten right away. This morning she got 4 and also devoured it.

We're going to stall out here at 4 handfuls for a little while. We want to wait to up it until she is reliably devouring that much _and_ looking for more. Then we can try building up really slowly.

I will try to get some pictures up a little later today if I can find time. I have tons to do, but Molly wants to report on her small friend that arrived in the mail yesterday, so I will try to find time to get pictures online for her.

Public Access and Refusing to Eat

Molly got more public access practice yesterday and it went really well. DH had a dentist appointment, so Molly and I went and sat on a bench in a very busy pedestrian area. There were tons of people and several dogs walking past us. She did whine a little, which is really bad, but overall it went well. She responded to commands well despite the distractions. We did some stay practice but with me still right there. She gave me a number of good paws ups both onto the bench and onto my lap. She retrieved my hat a few times. She also touched my hand with her nose on command several times. All this was with praise as the only reward.

I know she wouldn't have been whining at all if we'd been moving, but my goal was to work on her behavior while we are sitting still. She's going to need to be able to handle being still with people around when we are in the airport. I didn't think to take her mat with me. I think it would have helped.

Then we also went into the pet store for more dog food. She was a little overeager to talk to people there but also didn't have her vest on, so talking was allowed. I was able to get her to sit instead of jumping on people she wanted to talk to. She also did great with "leave it" for the baskets and tubs of dog treats at floor level!

The nice woman in the shop let us have two sample packages of dog food of a kind that Molly is used to (Acana), so that gives us some treats for the flight that shouldn't have problems with customs.

Another good thing on the trip front is that my parents' have received the crate, Orijen, and dog chews that I ordered for her for the trip. Also Frontline to keep her flea-free on the road. Now I just need her heartworm meds and we'll be set.

As for eating, she refused last night. She'd refused for DH in the morning, but ate when I came out and told her to. But last night she totally refused for me.

So this morning she didn't get anything and tonight she starts over at one piece of kibble. We're really frustrated but we so want it to work out. I also miss training her, but I'm working on practice with toys.

A Day of Firsts

Today has been quite a day for Molly. We had a long drive because I needed another treatment with a person a good ways from here. She handled that wonderfully despite the heat. DH had blocked off the sun on the worst side with a white sheet to ensure that she wasn't baking in the heat and still had plenty of air. But the car trip was nothing new.

On the way home, we went to the big pet store to which we had a gift certificate. She has been there before, too, so that was nothing new. We had to have her fitted for a seat belt harness and doggie undies for a bitch in heat (she isn't in heat now, but we want to be prepared with well-fitting undies for whenever it hits). She also needed to try on dog booties--I'm worrying about the heat of asphalt burning her feet on occasion and the far different terrain of the east coast of the US for our upcoming trip.

DH fitted the booties and she said nothing and didn't try to remove them. She did lift her feet extremely high and walk fun, but nothing else. She has tried a pair before, so that also wasn't totally new.

Then it was time for the seat belt harness. I can't bend down very well on a good day and not at all after treatment. So I couldn't help. DH and I also had no idea how this should fit. So the shop person fitted it for us. We told Molly to sit and she sat calmly and cooperated perfectly! For strange woman to put it on and adjust it and take it off. I'm proud of her.

Then the woman fitted her again for the undies. Molly was a little less patient that time, but still well behaved (the woman was impressed). The first size was a little small (it fit but had no room for adjustment--Molly seems to be filling out still), so she had to try the next size up. We had to be sure they weren't far too large to sit properly. With two pairs on and off and lots of fiddling, it is understandable that she got a little uneasy. But she didn't do anything bad. She just wasn't totally calm.

We weren't far from where my mare is supposed to be getting covered by a stallion, so we took a quick drive by there. Nothing exciting.

Then comes the huge bunch of firsts. We went to the airport to get her a little used to all the people and the noise of airplanes and everything. We park in the short term parking. It is clearly nearing time for landing and departure, because there is a ton of traffic. I put Molly's harness and vest on her. She needs a potty trip before we go in. The only grass is across the busy driveway. So we walk up to it and I tell her to sit. She sits and waits calmly. When there is enough of a break, we cross the road. I give her her potty command and she does her business--while she is doing that, another car passes and a large sonar airplane takes off about one kilometer from us. She didn't even flip an ear. She's never been that near an airplane before, especially not one of that size. We crossed back, again with perfect behavior.

Next we go into the building. This requires going through a large automatically rotating door. Molly has never, to our knowledge, seen a door like this before. DH was in the section in front of us. Molly did want to pull forward towards him, but otherwise took it totally in stride. Very impressive, IMO, for a very big first.

We walked up and down the airport, past lots of bored people, including a bunch of little kids. Molly loves little kids, but she walked nicely with me and didn't try to pull towards any of the people.

I decided I needed the bathroom. Molly went with me into the handicapped bathroom. This is another first. She's only ever been in the bathroom here at home with me before. She took it calmly, sat on command, and waited patiently until I was ready to go.

She did make one "error" after that--she was very happy to see my DH when we came out and jumped up on him. He often allows her to do this at home, but it's not good in public. But we did get her settled quickly and she was quiet.

We walked around a little more then decided to up to the upper observation floor. We took the elevator. She's never been in one before. Molly looked a little worried when it started moving, but said nothing.

Once upstairs, we sat down in a row of seats facing out over the tarmac where airplanes park for loading and unloading. There was an older couple a little ways away in one set of seats and to the other side there was a family with kids. I told Molly to sit. She sat between us and watched out the windows. Nice and quiet and calm.

When the family with kids walked in front of us, the littlest one probably just having learned to walk and with a pacifier in his mouth, Molly sat calmly and wagged her tail with a cute BC smile on her face. I did put my hand gently on her collar to be sure she couldn't go to the kid, but she didn't even try. Such a good girl!

A little after that, an airplane landed and taxied in. Even though we are inside, it is still very noisy. But she just sat there and looked and looked around at the people.

After it was parked, we also started hearing lots of yappy small dog barking. We decided it was time to call it a day and went back down in the elevator and out to the car.

All in all, it was a very successful first outing to the airport. She was calm and controlled despite the people and her biggest weakness--children. We don't have access to children on a regular basis, so it isn't something we can easily control to train her with. We only can rely on public access situations.

Our firsts for the day:

First time having a stranger fit her with a harness and undies. She's used to her BeBop harness and thrift shop kids underwear with tail holes cut in them, but that is at home and with me and DH. Being calm for a stranger she'd never met before is a very big deal, making it worthy of a first list.

First trip to the airport.

First exposure to big noisy airplanes.

First rotating door.

First trip to a public bathroom.

First time in an elevator.

First time sitting around in a no-regular-dogs-allowed space (somewhere to which she only has access because she's an SD).

What a day!

Obviously she has gotten lots of praise throughout the time. I didn't even take treats with me because I know she doesn't want them and often spits them out if she even takes them. So we had only praise to let her know she was doing the right thing.

Since we got home, she's also gotten a lot of treats.


You'll have to forgive the lack of pictures. Airport security forbids photography.

More Public Access Practice

We've been trying to get Molly out into public more. So yesterday we spent half an hour in the bigger town near us on a popular walking street. It took a little bit for Molly to quit pulling, but she did GREAT! She wanted to sniff a little, but soon learned to keep moving and stay with me. Her leash wasn't loose, but she quit pulling hard once I got everything adjusted right.

DH pushed my wheelchair so I could concentrate on Molly. I tried to praise her and pet her when she was walking right and when she went past people and dogs without a reaction.

She did get her paw run over once--she crossed in front of me at the last minute when a small furry dog moved closer to her. But she just gave a little yelp and kept moving. She seems to be fine, luckily.

Other than the yelp, she was quiet all the time except when a big furry black dog invaded her space and got rude. Then she only made a little noise and settled right away once the dog couldn't reach her anymore. She also didn't try to jump on people or visit them.

Town was really busy with lots of other dogs and people and kids. So I'm really proud of her. She also sat perfectly on command the one time we had to cross a street then moved again on command.

I want to try to practice on the bike path here to get her better trained with where to be by the wheelchair. DH thinks I should put a rod on the chair to hold her in place in a more fixed way, but I worry about the added width. It is hard enough to find space for my chair as it is and sometimes she has to go in front of or behind me for us to get through. So I don't think the rod will work.

One of these days, I'll get DH to take pictures of Molly and me with the chair. But it is hard for him to do that and push me at the same time!

Doing Better and Public Access

We've been taking it pretty easy and Molly is seeming a lot more like herself. I gave her treats for coming into the laundry room, which she ate gladly and without signs of stress. We did some mat training today to build up time. We're also doing lots of named retrieves with things she knows, like mat, pants, and phone. She is gettign really good at the retrieves, even from quite a distance.

Today we took her to Farm Fun, which is a petting zoo-like place next door to us. The place is crawling with kids and dogs on leashes. We got ice cream for us and sat down. Molly mostly did okay, but she was whining a lot. She still responded to sit, down, and target commands, but didn't take treats (so she also passed on the road L3 zen).

The whining was mainly aimed at dogs and kids. We need more practice!!

Our thanks to everyone who has worried about Molly and sent her good vibes. I hope to be able to report that she's completely back to normal within a few days. We're going to stay taking it easy a little longer and not add any new behaviors yet. We will probably continue trying to improve and practice things she is already doing easily like we've been doing.

Another Update

I'm sorry for falling behind in posts. Molly is not very happy about it either. But I've had a bug or something and been sick for a few days.

Molly hasn't had much in the way of training sessions, but she's been working with regular retrieves and taking care of me. She's also really been showing off how great she is at coming when called.

Friday we took my Quarter mare to the stallion and Molly came along, of course. It was a lot of slower driving in really hot weather, but she didn't seem to mind. We did have to make sure that she got plenty of water. She stayed calm in the car despite other dogs barking at her and horses round.

On the way home, we took a different route that included a ferry crossing. She was so calm that we're not sure she even noticed the change! The ferry was noisy and much different than driving.

Today Molly had a big first in public access. We took her into a very busy regular store. The store is called "Tiger" and is the Danish equivalent of the dollar stores in the US. I was in my wheelchair and DH pushed. With him pushing, I could focus on where Molly was and what she was doing.

She took everything in stride and was quiet and well-mannered the entire time. I had decided to take my chances on being asked to leave--DK law doesn't guarantee SD access to that sort of store--but even though store workers saw us, no one said anything. She was in her vest and perfectly behaved. The store was really crowded and there were people all over. Molly didn't solicit attention although she was very alert to all the people. The worst for her was a little kid in front of us that kept staring at her and was swinging around a toy golf club. But she could still sit on command and stay with me.

We also discovered how little attention people pay to people in wheelchairs. A very rude man butted in front of me in line like I wasn't even there. We'd been leaving a little space so Molly wasn't right up to the kid, but not that much space. When my DH commented to him that we were there first, the man got very rude and insulted my husband!

Even then Molly stayed calm and behaved perfectly. She was also great just walking in the street. I kept her leash pretty short so she couldn't get all over, but still--she wasn't fighting me and just ran along beside my wheelchair.

Needless to say, she's gotten lots of praise. We also spent a little time playing outside all three of us together in a shady area here at home. If we can, we'll make a quick run to the beach, too, so she can have a good play.

Practicing Public Access at a Pet Convention

Today our vet's office was doing a huge event in cooperation with another local vet. The program included a broad range of horse and dog events and booths. The public was invited to come for free and bring pets on leashes. So of course we thought this was a great day to get Molly out for some practice in her new vest.

It was a lot for her to handle and we were prepared for it to be hard--she has never been in so much of a crowd before, especially not one including so many dogs. But it is a good place to start because she's allowed to be a dog and wouldn't be getting into trouble or attracting negative attention if she barked or whined or growled a little.

The weather was not ideal for such an event--it started raining (finally--we need it desperately so can't complain) and some of the time was pouring hard. The ground was hard and uneven with rough stubble from recently cut hay that is brown and stiff from the dry weather. Between the ground and the rain, we decided the wheelchair had to stay in the car. So I was managing on crutches and had no where to sit. My pain level was pretty bad and I couldn't very easily bend down to pet or praise Molly.

DH really wanted to see the horsemanship demonstration (I did too, but having Molly cope well was a higher priority for me), so we found a good spot for watching that. It just happened to be near one of the exhibitors, who had an X-pen with a litter of pugs or mops or something. A whole bunch of them if not a litter. Now Molly did very well just settling down and being with us. But those little beasts started growling and barking at her from their pen. The exhibitor didn't seem to mind her dogs acting up, but it bothered Molly. I moved her around a little and gave her a few commands and she quickly settled down and ignored them even though they hassled her most of the time we were there. That really made me proud.

A lot of dogs went past us and mostly she just acted like she wanted to say hi, something I discouraged. The only time she did more was when an old male black lab stared at her for a while and she suddenly barked at him. She definitely didn't feel safe with that dog and again the owner didn't care, so I took her for a little walk away from the crowd so she could get some space and air and settle down. Fortunately for me, it didn't take her long to regain her equilibrium. When we got back to DH, the dog she didn't like was gone.

She's still too eager to talk to people, so I really have to work on that more. Mostly I just kept her close and put her into downs or sits and it went fine. What really worked was when she noticed the horses in the arena. Then she went into a down and watched them. It wasn't as focused as it often is at home, but it kept her from wanting to do a ton of other things and she really behaved well. She also showed no signs of wanting to herd the horses.

Molly also attracted attention both for being an unusual sight in a border collie--most Danes aren't used to the short hair version. But if you're a BC person reading this, you're probably nodding your head in agreement if you live anywhere in the world and own ANYTHING other than a black and white long haired BC--but also for her vest. People were very interested in what it meant and in what she can do. Except for once right before we left, Molly demonstrated by picking up my hat and giving it for me. She ended up being an ambassador for service dogs and really impressing people.

One person that talked to us was a little girl who was disappointed we weren't doing a demonstration. She'd seen service dogs on TV and hoped that might be what the vest meant. I think she really felt special when I gave Molly permission to talk to her and Molly picked up my hat to demonstrate. That was really cool. It was also neat hearing people leaving us and telling other people how impressive Molly was with what she can do.

Another person that came up and talked to us did so because she recently adopted a dog that looks like ours (sounds more like a rescue). She's supposed to be a couple year old BC, GSD (german shephard), and somethign else mix. So she was asking some questions and we had a great talk. I recommended she look into clicker training and get her kids involved (she had a couple little girls). She was asking if it was normal for the dog to be such a magnet, so I explained about BCs and their bond to humans.

A final fun point for me was checking out a "border collie" that was going to be taking part in a Danish Kennel Club exhibition. I went seeking the person and dog out in the tent. Looked like a pudgy thing, to be honest. I asked her if it could herd. No, it didn't like sheep. I asked her about it's breeding. She bragged about it's obedience background--it's mother apparently was a world champion in obedience. I told her it wasn't a border collie and started to walk away. She got mad and asked me what I meant.

So I explained that BCs are working dogs. So a BC is only a BC if it is bred in a working tradition. The dog she was so proud of wasn't really a BC. I walked away. It would have been a waste of time for me to talk to that person. Also meant no point hanging around for the "herding breed" part of the club exhibition. IT DIDN'T LIKE SHEEP! I don't care what you use the dog for, but a dog that far removed from the behavior that defines a border collie just can't be a border collie. What really makes it bad is using a dog like that to demonstrate the breed to people who aren't familiar with it. It's just WRONG.

Really it's a sad thing--that the DKK is as bad at the AKC in ruining the breed. But it made me feel good that I'd been teaching people about real BCs, their intelligence and need for a job and how and why they bond with their people like they do, when she had nothing but a barbie collie and was supposed to be the important person. Molly may not be top working bred, but she has herding potential and she definitely knows that sheep are for working. Even without papers, she's more border collie than that DKK registered blob of fur could ever be.

I am totally beat from too much time on my feet, so I'm going to crash in bed for a while. Molly isn't tired at all. She wants to play and train. I'm sure she'd be happy to do the day all over again if we gave her half a chance.

As for the weather, we've gotten a decent bit of rain but nowhere near enough. We're hoping more will come because there are thunderstorms in the air. I can hear it rolling. She doesn't mind thunder, thankfully.

More Public Access Practice

Practicing public access is essential for Molly's training as a service dog. We're still waiting on her vest but it should be in the mail (international mail does take time and the fact that we had a national holiday yesterday doesn't help).

So since we're vestless, we're still restricted to outside areas and pet stores. The other day we went to a pet store again and Molly showed real progress. There weren't many people in the shop. She was still excited about the shopkeeper and wanted to jump up, but responded well to sit commands so she was on all fours instead. It's a great way to keep her from jumping--if we get her down in a sit, we can abort the jump and give a positive task to praise her for instead of worrying about restraining her all the time like so many people do. Also jumping is self-reinforcing, so it helps to offer a behavior with even more reinforcement. It is additionally a step closer to the end SD behavior we want--a dog in control of itself and focused on the handler.

Once she'd been greeted, she was able to settle down and walk with me on a loose leash. She sniffed things a little but discretely and in a way that didn't disturb the merchandise. She wasn't trying to eat the treats and bones in buckets on the floor, so I'm really happy about that--I didn't even need leave its.

With our upcoming US trip and my worries about the different terrain, we wanted to try some dog boots on her. She took it totally calmly. DH did the fitting because I couldn't get down very well. But she stood still and patiently while he put boots on her front feet and adjusted them. Then she walked around, awkwardly, but without signs of distress and still with her brain and interest in other things. They actually seemed okay, but we want to look another place yet.

After we got those off and were standing and talking, Molly just relaxed and stood next to me. I hadn't given her something to do--she just settled calmly on her own. Some other people came in during that time. She was especially interested in the kid that came in and it didn't help that he kept staring at her, but she stayed in control. She looked at him but stayed with me and didn't pull. A simple no got her to settle back by my side.

The shop keeper offered some taste tests of some treats for her. So it was a perfect time to test how well she could sit and lie down in a strange environment on a single command. She did perfectly, took the treats, and was very nonchalant about the whole thing. She didn't used to be interested in food away from home, so that and her quick response to commands shows how far she has come with public access.

I'm sure she'll just keep getting better with more practice. I'm eager for her vest to arrive so we can try to vary the environment more. It should also help with public reactions to her.