Lasts, October 12th 2012

It was one of my class members pup’s birthday today. Happy Birthday to you K pup. I know Missy had a blast playing with you. And your dad was okay too. LOL For anyone who is reading, K's dad is a very nice man, who we picked on each other all three weeks. Not picked in a bad way but in a playful way. so when I said K's dad is okay, I am just teasing. If he ever reads this, he'll get it. LOL 

 

On this morning we woke up to a morning that was very cold, but sunny with clear skies. We went back to a township called Patchogg. We were “told” that the route would be residential work, with a country block, with rounded curbs, and the instructors would not say much to us, that we would work it for ourselves. I had my suspicions about what they were going to throw at us. I went last this morning, which was fine because I took a nap in the bus, as I was so very tired.

 

So I start off, and right off the bat I have a traffic check. No biggie, we live and are able to get across the street. Missy stops just like she is supposed to. I lost count of how many traffic checks I had. But again we did great with that. It was the curbs and corners that Missy and I didn’t do so well. It was a fairly long walk, longer than all of the others. My instructor was around but didn’t tell me everything. She did help with the street crossings. Perhaps I expect a lot from my dog, we did well, but not perfect. The thing I do need to remember is that we are a new team. 

 

By the time we got back on the bus headed back to campus, it was cloudy. And when we got to campus it was raining. Today on the way back, one of the instructors on class, likes slurpees. So we stopped to get slurpees, coke and cherry slurpee, haven’t ad one of those since I was a kid. The memories that brings back.

 

 

After lunch another one of the students left, she had a wedding to attend. So now we are down to 6 students. After lunch we also had our exit interviews, where we get to rate the GDF program overall. There are a few things that should be improved on, but overall. I am extremely happy with my puppy, with my instructors, and with GDF as a whole. It is different from TSE and from GDB, but different in a good way. All three schools have a good program, so I am not saying they do not. But it’s all dependent on what a student needs, wants, and expects from a dog, the training, and the philosophy.

 

After lunch we headed to the Pet store in Smithtown. We took a short walk before hand, and then went inside the pet store. We walked around and looked at some toys. While in the store, I put Missy on a “down and stay” in the isle of all of the toys. And she stayed, none of my other guides would have even thought about staying still in a pet store in the middle of the isle with all the toys. I didn’t find anything I wanted to buy, but I’ll have another chance to go to the pet store tomorrow. At one point while waiting in the bus for everyone to go into the pet store, it looked like it was going to rain. But then the sun came out. When the sun was out it was warm and beautiful, when the clouds came back, it was cold and windy. Strange weather.  

We got done with our pet store adventure, so went to Carvel’s for ice cream. Yum!

 

Once we arrived back at the school, we found out whose puppy’s raisers were coming. The sad part is only two students have puppy raisers coming. Myself and another student. She has 2 coming, and I have 4 coming. My puppy raisers are from VA. Missy also had a special friend in the kennels that sent us a card.

 

It seems that Missy is a very special puppy, and she is definitely special in my eyes. I feel very honored that so many people loved Missy, that felt she was very special, loved her so, and are now allowing me to be her friend. It makes me so happy to hear that she was loved so. *sigh* I guess my heart is starting to make a spot for Missy in there. I still love Emma to death, but she also deserves to be happy. I love my Emmaline, and I love my labby girl. Missy did get a special present from one of the instructors, it’s a dinasour shaped Nylona Bone. I’ll give this to her on her birthday.   

 

So I have two days and counting left. I won’t even go into how much I am excited to go home.

 

Tonight’s lecture is about gum cleaning. I am not attending this lecture. So now I am off to work on school work. I will be leaving this weekend on Sunday specifically, so if there are not updates from me until Monday or so, please be patience, I will write again. Also just because I am done with training, doesn’t mean I am done training with my Missy. Her and our training is a lifetime venture. We will encounter new things and stations every day in our life together. I might not write as much, but I will continue to write about us and our adventures.

 

Until next time……