Home Training Day Two

13 February, 2011:

Home Training Day Two:

Over hot mugs of coffee Mike-the-trainer and I discussed the training programme for today. We decided that we would repeat the route we did yesterday then play it by ear. I worked hard to pick up on LD Mike's signals as we worked East along Court Street. I think I was doing better. When we got to the Post Office I worked LD Mike up the steps and did a quick circuit inside then back out and heading West along Court Street. I did better this time at keeping LD Mike moving as I worked him past the food distraction. LD Mike was also doing better about working closer to the up and down kerbs. When the three of us got to Lydia And Groucho's we discovered that the coffee shop was not open for business. So we reversed route again and worked back to our base of operations, the library. On the way back I did even better at keeping LD Mike working past the food on the ground and we had our first traffic check. As we were diverting into a parking lot off of the sidewalk because of a huge pile of snow in our path, I heard a pick-up approaching. LD Mike and I did, I think, very well and continued our route back to the van. On the way home Mike-the-trainer and I talked over possible training routes for the afternoon and we decided on working out of the library parking lot again but to head down towards the Walgreen's at Washington and Court.

Later that afternoon Mike-the-trainer picked us up. The route started out according to plan, but Murphy struck as we were approaching the bridge. We had crossed an alley and were getting back on the sidewalk when my foot hit a patch of slush and I abruptly landed on my glutaeus maximus, good thing I have plenty of padding there, and my back. I never let go of LD Mike's leash and instead of spooking, or bolting he came and licked my face as if to say, “We are not going to get anywhere with you down there.” After checking to make sure everything still worked right we crossed the bridge and found the second surprise Murphy had in store for us. The sidewalk across the street was buried under feet, literally feet, of snow. So we turned back around and worked back up to Schuyler and Court. We crossed Court and followed Schuyler North to Oak Street, crossed Schuyler and headed back towards Court. The walk back to the Library was not too bad, but I was glad to climb into the van and load up LD Mike so we could head back to the house. All in all another good day of training. LD Mike and I are working better together and I discovered that LD Mike would not desert me if I fell. That felt really, really good!!

To Be Continued...