Sounds great Kel. Glad you found out that she is going to do well with this. Sometimes they surprize up in a good way.

My male would not make it thru the seperation part without making a ton of noise. Jerky dog.

Good plan Kelly!

Cat was introduced to the hospital equipment in class last night. She never blinked an eye at the walker or the crutches. When the instructor's helper came out in the wheelchair, Cat walked right up to her and positioned herself for an ear scratch.

This impressed me- she's never been around a wheelchair before, and this one had a weird creak when the person in it moved a little. Cat never even twitched her ear.

We also introduced children- as that is part of the TDI test. They had a 12 year old girl playing with a tennis ball, and then a hoola hoop that made a rattling noise. After one look, Cat laid down and never looked at the girl again- no matter how much noise she made. After we were done with the part using kids, the girl and her mom asked to pet Cat and were very impressed with her. Cat's never really been around kids, but she really liked this girl and started to follow her out the door when they went to leave

She's taking it all in stride, just like Drift did. I thought for sure that I would have to do some desensitizing with her, or back up some training to reinforce behaviors, but she doesn't seem to need it. She appears to be very confident even when confronted with new situations.

Since Cat is doing so well, she will be taking her test in 3 weeks

Good luck to you on the test. It sounds like Cat will ace it!

Sound like you have found her nich, too. Good girl Cat.

That's just great Kelly !!

I had hoped that this thread would be more of a "training" thread so that as issues came up, I could explain how we worked them out (or didn't work them out). But Cat's doing so well that this whole thing sounds like nothing but a huge old brag...

Not that Cat doesn't deserve a big old brag- she's come a very long way. She was a kennel dog- not that she wasn't loved, or didn't get attention, but she was primarily in the kennel or a dog yard. As many Mals in kennels tend to be, she was territorial, and quite aggressive about it. I wasn't kidding when I said all of the food delivery people were afraid to deliver to the kennel They had to walk by her kennel run and she was a barking, snarling, spinning banshee.

When Cat came to live with me, I wasn't sure what she was going to "choose" to do. I took her to may classes to socialize her, introduce her to different things, build her confidence, as well as find out what she's good at.

She's done Agility and Rally. She LOVES Rally, and is a bit of a "velcro" Mal. I am thinking about trick training and possibly Freestyle with her... in addition to the therapy work. The flyball team would LOVE to have Toni's sister as well

But, as I said, she's come a LONG way. Because of her soft nature, she's never been corrected with anything more harsh than "nope, let's try it again" in a flatter than normal voice. She will shut down when I use a harsh voice- like when I found Toni butt deep in the fridge eating my strawberry shortcake...

So I guess that Cat's CGC and TDI certificates will be a testimonial to consistent and motivational training It's taken almost 4 years to get Cat where she is- but she's very confident, consistent, and she loves working with me- and it shows with each step she takes. I couldn't ask for more

I love brag threads. I love success stories!

Brags are good! You both earned them!

Oh Kelly, this is so exciting. It's great to read where she's come from and how far you've brought her.

A bit of goal with Vincent but he'll never be a therapy dog. You can usually tell by this point whether they're going to warm up to a predictable comfort and he just has no interest in people.

Echo is my little angel though. It's interesting with your "out of sight" exercise. This is one I need to work on with him. He's a therapy boy thru and thru. Loves people, had a healthy curiosity for wheel chairs right off the bat, was heeling nicely beside one the first visit. I've got a big rolling desk chair at home that he’s been around since a baby. Lots of treats from me moving around in it.

He hasn't been left with someone, other than Bob, "out of sight" though. I had a girlfriend hold his leash in our back yard and I started walking around the other side of the house. Apparently he was good but when I turned the corner he was standing right by my side.

She's not a very good dog person and said he just bolted. She wasn't expecting it and just let go of the leash. So needless to say, the next time has to be perfect. Someone to generate enough interest and deliver the treats at the right time. And then there's me. He's my baby and I have a real hard time at the thought of handing that leash over to anyone.

Kelly, have you done any elevator work? This is a necessity at the home we go to. Echo was a bit over a year on his first ride. He was great but they can have some strange reactions that you need to be prepared for.

I love your brag thread too!!! Just finally getting to it, wanted to give it the attention it deserved. Drank this morning's coffee with a great big smile on my face.

I don’t think you'll need it but best of luck in the test!!!