Monday, October 13, 2008

Team Training: Round Two Day One

Today Shilo and I started on road to becoming a team. This was a new experience for everyone involved myself, Shilo, and the Summit trainings, because they have truncated the team training since I have had a service dog before. The Summit training are giving me all the information and dog working time they normally have two full weeks to impart. Shilo rememer me from our previous two meetings and came running as soon as she heard my voice in the training center. All of the training repeated remarked that they had never seen a dog bond with someone as fast as Shilo has taken to me. That does not mean she automatically does everything I ask, however. We may be meant to be, as in love at first sight, but we still have to learn to speak each other's language. What makes each other tick. Not to mention the things each of us love. We spent the day learning to do the basics together such as sit, down, come, stay and stand. We also learned a couple of new things like how I push my chair and Shilo moving in tandem. Sue, Shilo's Trainer, was impressed at how well Shilo responded to me even though we still are just getting acquainted.

I find Shilo, who is a Shepherd mix, to be a sweet, sensitive, extremely bright girl. She wants to work and do well. She doesn't respond well to frustration on my part, which is there because it is hard to go from a partner of eight years with whom you barely remember when it wasn't fluid to a new, young partner. Shilo needs time, patience, love and care to become the wonderful partner I know she can be.

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