It's 4AM and I have just finished emptying the buckets and pans that are catching the water from the leaking ceiling in my office. It has been raining for five days now and I have been bailing since the leaks began appearing three days ago. I am not a happy camper. I am a tired one.
This week Lily's training plan was to have included: LLW on the Right Side, 30 second Paws Up on a vertical surface, Emergency Call Box stimulus control, light switch practice and Go By and Away cue discrimination. OOS and Zen in everything
Mother Nature had a different plan.
I have had neither the time, the energy nor the inclination to train mine.
But this Saturday morning at 4 AM I am reflecting on how I have used Lily and her training in stressful "real life" situations and now I don't feel so bad about no formal training.
Here is some of what Lily has done to help me during this interminable storm:
1. retrieved heavy wet towels and put them IN to the dryer for me
2. name discrimination (Lily, Stay/ Shayla Come)
3. 80' controlled Retrieves through high wind and torrential rain
4. off leash LLW w/me through wind and rain to and from the car
5. retrieve wet dropped paperbacks from difficult tight space
6. extended, OOS "Open Door" Crate
7. "Don't Go Through the Blown Open Front Gate and Escape to the Outside World" Zen
8. Sit/Stay on doormat while I go OOS to find towels to wipe paws
9. rudimentary "un-make" the bed
10. bring empty bailing bucket Retrieve
11. "Dirty Clothes on the Floor with Treats in the Pocket" Zen
12. Close the Door that the wind blew open
13. Move (my new on-the-spot cue for Excuse Me.....but it worked)
14. Get the Other One Retrieve: shoes, bowls, books, dropped mail, bailing buckets
15. "Stay Out of the Damp Grocery Sacks while I Run to the Car through the Rain to Get the Others" Zen (OOS)
16. Wait, Down, Come, Back, Go to Mat
17. Down/Stay on bed beside me until you fall asleep
STAY OFF THE SPILLED OPEN BOTTLE OF PHENOBARBITAL TABLETS ZEN!
Were my cues always given calmly? NO.
Did I do ANY training? NO.
Do I care? NO.
Am I proud? A resounding YES!
We lived life
together
as we found it.
My girls rose to the occasion. (and it ain't over yet!)
