Flashback to My Dog Adventure: day 1

This week all across the country Canine Companions for Independence is holding Team Training, a two week class culminating in the graduation of new service dog teams. I went through this in May of 2012 and thought this would be a fun chance to look back at some emails I sent out to the folks back home.  

Monday, May 7, 2012

 Hi all,
Today was the first of many training days! We spent most of the morning hearing presentations on things like what the dog expects from its leader (me!), and the way a dog thinks- very reactionary! 
After lunch we got to practice a few commands... on our human trainers! Finally, after getting the trainers to obey our commands (not always easy- they know how to imitate the worst of dogs!) we got to try the real thing! I worked with three different dogs- Dash, a black lab, and Tamale and Ansel, both yellow labs. It was interesting to observe the different strengths and weaknesses of each dog. The commands we practiced were sit, down (lay down), let's go (what many refer to as "heel"), and shake. Basic stuff but still a thrill when the dog responds well!
Tomorrow should be a similarly formatted day, but with new commands and possibly other dogs to work with. I'll write again if anything exciting happens or else stay tuned for Wednesday when we are given a tentative assignment for which dog will come home with us!
Much love to all,
Emily
PS. Meet Tamale in the attached photo!