Thursday, November 15, 2012

another day at neads

Our November check in at NEADS... another month is here already (??) I think Rylie is getting a little bigger, but she's such a peanut and I don't see her growing. She can still wear a puppy size vest, in fact, the "big dog" vest really is still too big!!!!
Our check-in's are almost routine, but even though we seem to do the "same things', I always enjoy these days of dogs and good friends, and always come away with some good training advise. Rylie and Marv quietly converse while the humans do the same at the "round table" talks (as I call it!!)
Then, it's off to the city. This will be Vicki's last check in with us... she'll be turning in during the month of December. Both she and her handler have come a long way in their year together. It will be fun to hear about her next adventure... and one day, we hope to watch her cross the stage at graduation...
June and Vicki... Kathleen and Monty... Linda and Marv... "enjoying" the city on a fine fall day.
Rylie, just taking in the sights.....
At the hospital, we just took a few minutes and camped out at the front door. The floor there is a metal grate and it "shakes" a little when you walk across it. So, having the puppies sit on it while people walked by was a good little training session. Course the puppies always draw alot of attention.

From there it was onto the elevators. Rylie enjoyed her ride, and as you can see by the others... it's "old hat"... (that's Norton's butt you can see on the edge of the picture)... Moxie just lays down and waits for the door to open.. Vicki takes in the view....









Here are all the Maine puppies waiting at the elevators... Rylie, Moxie, Marv and Monty.... we won't be together too much longer... Monty's turn in date is getting close too....

After elevator work, we went to get some lunch. This young man and his Mom were waiting as well. When she told him about the puppies he just had to 'see" them. Rylie was more than happy to become friends, and as you can tell, he was delighted to meet her as well. Even if our puppies don't make "service dog".. they have already done "good work"....









Norton... as handsome as always.....
Rylie took a little snooze while we ate lunch. I do forget that she is still so little (four months) and runs out of steam much sooner than the older dogs do. But she is really catching onto this "service dog" thing and I have a good feeling about her future.








Our next stop was the train station. "Playing" on the stairs is always good work.. we practice going up and down at different speeds, stepping carefully on the "slippery" floor, and then we take turns with each other's dogs.. just to be sure that they will work with others as well as us...
 Not only did we catch up with the commuter train, but a huge freight train went threw as well. Didn't bother Rylie one little bit. However, we did have a bit of trouble with the commuter train. When the train pulls up to the station, there is a space about 8-10 inches between the train and the platform. When I went to get on the train, I realized that Rylie would have to jump to get on, as she's too little to step on like the big dogs. Suddenly, in my mind, i could see her mis- stepping and "falling" between the train and the platform. It was all kind of silly, but I just couldn't get the thought out of my mind, and got so, I couldn't even get  on the train with her. I ended up handing her off to Rick and he took her on for me. She actually was a little nervous having to jump on the train, so it was just as well her "nervous" Mother didn't try to do the training.
And after the train work, we chatted some more and headed for home. We won't be back at NEADS until "next year".. but December is going to be so busy... that I know it will be here before we know it.