Update on the week

I have been so blessed to get such great dogs here. Normally, as a dog trainer, I'm working with dogs with problems. Here at Bergin U, I almost expected to get shuffled the dogs with problems since I have dog training experience. However, I have been given two great dogs that don't have any problems (!!!) It's fantastic!! Don't get me wrong, I love working dogs that have problems and finding how to successfully solve those problems. But it is SO fun to work dogs without problems! It's almost like a little doggie vacation. Xian is great. She has a really solid temperament. She takes everything in stride. We took the puppies to the mall today (for the first time) and she didn't flinch at anything-loud motorcycles, crossing busy streets, parking lots, other dogs, skateboards, crazy mall activity. She just trotted along, wagging her tail and happily taking treats for attention, sits, downs and shaking her paw. She spent the night with me here in the dorm room the night before last. She was a little whiny at first, but quickly settled down and put herself to bed in her crate by 8:30 pm. I'm working hard on getting her to perform commands on just the word (no hand signals) for the skills she has learned so far-sit, down, shake, come here, here, turn, kiss, snuggle (just to name a few). She's a joy.

Chrissy is doing well. We practiced pulling today. Service dogs are taught to pull wheelchairs (straight, left and right) for their handlers. We had a lot of fun practicing at the park-she did a great job, especially since it was the first pulling lesson for both of us!

Last night we went out to dinner at the Hop Monk (a local brewery/restaurant) for Kyria's birthday. Most everyone was able to come and we had a great time whooping it up late into the night (I think we crashed around 10:30 which is late for us!!)

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