SD workshop evening

Hello everyone.. well, tonite was the March meeting of the service dogs!!! We had a big crowd this month and Mom was so happy to see so many "service dogs" (some of us aren't "real" service dogs just yet). Each month, Mom is trying to come up with a main idea for the night, but this time we had two main ideas.... One being the tunnel. Teena (Freedom's mom) has this great little tunnel that is perfect dog size. It's a fun thing to work with and helps build our confidence. Here Rusty is being helped by his Mom Deb... he wasn't so sure about this at first, but once he got the idea.. there was no stopping him. I (by the way) loved the tunnel.. sadly Mom can't get pictures of me doing work when she is working me.. but let me tell you, I zoomed thru that tunnel several times!!! Now, the other "theme" of the night was --- DAD!!! I had wondered why he came with us, I mean Dad travels with us alot, but on puppy nights, it's just usually Mom, Camille and I. However, tonite, Dad got in the truck with us. And the reason we brought Dad along is because, he is a firefighter (a Chief actually).. but Mom thought it might be good for the puppies to see a firefigher in full gear. We started with just having the gear laid out on the floor and everyone got a chance to check it out. This didn't "bother" me, because I see Dad's fire gear all the time. but, for some of the puppies, this was all new to them.

Then Mom had Dad put all her gear on. He did this in front of all of us, so we could see that it was still Dad under those layers of clothes. He put on his big trompy boots, and walked around. And he offered dog cookies to anyone "brave" enough to come and take them. Logan caught onto that one quick, and a few of the "shyer" puppies, seeing Logan get treats, jump right on board. Course, I knew it was Dad along, so I didn't have any trouble getting those treats.

After that, Dad went into "Full" fire gear... and put on an air pack. Now I have to admit that was a bit strange, because is sounded so weird. That "sucky" sound really got our attention... but again Dad had cookies for everyone, and in time.. all the puppies would go up to him, and eventually, we began to play with other things and sort of forget he was even there. Which is exactly what Mom was working towards....

Course, there is always a part that is our "usual" obedience work... heeling, coming, sits.. downs.. stays....

the "boring" part if you ask me!!!! (I can do all this stuff... I want to "play" with the other things!!!!)

Then the humans always take a little time to talk. They love to talk about us, and tell each other all the wonderful things that we do... aren't we lucky dogs????

And before I knew it, the evening had come to an end and it was time to say goodbye to my service dog pals until we meet again. So, the humans got things picked up and packed up... and we were on our way home!!!!