Friday, January 28, 2011

Melanie Continues to Shine

A couple of local high school students have a project to do a documentary and they chose to do it on the BVIC. This, of course, means that Melanie and I will be a part of it. If they win the cash prize, a portion of it goes to the BVIC, so Melanie needs to start shining up her sparkly smile. Also, she is doing much better with dog distractions in the last week, noticing and anticipating meeting another dog but still responding to my "corrections/commands" to stay focused on her job. Part of the focus is the "super treats" she gets when she does so. But right now it's working pretty well.

Also, in April, we'll be in Pebble Beach with a couple of board members displaying a table scape of the BVIC. There'll be many other tables and all profits go to a local boys and girls club. However, the advertising of our special table, which will celebrate 40 years for the BVIC, will help bring our message into the community even more. Last year and again this year there will be a table featuring service (search) dogs. So, Melanie has her work cut out representing the BVIC as a product of the training I received and the training we both received through Guide Dogs for the Blind. Looks like a lot of fun.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Every Day is a Work Day for Melanie

Melanie tries so hard to be a good Guide Dog but her puppy habits are hard to overcome some days. We have good days and not so good days, depending on her attention to other dogs. If there were no dogs around she would be perfect, but, alas, that's not the case. So, we keep working on it. Sometimes, she's great the first half of the walk and the second half she just can't help herself. We're also working just as diligently on pace and pull, getting her to slow down and not pull so hard all the time. She's doing better with that. The best thing she did yesterday was when we had to cross a two-way street with a divider that we can walk around to cross the other side of the street. This street has a crosswalk but no stop signs or lights, so I worked with her to stop right at the middle divider before crossing the rest of the street. Yesterday, without my giving her verbal command, she stopped right in the middle, looked up at me and "said" okay, where's my treat? I gave her the treat, the love and thanks for a job well done. Melanie always knows what to do and learns so fast, she astounds me. It's just that she knows how to push the cuteness button and try to get her own way. Well, we have a long time to work these things out and I wouldn't trade her for the world!

Monday, January 17, 2011

Teaching Melanie to Put Away Her Toys

Despite all the other more important lessons Melanie needs to perfect (me as well), today I taught her to get her tug toy and put it away. The tug ring is literally used for her and me (and my husband as well) to tug and play. It helps keep her jaws and teeth strong and my husband thinks the tugging with her is good for strengthening his shoulder (the one he had replaced). Yesterday, I put it in a felt stool with a removable cover and showed her where it was and told her to take it out. It only took a moment for her to look through the mostly empty box and realizing I was encouraging her to take it out, she grabbed it and off to play she went. Today, I wanted to see if she'd remembe taking it out, which she did in a flash. After we were tired of tugging and not wanting Melanie to chew on it, I encouraged her to put it back in the box. Again, it took a moment, a soft voice, and she dropped it right in the box. What fun! She got treats!!

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Little Artists and Ongoing Melanie Training

About 30 art students from our local elementary school came by yesterday and sat on the sidewalk and painted watercolors of our Butterfly House. I had thought they had also come to visit Melanie but their 3 teachers had them on a very "tight" schedule and their "job" was to find something on the house they wanted to pait or interpret. So, we didn't get a chance to meet them but they sounded so happy to be able to paint the Butterfly HOuse. They sounded well-mannered and kept to their task.

Today, as in previous days, Melanie and I had lessons. Some she did really well, others like pace and pull were somewhat new. One of my tasks with her now is to keep her from pulling too hard because she wants to run down the rec trail. I keep stopping, using quiet words like "steady" and "gentle". It's not hard for her to do it on the way home because she still wants to stay on the trail, but it is important for me to keep introducing a slower pace. It's also a little more difficult for her to walk on the opposite side of the trail with bikes, people and their dogs coming up behind her. The rule on the path is to walk on the right side. When we return, we do walk on the right side but then it feels right to her. There are things she's picked up really well, like that big tree overhanging a sidewalk that I walked right into because she could walk under it. That was a few months ago and I trained her to stop just before the tree so we could go to the right and avoid hitting it. It's been weeks since we went that way and yesterday seemed like a good day to see if she remembered. It was amazing, as soon as we got within a foot of the tree, she just stopped and looked at me as if to say, "I didn't forget, where' my treat"? Of course, she got her treat and all was well.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Happy Birthday Melanie

Melanie is two years old today and she seemed tired. I guess the thought of getting a year older must have weighed heavily on her (or maybe it was just that the weather got a whole lot warmer). We walked a little this morning, stopped at the grocery store and came home. I played with her on the back lawn and gave her one of her favorite treat/toys, the Kong with peanut butter and kibble. She has a ball with that and licks it clean. Then she laid down for a long nap. But she was up and wagging her tail at dinner time and ready to eat. When I'm on the computer like right now, she is on her tie down nex to me and likes to keep pushing the keyboard in so I'll pay more attention to her. Sometimes I do stop and just sit down with her and rub her belly and check her all over to make sure she's feeling good. I sit right on her mat next to her and she thinks that is just great. So do I and am happy to celebrating her birthday together.

Thank you Puppy Raiser for your birthday wishes. She has become a celebrity of sorts here. One of the art instructors at a local elementary school stopped by the house today to ask if about 30 or 40 students could come by Friday morning to draw pictures of the house outside and one of them wants to interview me. I assume it's about Melanie but I'll find out. Well, Melanie does seem to love kids and is really careful arond them when we go for walks, so this should be fun for her.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Melanie, "The Magic Dog"

Yes, that's what they're calling her at our PG Trader Joe's. My husband went in there today to pick up some items and one of the clerks said to him, "wasn't that your wife on KSBW TV the other day with The Magic Dog?" He said his family were watching and they all started cheering for us. Well, of course, I think Melanie is "The Magic Dog", a real darling, and tomorrow she turns two years old, 14 in human age, just a teenager. I just got out of the terrible 2's, and now a teenager?

Friday, January 7, 2011

Another New Route

Since Melanie has had too much energy the last few days, I decided to take her on one of my "old" routes, one that I used to walk when I could see better. We took a long walk from home to Asilomar Beach and walked along the ocean bike route near the road. To get there we had to take a number of different streets, one partway through a somewhat forested area and then a road through the sand dunes. I really think Melanie enjoyed this new route and I felt really great that I could walk this route again. Some odd things along the way: a local contractor we used for some work on our house stopped his truck when we were on the forested road and wanted to know if we were okay because we were so far from home. I said thanks, but I was pretty sure I was on the right road and so we were. The other odd thing to me was that I kept noticing a highway patrol car either passing us slowly, stopped on the side of the road, or at one point when we had to cross an intersection, it was the only one waiting and I guess he/she just wanted to make sure we got through safely. It felt good that the locals are looking out for us. After that a car stopped and it was one of my co-workers from my previous employment. We had stayed in touch occasionally by email, but really hadn't seen each other for quite a while. He was thrilled to stop and meet Melanie for the first time. Of course, love, love, love. YIKES!

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Melanie is a Star!

Today, we finally made it on the KSBW TV news at 6:00 p.m. and it will air again at 11:00 p.m. They had to do a retape of our first interview because the "tape got lost". Well, we did it and although it only touches on a little of our experience together, it was real nice. For those who would like to view it go to http://www.ksbw.com/video/26370907/detail.html

It was short and sweet, because of Melanie, of course.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Exploring the Sidewalks of New Monterey

Melanie and I walked down Lighthouse Ave.. in New Monterey looking for the Goodwill Thrift store. I knew generally where it was, but had never gone there on my own. So, Melanie and I walked through all the cross streets with stop lights and went too far. Melanie hadn't been that way before and I kept saying "halt" to her as I checked out each likely store front. She patiently waited while I looked around and, finally, had to walk back the same way we went until I found where it was. Right where I originally thought it was, but somehow missed it. I may actually go in tomorrow just to poke around. Also, I like to get things that I can wear that I don't need to take lots of care with, like when I'm brushing Melanie, relieving Melanie, brushing Melanie' teeth, clearning Melanie's ears, patting Melanie's belly, etc. She did really well with dog distractions today and got lots of treats. She had a chance to play with an 8-year old neighborhood girl at our house while her father was doing some work for us. They've met before and Melanie likes her and I think it's good for Melanie to be around some young folk. This young girl is particularly fun and smart and listens when I let her in on the rules for playing with a guide dog. Of course, Melanie ddn't have her harness on, but there are still certain things that have to be observed. All in all, a really nice day.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy New Year From Sonja & Melanie

We did it! Our first NewYear together. Melanie has been real sweet and pretty good on our walks. She's really trying to overcome dog distractions; although it's not all her fault. Some dogs just come right up to her and what can she do but acknowledge them? I still correct her for her interaction but she is trying. My husband got her a New Year's present, another new dog mat, this one in the shape of a giant paw with the paw prints up so you can see them. It feels like it would be real comfortable and she's taken to it right away. I've put it next to my chair in the livingroom. My husband thinks she's gotten a little taller, she was 21" about 3 months ago, so I'm not sure if she'll grow more. Her second birthday is on 1/12/11 and she's still considered a puppy for another 6 months. If she has got taller, she doesn't seem to have gained any weight. I guess all the walking we do everyday is paying off (for both of us). I'm thrilled to start 2011 with my new friend by my side.

P.s. No news from KSBW as to when the interview will be aired