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!