As I work from home on a Friday, our training work today was to walk without a trainer present from home to the little convenience store, either buy something or just wander around the shop and then return home.  Sadie set off with good pace weaving me safely around the many emptied wheely bins on the pavement and only momentarily slowed as we reached the pedestrian crossing point which would take us to my sister’s house.  As last week, I told Sadie “straight to the kerb” which she did and sat perfectly at the kerb edge (located perfectly for a road crossing towards my sister’s house).  I positioned myself for a right turn, telling Sadie “right”.  As soon as I started to speak I felt Sadie move forward as if to cross the road but as soon as she heard the word “right” she did turn right.  This shows great self control and obedience by Sadie as she would want, and expect, to cross the road to go to my sister’s house.  If you remember from day 1’s blog, I said I had often had to persuade Sadie to go straight past this crossing point and not try and aim for my sister’s house.  The thinking of my trainer that we allow Sadie to locate this crossing point, praise her, and then give her a clear “right” command is working with Sadie happily complying.  She did for a split second start to dither at this point but I gave her a “straight on” command on a clear, confident voice also using the hand signal and off trotted Sadie.  As we neared the Spar shop I asked Sadie to “find the door”, which she did although it was pinned open as the shop was taking receipt of a delivery, but I praised Sadie nonetheless as she had correctly turned right towards the door when we got to it.

I obviously picked the worst time of the day to visit the shop as there were delivered food items strewn everywhere in the store.  I had to ask Sadie to turn back at one point as the aisle was completely blocked…not great accessibility but understandable in the circumstances.  Sadie was a bit unfocussed in obeying her commands in the shop but I think this was because she was trying to predict what I would ask her to do in an effort to please me rather than outright disobedience.  She has always behaved and done as I have asked her to perfectly in all other visits to shops so I think it was because it was our first real shopping trip to this shop (I had no clear idea in my head of what if anything I was going to buy) and the narrow aisles and delivered items were testing her safe guiding skills to the max.  Sadie did wait patiently while I paid for the various things I bought and located the door well for out exit.  She initially wanted to turn right on exiting the shop, again probably expecting we were going further on on one of our familiar routes, but did happily turn left when I asked her to to head back home.

Again Sadie kept up a good pace on our return journey and had only just started to indicate she wanted to go towards the pedestrian crossing to my sister’s house when our postman in his van pulled up alongside us and said he had a parcel for me which he was on his way to deliver so gave me it there. This nicely distracted Sadie and she happily trotted straight on past the crossing when I told her to! And again she very nicely weaved her way past the many wheely bins still on the pavement and we reached home without incident with Sadie, as always, getting lots of praise and a food treat for locating my front door and getting me there safely.

Tomorrow my trainer is coming out and we are going to walk into town (I think, not entirely sure if we are getting the bus / driving part way down), doing some work along the high street and then we will take Sadie for a free run.  I am excited to introduce Sadie to the loch and park she doesn’t know exists in her own town although if she comes home covered in mud and having had a dip in the loch, I might not be so excited!