This morning we tracked @ Peirce Park in Xenia. Trapper ran off several times & Zion let us know when he would jet off....well except for the one time when he had to "go" & Rob wasn't paying attention...and I was talking to Renee & Cyndi on the other side of the parked cars (assuming Rob was watching)...I had a hard time catching him, but thanks to a little girl named Jessica (who is eight & runs faster then me)...she just about tackled Trapper before he made it to the busy road.
So after Jeremy saw the tail end of this "retrieval of our super fast kid"...he said we could try tethering now. So we did.
It was great Trapper loved it & Zion was hard at work, he turns very serious...Rob with Zion at a "heel" worked with the tethering system on Trapper for about a half hour. The only problem was that Trapper didn't want to stop the tethering...because it was fun for him.
After finally convincing Trapper that Juice & Corn chips were much more fun....we got ready for a "track of Trapper" in a heavily wooded area of this park. Trapper & I (mommy) started down a path...Zion whimpered & barked as if to say "wait for me"...Zion loves the tracking game! So Trapper & I came to two different forks in the trail. The first one had a man with a walking stick hiking along on the left fork, so we went right...the second fork in the road we turned left, but then after going a few feet I thought maybe Jeremy said to go the other way. So we turned around & went down the right fork...then around a few more bend & into a clearing. We sat inside
the brush on a tree stump & Trapper drank his juice.Jeremy & Rob (daddy) started the track & Zion was sniffing & had found the trail...he made the same turns we did & found us in what seemed like seconds after we sat down on the log. We rewarded Zion with crazy amounts of praise & hot dog pieces (which appear to be his favorite food ever!). It was a great track & I have totally fallen in love with this dog! Who wouldn't? Zion is a great tracker & such a cuddle bug too! He is the perfect dog for Trapper & after seeing his tracks...we have no question that he is an answer to our prayers.
After tracking in the morning, we went back to the 4 Paws Facility to train more under Jennifer. We worked on being able to go into a restaurant & getting our dogs not to eat scraps or food off the floor. For poor Zion who loves beggin strips...we worked on the "under" command used to keep the dog from being stepped on in resteraunts...Zion will go under the table or as much as he can get under it....then during training we would drop things off the table...so kind of a "temptation torture training";) & we learned how to correct Zion's behavior if he decides to try for the dropped food. Zion did manage to eat one beggin strip because I wanted Rob to give it a try & I don't know if Rob understood what we were doing. He was watching Trapper & I didn't really get to explain what
we were training to do before handing it over to Rob. So, Zion got away with it. He really is just like a child.;)We also worked on tethering...not actually tethering our child, but being good handler's for our Service Dogs who are trained to tether. This gave us another huge boost of confidence in our son's service dog...he must have spent a lot of time training for tethering, because he is awesome at it!
Toward the end of class instructions with Jennifer, our daughter Katie showed up with
Grandma & Papa Leeth & Aunt Melissa (who we haven't seen in a few years)...they then came with us to the Mall. The Mall was crazy! We thought we could eat lunch there, but that didn't really work out. Rob & I took turns working with Zion in the mall. Zion did excellent with heeling, crowds, commotion, elevators, stairs... and all commands. He worked hard to show us that he knows what he is doing.:o) The only issues we had was the amount of people who didn't ask before touching Zion. The one child that grabbed Zion's tail as we were going up the stairs was particularly annoying...but get this, Zion didn't even turn to look at the kid. He just slowed down & kept right on going up the stairs with me.***A note for anyone reading this who doesn't know this...if you or your child would like to touch a service dog, "ask". Personally I would prefer you ask my son,, but most likely I will help him answer as he doesn't talk. This may help build his communication skills though & give him some social situations that will build his interactions with others...by example. If the dog is working at the time we may say that. It is not to be rude, it is because the dog is working. Also please wait until we get the service dog ready. We may need the service dog to be in a "sit" or a "down" position. Before this training, I didn't know any of this...but I still would never have touched a service dog with out asking first & I would NEVER grab the poor dogs tail while he is working.
So After a few hours at the mall (thanks to our visiting family who helped watch Trapper & Katie while we too turns working with Zion)...we headed back to the hotel and visited for a little while before saying goodbye because they had just driven up for the afternoon. Katie went back to her Grandparents home too. Trapper really missed his sister. We had Trapper & Zion in our vehicle & Katie went with her Aunt & Grandparents...Trapper screamed "KaTee" the whole way from 4 Paws to the Mall & then from the Mall to the hotel! He really misses her....that was so awesome to see & hear! Yes, him screaming Katie name was actually a blessing to us.;)
So we thought we were done for the night...we started to get Trapper ready for bed. He was in the bath & we placed Zion on the outside of the tub in the "down" command so Trapper would stay in the tub. We look over because Trapper is giggling and there is Zion with his two front paws in Trapper's bath & Trapper is trying to push him from behind into his bath. So Zion got in & Trapper just loved that. After they both shared a bath, Trapper had a little bag of GFCF cookies & a handful of dog treats. He sat and ate one of his coookies...and then gave a treat to Zion...then he ate one of his cookies & gave a treat to Zion! Awesome...they are bonding!!!
Zion slept most of the night on Trapper's bed, but was feeling sick again in the morning...that is our guess as to why he got back down on the cool floor near the door the remainer of the night.
What a crazy long day our fifth day was! We are very proud of Zion though, he worked so hard...he slept pretty good too.
~written by Jami (Trapper's mommy)
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