Nearly there!

I must buy another bed –Today’s photograph shows just how much competition there is for Jerry’s.  He usually wins but is clearly prepared to compromise, at a push. 

 

As I start to write today’s entry I have both dogs nearby – Jay is chomping noisily on his Nylobone and Jerry is just lying quietly by my chair.  In some ways it is strange having the two dogs – one is special because of the time he has been with us and the close partnership I have developed with him, and the other because he is very engaging and because I know we will work well and have a lot of fun together. Somehow I have to make them both feel equally special.  With Jay this is easy because he now works with me and because he loves to play – Jerry is a much gentler dog and I tend to find him  standing nearby waiting to be noticed.  I make sure I take plenty of time when I groom him because he enjoys this personal contact.  Jay is surprisingly good at understanding that I don’t want him poking his nose in.

 

We headed off as planned this morning with Karen shadowing us in the car, she tells me that she gets a few funny looks doing this!  The only slight glitch was in the Tesco Express car park when Jay took me to Karen’s car rather that back onto the pavement – he meant well!  The route we take to our church Centre was very successful today.  The first time we did it Jay was very excited because of all the dogs running in the open area we work through on the way.  By now, although there are still plenty of other dogs, he has become much steadier – and that is only in a week.  He is a very responsive dog and is far too willing to please to be stubborn – unlike Jerry who can be very stubborn.  This has always surprised people who don’t know him really well because he always seems so easy-going – which in many ways he is

 

Tomorrow we will do some consolidation work in the City Centre and on Friday, if all goes to plan, we will Qualify.  For the next few months Karen will still be checking how we are doing, advising on the best way to tackle new routes and just checking that all is well. Although our training has taken very little time I am already missing the freedom which comes with harnessing my dog and heading out whenever I want to, so I will be delighted when we do qualify.