Scary Camouflage

Coffee.  All I had on my mind was getting a cup of coffee before the cafeteria closed before 9.  We were walking at a fairly brisk pace and had just turned right down the main hallway toward the senior mall when Dewey stopped short.  

"Dewey?" Nothing.  I noticed that his ears were up and he was staring intently dow the hall.

I looked down the hall.

The view down the hall: a large camouflaged backpack with a beam of sunlight falling on it.

There were two backpacks on either side of the hallway, but Dewey wasn't looking at them.  He was staring straight ahead.  Intently.  There, in the bright sunlight, was Caleb's oversized camouflaged backpack.

Dewey was not going to go any closer.  I tried the happy voice.

Nope. Nothing.

I looked at Christina.  She went over the backpack and kneeled down beside it.

She tried the happy voice, "Dewey! Come! It's okay!"

I tried the happy voice where I was beside him, "Okay buddy, let's go! You can do it!"

Dewey walked forward a few steps.  He looked up at me.  He looked at Christina.  He walked a few more steps. We kept up the happy voices and he kept slowly walking.  I decided not to come at the backpack directed and we took a wide arc to come at it sideways.  Dewey's pace increased.  His nose started twitching. Christina was still calling him in a happy voice.

He was always in a forward motion. Finally we arrived at the backpack and Dewey came right up to it and sniffed.

He backed up two feet and then approached the top again, opened it with his nose and got a good sniff.

"Well, that's nosey," I said.  I closed the top. He sniffed the backpack up and down.  It was no longer scary.

Dewey leaning against the backpack.

We came back about 15 minutes later with my iPhone to take photos. He walked right up to it, no problem.  Fear conquered.

Good job Dewey!

Nature Boy

We have a big puppy party coming up in December.  So we are busily trying to get our crazy yard to look ship shape.  This weekend that meant that we had to replant all of the beds under the windows of the garden room.  Since we have tried several different kinds of plants there (gingers, to name just one that comes to mind) and all of them have failed miserably, we thought we would go with a drought tolerant variety: succulents.

Coach is sitting by the left hand side of a large black rack of succulents.  There are three full shelves of plants.

We were rather pleased with our choice, but Coach wasn't.  As we approached the succulent stand, his tail drooped until it was practically tucked under.  He was not happy about succulents.  He didn't want to go near the stand or the plants.  

Of course, he doesn't get to make that choice.  As a Southeastern Guide Dog in training, he has to at least attempt to become acquainted with things he doesn't like.  I parked the cart and we did a right about and walked back to the succulents. 

"Look at those awesome plants, Coach. Aren't they great?"  I was talking in a cheery voice.  The man in the aisle next to me started to laugh.  I'm sure he thought I was crazy.  Coach looked at me like I was crazy.  His tail was still down, so I walked closer and he followed me willingly.  "These plants rock."

Coach was clearly doubtful.  He got close enough to sniff.  He sniffed a jade plant. His tail began a little wag.  I said nice things about his manhood and his tail wagged some more.  I think we were good here, so I began to load up the cart with succulents.

Coach is sitting on the left of the shopping cart and is looking up at the succulents in the cart.

Coach didn't mind them in the cart and sat rather close to them.  Perhaps it was the shelving instead that he didn't like.

Coach is in the side yard by the green wagon.  He is looking at the planting bed that has new succulents in it.

Just to make certain, Coach joined me for a gardening lesson and seemed very uninterested in the plants at all.  He certainly didn't fear them.

Coach is standing by the edge of the koi pond with his front feet a little splayed out.  A white water lily if in front of him in the water.

Later, we checked out the water lily that was blooming in the koi pond.

Coach leans into the lily to take a sniff.

He seemed able to stop and sniff the lilies, if you know what I mean.

Coach stands at the end of the pond looking into the camera.  The lily pads and flower are all in the foreground. He has his head tilted slightly to the left.

My little nature boy.  Not afraid of succulents after all.  Willing to lean out over ponds and sniff flowers.  Adventurous.  That's what he is!

Mastering Your Fear!

Sometimes, it is the unexpected things that give us pause.  That make us say, OMG!  That frighten us or make us timid and shy.

Sometimes, it is only repeated exposure that make us comfortable with those things, with the OTHER that has frightened us.

And so it was with Coach.  We were shopping for some things to help with our Halloween outfits when we headed down an aisle that had a whole big wall of FAKE BIRDS.  Who knew that fake birds were so scary.  I didn't.  But to Coach, it was like meeting a zombie.

He reared back and wouldn't go near them.  If he had been human and knew karate, he would have kicked that stand down and stomped those fake birds into dust.  Or perhaps not.  He really didn't want to get close to them.  I think he was afraid they would leap onto him.  I swear we have not been watching Alfred Hitchcock movies at home!  He is not channeling Tippi Hedren.

So, when met with a object that your puppy finds scary, as a Southeastern Guide Dog puppy raiser, we are supposed to get our puppy to at least come back and try to go next to it or get closer to it.  And try again until they gradually lose their fear.

We were in a pretty empty Michael's, so I whipped out my iPhone and started to video tape the exercise.  I thought he was pretty good.  He would get close and then back away.  But ultimately, he grew annoyed with me and gave a huge big boy bark, just one, that the entire store heard.

"MOM! Enough already!!"

Ooops.  Sorry, buddy.  I'll stop filming now and take you away from the birds.  I did however, buy two of them and we continued to deal with this issue.  In the end, well, I'll let you see how Coach finally masters his fear of fake birds by watching the video I put together.

Lacrosse Sticks Aren't THAT Scary

A few weeks ago, (HRH) Berkeley evinced some fear when two lacrosse players ran by her in full costume with their sticks. Of course, looking like the photo at left Impact by Geoff LaRose from Jesuit High School, Tampa, FL didn't help any either!

After the film festival I waited with the kids for their parents to come and pick them up. Carter, who happens to be the goalie for the lacrosse team, had his lacrosse stick with him and was twirling it around. Since HRH was a bit skittish, Carter happily twirled the stick for HRH to see if she would get comfortable with it.

Darth must have emboldened her.



We will still be attending a lacrosse match at some point in the future. Something tells me that twirling the stick and a full on match are two completely different things.