11/15/17:
Hiked off leash on the Homestead Trail along with a boarding dog. It was a weekday morning and raining, so we only saw one other person. (Terra was scared of him.) We had to pass a very shallow creek and she was reluctant. Perhaps she remembered the previous two times she'd gone into water with abandon and then regretted. However after I had crossed and was standing on the other side, she had no choice but to follow.
In the evening we visited Rachel. Haley and Frankie crowded Terra as we walked in. I was just telling Rachel that I needed to take her through to the back yard ASAP when I saw that she had done a little submissive tinkling... and then she let her whole bladder loose. So embarrassing. I let her play with the other two for about an hour, and then put her on leash and tethered her to the table where I was knitting. I took her out every 20-30 minutes and on the third trip, she finally peed in the back yard. Then she got to play again for an hour, and then back on the tether until it was time to go.
11/17/17:
We took a trip to PetSmart. I challenged her to walk slightly closer to people than before. She's improving, but slowly.
11/19/17:
We've aged out of puppy class, but Nancy transferred our credit to the adolescent level. The classes are in a new location, as well. We practiced going to her mat, hand touches, IYC, and stripping her ears. We wrestled and played tug and ran around. We didn't participate in any of the training exercises the rest of the class did, since they were focused on self-control and practicing polite greetings with strangers. We skipped the play time because I have a dog boarding who plays hard with Terra and I didn't want her to have any extra roughhousing to tax her body.
11/20/17:
Weight at vet's is 76.5 lbs.
I needed to buy special cookies at Trader Joe's. This was a new location for her. We walked around the front of the store (away from the stream of people going in and out) and sat on a bench. She fussed at first as she didn't want to wait around, but then she gave up and sat, then laid down.
There is a Babies R Us next door, and I could see that there were very few people inside. We took 2 trips through the store. The first one was in through the entrance and out through the nearby exit right away. The second time, we went down a couple of aisles before leaving. Terra was mildly curious about the merchandise and spots on the floor that she thought might be edible. I kept her moving.
11/22/17:
Today's field trip was to Michael's. She did very well and walking around. She wanted to sniff merchandise here and there, but wasn't obtrusive. (I do let her sniff briefly as I want her to feel comfortable, but I call her to continue onward after a few seconds.) We stopped in the yarn section for a few minutes, as this is a realistic thing for me to do when shopping. She fussed and wanted to keep exploring. I got her to sit (which was great as we, uh, don't practice this ever) and after a minute she inevitably sunk to the floor. It takes so much effort to hold that giant body up!
She tends to pause (and sometimes back up slightly) when people come into her line of sight. I always give a treat immediately. I can see that she is slowly transitioning to worrying less and being more grateful for the treat.
We need more practice with stopping on cue ("wait"). Her attention and leash walking were good though, especially after I switched from the Bark Pouch to beef liver. She seems to like variety in her treats.
Unrelated, I finished stripping her ears today. Now I wait for the rest of the puppy coat to be ready to come out.
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