Another day in paradise

I just want to reiterate how lucky I am to be here. I've done so much and learned so much it's incredible!

Ogy with his cone

Lugar

Besides still being sore from my hike on Saturday, today was perfect. This morning I spent at Maggie's, which is definitely one of my favorite places to be. Kathy was the caregiver there again today, and I really enjoy working with her. After we fed/handed out medications, Kathy just let me work with the dogs. It was great. I started out with Jingles, who I've worked with previously. I love when the dogs start to remember you and get excited when you come by! Jingles is one of those dogs. She wouldn't eat anything, once again, unless I was on the floor with her, but I used that to my advantage and asked her basic commands using kibble as rewards. She gets really into it, not over excited, but she shows a good amount of focus and interest. Then I moved on to working with Fargo. Kathy and I were going through the 12 dogs just refreshing them on their basic commands - sit, down, stay, leave-it, etc. Fargo has great focus and was great with his leave-its. My next dog was Sherlock, who waits nicely at his door for me to enter (mostly because I have to wait him out in order to enter). Sherlock is great with his commands, and a rockstar at stay, but he definitely has a lot of energy. Ogy was my next dog. He currently has to wear a cone because he had ear surgery, but that doesn't stop him from being the sweetest dog! I worked with Goober next. He caught on to leave-it really quickly to the point where I had to block him only minimally when tossing the treat on the ground. (I should probably briefly explain leave-it, you'd use a leave-it command whenever a dog was about to get something you didn't want him to - from food, to medicine, to other dogs...really anything - and the second step of training it is throwing a piece of kibble on the ground (or toy or whatever) and saying "leave-it" and then blocking the dog from getting it by putting your foot over it. When the dog either doesn't go for it because he's trained or gives up trying to get it from under your foot, you mark it, treat it with a different, better treat from your other hand, and pick up the dropped treat.) The last dog I worked with was Lugar. This was my first time working with him and he is a very excited lab. He's obsessive over his tennis ball, so we didn't get too much training done, however he is very good with his sits and downs.

After working with the dogs, I took Sherlock for a car ride because he really enjoys them. We drove by the sand dunes and then headed back.

Fargo

Then I took Fargo on an outing. We went to Angel's Overlook and to the Labyrinth. The Labyrinth is supposed to be really very mellow. A volunteer told me you're supposed to think of a question or a problem you're having and then when you're finished walking through, you have a solution to your question/problem. When Fargo and I were first walking up to the Labyrinth, I got the weirdest feeling. Like complete goosebumps and shivers and it was very unlike anything I've ever felt before. I don't really know how else to explain in. Fargo and I took a little walk and then headed back to Maggies.

This is the Labyrinth

After lunch I was scheduled in Rescue Village with the rabbits. For a good chunk of the time, I worked on bonding Fargo (the rabbit, not to be confused with the dog I was just working with) and Benjamin. Fargo had rabbits he used to live with, but they started picking on him. Fargo is the rabbit I mentioned in an earlier post who has EC and can't use his back legs. Benjamin had a partner who passed away last week so he's been lonely. Bonding rabbits can be a long process, but luckily Fargo and Benjamin have gotten along quite well. During the bonding process, the rabbits don't live in the same pen yet, and they need to be constantly monitored when they're together. I started out by putting them side by side and petting both of them. Then I sat in the pen and watched. Rabbits will fight to the death, so it's vital to be watching them at all times when trying to bond. Today went really, really well. Fargo groomed Benjamin, Benjamin groomed Fargo, and then they cuddled.

 

After that, I did some odds and ends of things like passing out greens, which the rabbits really enjoy and some other things. An intern from a past session made a wheel-chair like thing for rabbits with EC that can't use their hind legs. We put Fargo in it and away he went!

I ended my day by working with the Colorado City cats. They're looking good!