Sibbatical? Hiatus?

So, we've taken a bit of a break.
The holidays happened. Thanksgiving always starts it., the air gets cold and the days get shorter. It rains and rains and rains. It's dark when you go to work, dark when you get home. I thought taking the Canine Good Citizen training class would be a good plan for the winter, since it was an inside thing and would get Louie and I out and about. The last two weekends we had no class because of Christmas and New Year, and I've relaxed a bit too much on our practicing. You have to understand, Louie and I have this dialed in, this whole living together business. He is a great listener and we have a routine. He comes when I call him and stops when I say stop, he is obedient to my standard perfectly. Asking Louie to follow new command and stop and wait in certain places is totally different. I know one thing for sure, Louie always wants to do the right thing. It's not a matter of Louie obeying me as much as it is him understanding what I'm asking of him. The only way to get that down is practice practice practice!


Breakin'
Best part about our hiatus? Lots of Louie snuggle time! Taking a break from practice, class, writing and instead got in a lot of sleep! Family time too... but mostly sleep. So now hibernation is over and we return to class tomorrow. I know we'll need to practice a little bit everyday to get down all the moves Louie needs to know. We're just basically trying to walk and stop together better. He can't see so that makes it trickier. I know I'll find the right way to communicate and he'll get it.

I will take Louie on a walk before class and I plan to take a video of a 'Sit. Stay. Come' combo! What is fun and unusual about Louie doing this, you may ask? Well, Louie can't see. What's unique is what he looks like when he comes back to me. Remember, he not just coming back to me, he has to find me and navigate completely in the dark too! Video to soon follow...

I wish I could be as brave as Louie,
as trusting as Louie and as content as Louie too.