Deeds feeling a bit better today, love the grin.

Only one full day of training left.  Can this be?  It has flown by so quickly.  We graduate Friday afternoon!

This morning we started to go over what we will need to do for the public access test.  My mother looked at me panicked and said “THERE IS A TEST!  No one told me there was a test.”

Just one of us has to pass the test so the dog can be certified to be a public access service dog with Deeds.  Jeremy nobly volunteered me, so he and mom are off the hook.  (Thanks again babe.  ha ha)

Jeremy has been handling Magpie a lot more since she has bonded well with me but wasn’t listening to him as much.  She was fostered by a female so they just thought maybe she wasn’t used to a male, and poor Jer is pretty quiet.  After spending a lot of time together they are doing much better and I’m excited about how she will fit into our family.

This afternoon we did tracking and Deeds was feeling well enough to do it with us.  There is no way to describe how awesome it is when you can tell Magpie is on Deeds scent and tracking him.  Tracking has a lot to do with how well the handler can read the dog and help them find the correct scent.  It’s been a spectacular thing to learn and we are excited to keep practicing with Magpie so if she ever does have to track Deeds she will be prepared with his scent memorized.

We did some more mall practice this afternoon as well.  It makes sweet Magpie tired to tether right now because Deeds leans against the tether because he likes the way it feels when she drags him a little.  We are working on getting him adapted to being connected with her and she is doing fantastic with the learning curve.

Jeremy and Magpie watching the kids play, look at that tail wag!

While at the mall we decided to treat little sister to a Build a Bear stuffed animal.  She’s been fantastic while we have been here and her old bunny stuffy is getting pretty tattered.  We got her a new one and after we were done and checking out Deeds pipped up that he wanted one too.  Ten minutes later we left the store with Xenia, sisters stuffed bunny, and Dayton, Deeds new Monkey.  We thought the names were fitting for remembering our trip here.  He and Gwen played with the new animals at the play area.

Deeds and Dayton

Gwen and Xenia

When we got back to the hotel Deeds showed Sock Monkey his new pal Dayton and then we caught this pic of Dayton resting on Magpie.

As we approach the tail end of our stay here and training I just have to say how amazing this has been.  Ohio is beautiful (I had no idea) and being here in the fall made it spectacular.  Everyone at 4 Paws is truly wonderful and interested in helping.  I have loved spending 2 weeks with these 9 other families and their amazing children.  Watching our kids interact and seeing the progress each one has made is spectacular.  The first time we tried tethering one of the mothers was so excited because it was the first time her son has ever been able to walk in a store and actually look through a rack or clothes.  It was like seeing a new child emerge from his shell.  This process has been much harder than I anticipated but I would do it a million times over for my boy.  Thank you 4 Paws for making Magpie a possibility for us.  We are eternally thankful.