Weekly Training Update (April 23)

Lilly and I began our much-overdue 100% togetherness day on Sunday with a visit to Mom’s place (the assisted living facility). Lilly showed improvement in some areas, but … alas … one pretty “scary” thing happened.

The Elevator

It turns out that the main elevator at the facility makes MUCH more noise going up than coming down. So, Lilly does significantly better on the ride down.

She got a chance to do both twice because we went for a walk with my Mom outside.

The Walk

Lilly is getting much more comfortable around all the walkers. She walked nicely right next to my Mom outside, even when the wheels crunched a little on the gravel.

Sitting Outside

It was a nice, warm day, so we sat outside on a bench for a while, and Lilly did great, even when another family with a visiting dog made a lap. They were a good distance away, but Lilly’s face stayed relaxed and smiley. I could tell she alerted to the dog because of her ear movement, but that’s all she did.

Lilly also took kindly to a couple of different visitors stopping to chat with us. She even “poked” one woman’s pant leg and accepted a head pet.

I asked Lilly to sit between me and my Mom on the bench so that my Mom could pet Lilly, and Lilly was super sweet. She’ll never be a lovey-dovey girl with people other than me and Tom, but she is polite.

Hanging Out

This is my best attempt at a photo of the two of them. I wanted Lilly to sit facing me, but this is what I got. I’d say they both look pretty happy.

What’s Behind Door #2

Alas, on our final elevator ride down, the doors opened on the second floor, and one of the regular “house” dogs attempted to enter the elevator which already held me and Lilly, my Mom and her walker, and another resident and her walker. It was already pretty tight, and Lilly was handing it fine.

But, when the dog (Nancy is her name) headed straight for us, Lilly flipped out. She didn’t really snark as much as flop around like a caught fish on the line. It was classic escape behavior.

I got between Lilly and Nancy the best I could. I told Nancy’s mom that Lilly was afraid of other dogs, and she quickly recalled Nancy out of the elevator and said they’d wait for the next one.

I do my best to avoid the house dogs, but sometimes I just cannot. Perhaps we will start taking the stairs … just to be safe.