Day 78

After almost two months with very little rain, the rains are coming down today as if to make up for the earlier lack. I had to personally escort Miss Can't Get Rained on Sanity out this morning for potty purposes. Then it was time to leave for our usual Friday outing. She pokes her head out the door and promptly pulls it back in. I insist she much come out and travel with me. She trots along beside me, ears flying, eyes squinted almost shut and head down. When I stop to lock the gate, she squeezes between my legs in a quest for shelter. Hops right into yet another strange car and is willing to settle down at once.

Once we get to the shop I make sure I have everything all ready before hopping out. It is really coming down hard and I don't want to have to spend any time standing out in it. Open the back door and call her, she comes as far as the edge of the door, looks out and starts to backpedal as fast as she can. Not fast enough, cause I am faster and quick, quick I have a hold of her collar. Leash attached the battle starts. She pulls. I pull. I pull some more. She braces some more. I win and out she comes. Heading into the shop is done at top speed. Luckily not enough rain got on her to cause her to melt or even cause her colors to run. I told her that would be the case.

Inside the shop was much busier than last week. She was really good about trotting over to her rug on the place command and then doing a down. Good. Got up once when she wasn't supposed to and then settled and hung out. After my nails were finished it was time for me to get a haircut. The shop owner just totally gushed when he saw Sanity for the very first time. Just went on and on and on about how beautiful she is and how he had clients who would all but kill to have hair the color of her coat. She not only said hello to him in an appropriate way but she managed a piece of his heart when she ever so carefully "kissed" his ear. I thought he would swoon on the floor. Clever girl, this one.

Next was the down/stay that had to be done on the "wrong" side and then not really at my side since the goal was too keep her out of everyone's way. She handled it with aplomb. After my hair was washed it was on to the chair for the cutting. Again, she needed to place, turn and then down in what she thought was a wrong location. We managed. The chair went up. So did Sanity as she tried to understand why I was moving straight up in the chair I was sitting in. Once she determined everything was fine she settled back down and held her position the entire time my hair was being cut and blow dried. Not too shabby for a puppy.

Once the haircut was finished we went back to the manicure station to wait for our friend Pam to be finished. Besides which, a major part of going every week is just to get out and have a good time and so we do. While waiting I figured it would be a great time to work on the hold.

Since the last of the stationary hold test had been passed with flying colors it was time to move on to hold with motion. I just continued to sit in the chair I was in and with it being on wheels it was easy to move it around as needed. First we did a hold at the old level and then moved on to holding while standing. Several successes later it was time to insist on that first, scary step. She dropped the dumbbell and got a correction. I put the dumbbell back in her mouth and we started again. This time she moved one foot about 3 inches. That was good enough for me. I started praising as I took the dumbbell from her, released her and let her move around a bit. Then it was back to doing the same thing again. This time she not only held the dumbbell and stood, but she actually took 3 steps. Great. Wonderful. Time to stop and so we did.

With nails and hair all done we all left and headed back home. When we left the shop it had stopped raining, yet by the time we reached the house it had started up again. By the time I was ready to jump her out of the car it was back to pouring. She jumped when called, down went the ears and quick as a wink she whirled around and jumped back into the dry car. This time the donkey act wasn't quite so bad and we made it back in the house without too much hassle. As I sit here writing this it continues to pour. I really dread tomorrow.