smart-y pants

We had to take the brown car into town today to get a special superman coating that deflects flying rocks, so, even though I was feeling lazy, I packed Adia into the truck for an outing. 

After we dropped the car off we headed to the nearby PetSmart. I wasn’t sure how she’d do - this was her first foray into such a mind blowing environment, but as usual, she was a champion. Her nose was on high alert as we traversed the aisles laden with dog food and treats. Such a distraction! I was able to get her attention for microseconds, but they quickly grew to seconds - not sure that we got to a minute though! She got lots of pets from the sales staff and loved every moment. She is definitely a people dog. 

Hurrah for food driven dogs. I had a pouch full of kibble that was doled out generously. It really helps her to focus on me and calm her mind down. At the end we were able to walk down most of a row without sniffing. More work is required, but it is not a hopeless case :-)

We made a few more quick stops without getting her out of the car, and then we were at Grandma’s house (shhhh…. don’t tell Spike we were there without him!). Adia’s nose was going full bore again, but she quickly settled and had a mostly loose leash walk. She’s pretty strong when she puts her mind but luckily a little piece of kibble keeps most of her attention.

One thing we have to do more work on is getting her attention back with a strong distraction. Should I use her name or a little noise to refocus her? Camping will give lots more opportunity to practice.

Oh, and what is she doing now? She’s dead to the world in the bedroom! Such an exciting outing.

We picked up the cargo barrier for the car from Purolator this afternoon. We are anxious to try it out in the car! What a hullabaloo getting it here. Purolator would deliver with the construction but FedEx had no problem…

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

~Viktor E. Frankl