Day 5 of Training @ 4 Paws & Tethering in Public

Today was one for the history books.  We are in the mix of the class and a lot is being added in from tracking more often and understanding exactly what are pups are informing of us of too tethering.  Now if you don’t know what tethering is for some this is a great situation the child and the dog are connected with two separate collars, 2 d-rings, and mom has a leash as well as the child while the dog remains in it’s working harness.  Now for me I was already a little leery but I knew it was a necessity because my child has gotten clever with disappearance acts so of course I knew I had my work cut out for me.

After class everyone was talking about this public appearance that we were supposed to make and of course me being me I’m oblivious to what they are talking about so I start asking and once I realize it’s a way to get 4 Paws a donation of five thousand for their building fund I was determine to be there.  I decided to do some public access work as well as tethering well let’s say this Jonathan was good until he realized exactly what all the straps meant.  Tethering is a method to be able to have your service animal used as an anchor of sorts basically the child has a hard time getting away because now they have an actually live animal using its weight to keep them within their boundaries. 

Sherbert rocked it no matter what Jonathan did Sherbert held her position we even changed how we were tether and she kept her boy within her boundaries however this was not the end for us.  Once Jonathan got to the point of okay this is not working, he began to scream and holler.  Now honestly I am use to this and often this is what will cause me to leave a store because it is hard to shop and focus on what I am doing but I do not want to disturb other people with his screaming.  If I have to go shopping and decided to take him I have a list and I do not deviate I make it quick and painless. Today was one of those days where I wanted to test the limits so we walked this outside mall going into Old Navy as well as Sephora tethered and I am thankful for people who do not stare but instead actually initiate to try to help or just simply ignore it.  Today I got help random sales personnel would come and interact with him and his girl to give me time to be able to turn back to my sales associate to make proper selections.  I went to reward Sherbert and realize Opps! Mom only had doggie food which wasn’t going to be worthwhile reward for all that she had went through so that meant a trip to Pet smart which has somehow become one of my favorite stores.

With new information in hand and a dog that had just preformed stellar I wanted to get my girl some goodies.  Walking into the store I was determine to keep her within the no grain just like her food.  As well, as use them to help her be a healthy dog.  When I saw the word sale and discount, I probably went crazy but I also was happy to see it was things I could use.  I began to search the display for some goodies for her but Jonathan had other ideas and Sherbert had her own ideas, which lead to dog, mom and child being wrapped around a pole with straps all over it looked like I had a wrapping game going on.  Once again a sales associate stepped in and began to help not only did her and I discuss different things on how to keep teeth healthy but also how to keep her coat shining but she also made some suggestions to make tethering more rewarding for Sherbert.  So yeah, we went stir crazy and ended up with five bags of treats. However, Jonathan does not like to see red collars and straps it flips him out because he knows what is coming.

Overall Sherbert did her thing! She knows what to do without me having to prompt or indicate it her to do it.  It was so funny today because I was attempting to give her commands and realized that she was trained so good that she kind of knew what she needed to do.  So after a few minutes of watching her I realize that in a sit mode if Jonathan went to try and pull it would basically have her sliding so I kind of let her do her own thing and paid close attention to her actions.  It is amazing how quick she is to calm Jonathan down once tethering is done and how he quickly forgets that, he is mad at her.  I think we have a great team going if we can now just get the little boy on board all will really be well.

  

Stay tuned we will be posting a whole lot more about our 4 Paws training as well as what’s like becoming a full blown dog owner as well as service dog handler I’m sure I’m going to experience a few ups and downs as well as some interesting moments.

~Truly blessed,

Misherald “MB”, Jonathan “JB” & Sherbert “SD” Brown