#paals

[cherrylomain]

8)

[mainypc]

Aimee it looks we are hiding from the bouquet at a wedding. #har #paals #realtor #realtorlife #tar #texasassociationofrealtors (at Houston Association Of Realtors - Fortbend Branch)

[animalis-cognitio]

So I got an email yesterday from the service dog organization I volunteer at back at school about a pup sitter class coming up. During the week, the dogs are either at the organization’s owner/head trainer’s house or in the prison program, but on weekends they go home with fosters. I couldn’t participate in this last year because I lived in the dorms, but I move into our apartment in August and then I’ll be able to bring a dog/puppy home on the weekends. I’m hoping this will help my puppy fever a bit since getting a puppy likely won't happen until spring at best. It'll also be a good chance for Susie to be around well-trained, well socialized dogs in a more controlled setting, and a good opportunity for me to become more involved in the training side of things. The class is at the end of July and is 3 days, it's about an hour away from home back at my college town so I'll have to do a bit of driving but I'll be bringing a dog home so it's def worth it. Just have to run it by the parents since I'm at home for the summer but I don't think they'll have a problem with it

[animalis-cognitio]

My first event with the service dog organization was a huge success. We went to a local middle school with some of the service dogs in training to teach the kids about dog behavior/body language and training, among other things. It was great to see how into it the kids were, I was pretty surprised actually. They picked up on things so quickly and for the most part did really well with the dogs, it was really cool to be a part of it, especially since I think this kind of thing is really, really important for people to know about, particulalry how to read a dog's body language and how to tell if a dog is stressed, uncertain, etc. 

I really do love volunteering with them, everyone is so nice and helpful. The dogs were great, I was really proud of the puppy, Grace, who's only about 4-5 months old I believe, she did fantastic, especially considering the length of the program (an hour and a half). All in all, it was a really cool experience and I definitely learned a lot, really glad I got to be a part of it!

[animalis-cognitio]

Woooo! Walked into the service dog organization place today (it’s run out of the owner’s house, so a little hectic at times but always interesting) and the head lady was like, hmmm, beautiful day, why don’t you just walk dogs the whole time? So of course I was really excited to.

I started with one of the older service dogs in training, the houndiest looking/acting lab I’ve ever met, then walked a puppy and an older adolescent with the apprentice trainer when he got back from work. It was great! I’m finally getting a feel for the way they do things, and it’s becoming more habituated. Definitely a great learning experience. It’s so different working with other dogs that aren’t Susie, in so many ways. Different temperaments, huge size difference, and just generally the fact that I don’t have a raport with them initially. I take it for granted how easy it is to work with Susie because she knows me, how to read me, she’s good at interpreting what I want.

I really would like to get a litte more involved with the organization, so I talked to the apprentice trainer about some of the events coming up, and I think I’m going to try to attend one of their events at a local middle school, where they go and teach the children about dog behavior/body language, training, care and general dog stuff. It sounds really cool and really beneficial to the community, from what I heard about it, so it should definitely be a good first event with them!

I also emailed one of the shelters near me to enquire about volunteering there… May make my schedule a bit crazy but I think I can squeeze some things around to make it work. I’d really like to get exposure to a wide variety of breeds and type of dogs, and I could definitely use all the experience I can get, so I’m pretty excited about that.