The dishwasher lesson...

Mia would love to come lick all the dishes we put in the dishwasher.  We can understand how tempting this is, and our old dog drove us nuts trying to get at those dishes.  We decided to train Mia to wait for the dishwasher to be closed, and then she gets a treat.  We have her SIT and then add the command to WAIT.  It is working pretty well, and she loves the reward at the end of loading all the dishes.

Mia also paid a visit to the Satin Dolls tap dance practice, where Bonnie dances.  All the dancers think Mia is doing a fine job.  Mia demonstrated a few of the things she does, like close the door to the costume closet and pull off a glove.  Someday she will be able to help her owner get undressed.  We also have her give us the glove back, or pick it up if she drops it.  

There was frost on the ground this week and she didn't seem to mind it at all.  We are thinking about all those trips outside with her this winter.  Brrrr.

Mia loves her bowl and she loves George...

Little Mia is learning she can tell us she is hungry by flinging her bowl around.  Here is a picture of George trying to ignore her while reading the paper.  It is pretty hard to ignore.  She also likes to hide her bowls, and at first they were hard to find.  Now we know her favorite spots.

The lovely fall weather is perfect for walks and field trips.  Both George and Bonnie took Mia out in the community this week.  Mia went to two pet stores and practiced outside the stores in the Glen Lake area strip mall, and also practiced walking on the green light and waiting on the red at a busy intersection.

On Thursday Mia went to the vet for surgery so that she will not have puppies.  She came home on Friday and took a nap.  She seemed back to her usual self by Saturday except for a tiny incision on her belly closed with 5 staples.  We wish we could bounce back as quickly as she has.

  

Mia's teacher Sue comes to visit...

Mia's teacher came to visit and check on how she is doing with the Dow family.  It seems like things are going ok and we got a lot of tips on training her.  It is important to wait for Mia to do the right thing before she gets her treat.  It is also important we only say the command once and wait for her to do what we ask.

Mia had a hard time with all the good smells that Sue brought with her.  By the time we were done Mia was a very good puppy! 

A great time at the gala...

On Saturday night George, Bonnie and Mia went to the Helping Paws Gala.  It was the first time for all of us.  There were service dogs of all ages, and puppies and dogs in training everywhere.  George made sure Mia entered the crowd slowly and she looked at him for direction.   She was on her best behavior with no mishaps.  There were over 400 people there!

The keynote speaker was Jenny Peterson who told the crowd how having a service dog changed her life.  She motivated everyone there to support the work of Helping Paws.  There was an auction which raised a whole lot of money to keep the program going, and there were lots of wonderful people who had a good time.

As far as Mia's training, she is learning many new things.  She is pushing the practice light switch, moving to the side position and will retrieve just about anything.  We spend lots of time on eye contact and walking with a loose leash.  She is one of the smallest puppies in her class, and Sue, our teacher, called her a peanut!

Mia goes to Jeanine and Richard's house for the weekend...

Mia had a wonderful Labor Day weekend and so did we.  While we were with friends in Northern Minnesota, Mia was having a great time with Jeanine and Richard at their home.  It sounds like she is a good visitor, and Helping Paws makes it possible for the service dogs in training to be cared for by other volunteers.  This means that people who know the program and usually have trained dogs themselves do the doggy care while the training family takes vacation!  

We were lucky that besides being a good dog sitter, Jeanine is a good photographer.  This photo is really making the rounds as a screensaver.

Mia is getting out.....Mia plays ball...

Above you see Mia in her seatbelt.  She really prefers this to riding in the kennel.  Below you see Mia with a crazy thing that happens now and then when both (or one) of her ears gets stuck in a flopped over position.  She'll hate us for this photo when she is grown up!
This last picture shows what happened when I was teaching Mia to push a basketball with her nose.  She did it like crazy, and kept pushing it under the table just when I would take a picture.
She is learning fast, but we are learning that dog's don't generalize their behavior.  What that means is what she does fine for us at home, she doesn't do as well in class.  Fortunately the teachers are patient and seem to believe us when we say she works for us at home.

Mia is studying and playing hard...

Here are some pictures of Mia in class with George and Bonnie.  All the dogs are making so much progress.  Mia is learning to shut door and drawers and how to give a kiss, and we keep learning the fine details on how to get just what we want from her.  Her favorite items to  retrieve are silverware and the cellphone.  Next week maybe she will be texting

Yesterday Mia went to the HP golf event.  Way too much excitement to be on her best behavior, but she loved it.  The good people there  were happy to see her.

Here she is in the garden.