It's Tuesday, 3 more days and World, Here we come! :D

Evening all. Gosh, the last few days have been pretty busy, without much down time between outings to come post as well as feeling a bit under the weather.

First off I want to post some pictures Jovi took on Sunday of us together when she came to visit. :D








Gosh I wish I had more time to visit with her and any of the other LC's, though we are all spread out across the lands.

I have to start today with last night, er I should say 3 am this morning.... I found out what my dog REALLY likes. ;) As I posted yesterday, I woke up to find Honey in bed with me, enjoying the warmth of the covers and all. I don't mind this too much, but I'm fairly certain the idea of the dog on the bed at night when home with Mike, uh lets just say it isn't gonna fly. So I mentioned something to Donny, a trainer, and he said to put her on the tie down for the night.

So I got ready for bed, I'm thinking I'm all set, put her on the tie down and snuggle in for what I thought was going to be a good night's sleep. About 3am, I awaken to the feeling of the covers coming off the bed. From the DOG side of the bed at my feet. I can't see Honey very well, but I sternly tell her no, to leave it and to lay down. Which she did and settled down. I snuggle back in and I'm just about out cold again and darn it, if the covers are disappearing again off my bed! My dog is STEALING my covers! LOL! She's one smart cookie man! If I wasnt going to let her up here, by golly she was going to bring the blanket to her! LOL! So since she obviously is able to reach my bed, mind you she must have been stretching her collar as tight as it'd go and the tie down, so I just unclipped her and up she hopped to the end of the bed and snuggled down at my feet, and we both most likely snored the rest of the morning away until the alarm went off. LOL!

I was really not feeling the greatest, as I'm feeling all packed around my eyes and the thought of going back out in the cold was nonetheless NOT appealing this morning. I've also woken up with some crusty gunk in the corners of my eyes and they were just yucky this morning. So I came to the conclusion, I was yet again coming down with another sinus infection. *sigh* Especially since I'd just finished a round of antibiotics that I'd gotten on New Year's Eve. So now I have the delimma of being in NY and my dr is in Indiana...so I asked the staff for the phone number of the local Walgreens, in case I can convince the nurse to call a script in for me here.

I call and my Dr. and her nurse were busy, so I talked to another Dr's nurse. Of course she was like well, we haven't seen you and so forth. I explained that I was in NY and wouldn't be home soon. She asked me to hold on and that she'd go talk to my Dr., who knows if I'm coming in or calling in, there's something amiss, and I'm not fooling around on it. Of course, she then came back and said they'd call it in for me. So the school sent someone to pick it up and I took my first dose late this afternoon. I am coughing my head off though, and feeling just crummy. Hopefully it kicks in soon so I can feel better.

So after breakfast, the trainers announced they were going to work on dog distractions here on the grounds. Sluggo (sp?) the pug was our distraction, and Honey did really well. She was very interested but with quick correction, she was back to her work quickly. We did an about several times and walked back and forth by the pug, and also stopping to pet the dog as well. She took it all like a pro.

After doing my walk, I came back inside and practiced the stairs and the elevator, up an down, as well as walking around downstairs and doing abouts, since Honey seems to be dragging me to the grooming room. So we did that for a bit and as I just really wasnt feeling good, I took some motrin, since I felt like I was running a fever. I Laid down and took a short nap until lunch, and while it was short, felt a lot better.

Lunch was hot soup and sandwiches with chips. Good and warming to the body and the soul. :) We were told to be ready to gather for loading on the bus at 1pm, and we would be doing the Horseshoe walk this afternoon.

So we all gather, and because of an emergency, the walmart trip for the Destiny team and I was postponed again, to be done tomorrow morning.

So we boarded the bus, and took off for the Horseshoe walk, an 8/10ths of a mile walk. This time Mike Sargent worked three of us together. One took the lead, another in the middle not too far behind and then the last one took off about 10 paces behind them. We worked through the route, taking turns with the lead, giving all the handlers and dogs the experience of slowing thier dogs down and not being out front.

We did the route with all left turns, and first came to a big break in the sidewalk/uprising where a tree root had forced up the sidewalk. Honey did excellent, slowing way down for me to investigate and navigate my way over it. We curved on around to come to a big box truck parked in a driveway and blocking the sidewalk. So out to the street and back around that, no sweat there for my Honey. :) Then we came to the super steep section, where the one side of the sidewalk has sunken, making it about a 30-45 degree angle downward. The dogs did really well taking us up high on this and VERY slowly walking past this.

We continued on to come to the low hanging pine tree branches. Unfortunately one team, the dog stopped, but she urged him on insistantly, so the dog went and she got a full face of pine needles. Oops. So they came back and reworked it and he took her around this time. Honey made wide bearth of it and no sweat there! Yay! :)

We continued on and there was then some rough spots on the sidewalk, where it was really uneven/rough and so forth. Honey did an awesome job of slowing down to alert me to these things. We continued on and came to a spot where there was ice on almost the entire sidewalk, where she brought me to almost a complete stop and very slowly we crossed it. From there were were a few uproots from trees, pushing the sidewalk up, and then we came to the first curb.

We made our left and worked our way to the next curb, of which we did the second left and very soon was back to the bus. We were told that we could go around now on our own, so the Destiny team and Honey and I went around again, because we both wanted to practice it, as we'll be doing this walk again for the night walk on Thursday night. I'll be honest, I'm a little nervous about it and Mike S knows it, as he keeps bringing up that it'll be *MY* favorite walk. Since I can't see SQUAT at night...

I know for that walk, I'll truly be putting it in Honey's paws entirely. So I've been trying to let go and let her take the lead and direct, though she's been pretty good, we've had a few mistakes.

So we go around again and while trying to do it some with my eyes closed, yikes that's hard, I decided to work on focusing on what the obstacles were and trying to memorize the route. So we head off and Honey took it this time better than the first, except when we got to the first downcurb. She REFUSED to go to the curb, which was a first for her. She knew the route was to the left and was ready to be done working, so I corrected her with a snap on the harness, asked her again to hup to the curb, again she refused. So then did a leash correction and she reluctantly did it, after then having been left behind by the other two teams walking.

So I then commanded her left and she worked like a charm up to the next downcurb. Again, she refused to move up to the curb and this time wouldnt budge. Ugh, that Golden stubborness came out that I see every so often in the break area. This one I gave in on, because I knew she knew the route, but I asked later what I should do to keep this from happening at home, and they said to keep changing up the routes, so that they are willing to go the different routes as you tell them.

So we boarded back on the bus and within 10 minutes we were headed back to GDF for dinner. We have dinner of spagetti with chili sauce on top and another ice cream bar for dessert. :)

I came back and took it easy for a few minutes before lecture, calling home and talking to the girls and Mike. :) I miss them and really getting excited to go home and work with Honey at home. :) It is sooooo awesome at all the things I'm able to see now and look around, as well as how relaxed I am travelling now. :)

After dinner, we had lecture on leash corrections, on how to properly correct the dog. It also gave some pointers and tips on how and when would be appropriate times for what levels of corrections. I watched as all the handlers went through and had thier turns, and listened to the discussions from Timm, about various things with the dogs. Then I asked him a little more on the refusal of the curbs and so forth. He too said that the golden stubborness can get in the way sometimes.

After class, we worked the stairs again and then the elevator, as well as walking back and forth in the hallway down stairs, finally working our way into the grooming room. There I brushed her all over really good, and got out the tangles and such from her getting the hair wet at times.

Speaking of that stubborness, we went out for our last break and while Honey went #2, she didnt pee. Usually when she's done, she'll hop back up on the curb with me and come to the heel position. I asked her to hup forward, meaning to go back out and do business, well she planted those feet and gave me this rolled eye look and stuck her nose out in disgust. Timm goes YEP, that's that golden stubborness. LOL! I said yeah, she tells ya when she's done for sure. So we headed back in I hope she doesnt have to pee tonight, as she did drink a lot of water this afternoon, which is why it surprised me she didn't go pee.

So we headed on in and made for our room which I ditched my coat and we made a trip the the dining room for some ice, and we are back here and chillin'. :)

Til mornin'!