Last full day at the foundation!

We got up this morning at a lovely 6am (cough-cough, 7am) and I got a nice 8 hrs of sleep last night! Whoo hoooo! So feeling better with the cold since I'm taking meds and got a good night of rest! :)

We went down for breakfast and the basket that was bought for the trainers was given to them in appreciation for their hard work, long days, and patience with all of us doing some sometimes downright silly things. We ate breakfast and then the trainers told us we were going to ride the train! :)

We all loaded up in the bus and headed to the train station (sorry, didn't catch the name of the town) but we unloaded and breaked our dogs and then walked in a single file line up to the ticket office and inside. It was pretty funny, it felt like I was in grade school again, but it was indeed pretty cool as we all sat there on the long pew like bench along the wall with our dogs, waiting for time to board the train. The looks on people's faces never cease to amaze me. One little boy stood and watched the dogs and pointed at each and everyone of them, ooohhhing and aaahhhing at how pretty they were and such. I have to say, we looked pretty awesome with 12 dogs all lined up in a row, thier heads sticking out from between our legs and not a peep out of them. :)

So the train arrived and it was a hurried rush of getting everyone up, on the platform, and into the car as we were trying not to hold up the train from it's departure time. We all made it and enjoyed the 7 minute ride to the next stop, where Valerie met us with the bus. We hurriedly unloaded and it was quite a rush as we all stood there lined up and the train pulled away. After it left, Jodi took each of us up to the edge of the platform and we were to tell our dogs forward, just as a test, of which all of them looked at us like we were nuts for saying forward while overlooking the 15 feet drop to the ground. Then we turned and walked our way down to the down stairs and onto the bus to come back to the foundation.

After getting back to the foundation, they took everyone's individual pictures and the class picture as well. Then we all came in for lunch and ate, as one classmate was loading her stuff into her family car to head home, being the first of us combo training people to head home. She came to the dining room and said her goodbyes, and then it was starting to sink in that my time here is about done. I'm ready to go home, but I'll admit, it's been nice being in an environment that totally caters to the dogs, which isn't the case in the real world. I know too I'm really going to miss this class, which has become quite close in the last 2 weeks.

After lunch, I came back to the room and have started the packing process. I have most of the stuff put away, gathered up and ready to go in the suitcase. Just waiting for the washer and dryer to free up and will then go wash mine and finish up packing all my stuff up.

I'd just sat down on the bed to look through the Grad pack when it was Valerie that knocked on the door and asked if I'd be interested in free running my dog, which is taking them out to play. Of course I was interested, as Rei has been cooped up int his room for 2 wks now other than walks and here and there where we've walked. So I took off outside and breaked her and we went with another classmate and her dog to a fenced area and had them sit and then turned them loose. They ran and ran and chased each other around. We then called them back, using our whistles and some treats to re-inforce the Come command, and then had them sit and then released them again. That way they don't get to where if we call them, that means play time is definately over, then they avoid you so they don't loose play time. So we did this several times until both dogs were panting with lolling, happy tongues and tired out. So we called them back one last time and came back inside, which Rei is now chewing on the big sterilized bone that Lisa brought me earlier for her and I'm here finishing up some things while killing time. Lisa has asked Suzi and I to meet her at 3:30 to do the going home lecture, and that should be about it.

We fly out of Islip tomorrow around 11:30 to Baltimore, and will be meeting a mutual deaf blind friend of ours there for lunch. Then we fly out of Baltimore to arrive back in Indy around 6pm and then home! Yay! :)