Day 11: April 12th- Friday- Return home

All that's left is shutting down the laptop and zipping up the suitcase. Supposed to head out just before 9am. Miss Favor has been a jack-in-the-box under the table this morning in the dining room. She knows something is up!
Several trainers have come by to say Good luck and that we really look good together. It’s very encouraging given the people this has come from as I fee almost like I have some pretty big expectations and shoes to fill since we are the first to leave GDF with the new
Praying too that the weather holds out for my flights too. Jody M took two of us to the airport as we were flying out of La Guardia. I was the first one to fly out, so we headed in first. The storms that had hit home/Indiana on Wednesday was now rolling in here in NY. So we went through TSA and with all my stuff, felt like I was stripping down- had to pull out all the CI stuff, the laptop, camera, and of course the shoes, watch, and anything else in the pockets. From here we took off for the gate, which was honestly in the most odd location I’ve ever seen for an airport. It was literally just before going out the doors to baggage claim and on the ground level.
As we walked up, another lady walked up beside us and stopped to quiet the little dog in the soft carrier on top of her carryon. Jody had me sit down in an open seat and said that currently the plane was scheduled to leave on time, but wasn’t sure if I’d make my connecting flight in Philly if it was delayed by very much. The woman sitting next to then told us that they’d just announced over the loud speaker that the flight was delayed by a minimum of 30 minutes and could be more. So Jody went up to talk to the airline representative at the gate counter and asked the about what options we had. I was blessed in that the gentleman made the suggestion and offered to change me to a direct flight straight through to Indy. So they re-directed my baggage to the other airline and Jody and I made a mad dash across the airport and into the other terminal. Favor was on the move and had me chuckling as Jody was having to hustle to keep up with the two of us.
We made it quickly though to the other terminal and because the other person that was flying out was going to be leaving soon, Jody had to go back to the car to get them to their flight. It wasn’t long until they started pre-boarding and it was interesting as all the people stared at us, especially Favor. When it came time to board, we got on the plane and my seat was about 2/3rds of the way back and without knowing if there would be someone beside me or not, I got my bag up in the overhead bin and then had to figure out how to get Favor under the seat. Rei was a small petite little thing and Favor was not. I tried sitting down and putting her under the seat first and that just didn’t work at all. She wasn’t sure where to go and my legs were just flat out in the way. So I turned her around and backed her into the foot area and then told her down and under, pointing under the seat in front of me and she went up as far as she could and I scooted her butt around so she was right in front of me and I could straddle her. It turned out that the plane wasn’t that full and there wasn’t anyone sitting beside us at all, so after we got up into the air and the seat belt light turned off, I moved over to the window seat and Favor spread out in the foot area and slept clear through the landing and taxi into the gate. I was so happy to see Mike standing in the lobby area and to be home!
Because I had gotten on the earlier flight, we were home before KT took off for her basketball tournament and she got to meet Favor and see each other and then MD and AC got home and were so good to see everyone as I missed them terribly! Favor did well with meeting the kids. MD had gymnastics practice, so we headed there and Mike, AC and I went out to dinner and did a little shopping waiting on Meaghan to finish practice.
She did get a little protective of me later in the evening though as the kids got their jammies on and she wasn't sure what was going on, but we worked with it and she was fine. I shot Greg an email to contact me for some suggestions on how to work with this and he called back immediately saying it sounded like she was just being protective and asserting herself over the kids, since she was in a totally new environment and not sure where she fit in the picture as well as having been on a plan for the first time too.
Greg instructed me to have the kids toss a Kong/toy for her and I take it from her so she sees that they play with her and are with me and to have them feed her some treats. He also said to keep things very low key for a couple of days and keep her on leash for a couple of days to make sure there wouldn't be any issues with her and the kids.

We headed to bed and put her on tie down next to the bed in the new bed we’d gotten for her. She slept through the night without any issues.

Day 10- April 11- Thursday

I had a rough start this morning. Favor had me up at 5 am, poking me in the eye with that pointy nose of hers and I'm really starting to feel stretched after 2 weeks of stress, navigating different environments, and not sleeping well in a really hard bed.

Thus I hit my breaking point for a mini meltdown after being corrected on some stuff with leash guiding. We went out to the break area and because it was raining, Greg had warned me that she can be Miss Priss about the rain at times. So because she had been at Greg’s house while he trained her, she was not fond of going busy, busy on concrete anymore. Thus I had Favor on a spot that was in the grass, but covered with small rounded gravel for her to go on. Unfortunately, this spot was not mostly covered by the overhang that keeps the students dry as they busy their dogs.

So we headed out and I admit, with the vision I have, I tend to push my dog off the curb and it’s something I have to constantly work on/remind myself of when we are out and about and leash guiding. So in approaching the break area, she refused to go up onto the rocks as it was raining and they were wet too. One of the trainers came by and in my feelings, laid into me about her doing what I’ve been teaching her and that I was causing her to balk. The whole conversation caught me completely off guard and was frustrating too as here I was about to head home the next day and this was the first time I was hearing something about incorrectly leash guiding and in the manner it was done, felt like I was being talked to like a 2 yr old. I headed back to the room and took off my coat and stuff and headed down to breakfast, honestly just fuming in frustration.

I ate quickly and silently and headed back to my room to wait for time to head out. Unfortunately, my watch had broken unbeknownst to me, so I was waiting and surfing the web when Greg knocked on the door to go. I asked him if I was leash guiding wrong and he looked at me funny and asked why I asked. Poor guy, I unloaded. I know the trainers are used to the emotional breakdowns that the handlers all seem to go through at one point or another, even multiple times as you hit those highly emotional times during training, but still I was just blubbering at him what had happened and what did I need to do so she’d continue to work properly and I knew it wasn’t just this, but I was also not sleeping well and missing my kids to no end too. He re-assured me that I was doing fine and talked me through it and such and promised to work with me on it that afternoon. So we are good now though and only just a little while longer and will be headed home and recuperate from these long 2 weeks. :)

We went out to the van and loaded up to head to Lowes. Greg and I went in first and worked all through Lowes on leash guiding and how to hold my hand on the leash. I had gotten in the habit with Rei to hold the leash on the snap and especially felt like I needed to do so with Favor since she was pulling so hard and it felt like she’s pull the leash out of my hand.. Then Greg worked with my other two classmates and turned me loose to walk the whole store. After we finished there, we came back to the foundation and turned the three dogs loose in the free run area. :) They had a blast running and chasing after each other and just tear around the enclosure grabbing at toys all over the place. Once we get back to the Foundation, I will be headed down to the office area to talk to Greg and go through my going home packet here in a few minutes. :)

Honestly- downright exhausted.... We did class picture, individual pictures, and then I was asked to do a testimonial interview video for GDF to use for promotion. The office staff all wanted to see Favor since Miss S has been hanging out upstairs with one of the staff.   Also since the two of them are the first of a new program, Favor is the first German shepherd/collie cross to graduate.   So everyone knew about Favor and were interested in seeing her. :)   I also gathered addresses/contact info of fellow classmates, then was my last amazing dinner from Kevin, the amazing chef there at GDF.  Then after dinner, we called Favor's puppy raiser, Judy G. who is from Charlotte, NC.  It was good to talk to her and we talked for a good while!   We were able to exchange contact information and I sincerely hope that we can keep in touch as I really enjoy sharing what my dogs are doing with thier raiser, so that they can keep up with the amazing dog they've raised. :)

After getting back to my room, I put the last of the clothes in the laundry and am going to finish packing what I can and call it a night! We leave out of here about 9am tomorrow morning and start the trip towards home!

Day 9: April 10- Wednesday

Beautiful sunrise over the training kennels this morning. :)

 

The veiw out my room window which overlooks the foundation training kennels

Favor looking out the open window intently with ears perked up at the day starting up outside the training kennels.

It was a really good morning this morning in Patchogue! :) We went up and down the main street, and passed LOTS of construction. We walked through the scaffolding temporary sidewalk, and went by a store owner cleaning the front sidewalk with a power washer and man with a really yappy dog too! :) She did great! Really, really pleased with her and I think we are going to be really good together. :)

I know that now I’ve just got to get used to the "My German Shepherd" stories instead of the "I had a black lab when I was a kid" stories. LOL! Seriously around here it's like they've not seen a German shepherd as a guide dog before. Guess the area is used to seeing the labs and golden retrievers instead! We went the Dunkin Doughnuts for coffee and this lady quickly honed in on the four of us as we were talking about the dogs and honestly just didn’t want to bug off. She kept going on and on about how her family raised shepherds as a kid and how she would protect me and so forth. We even went so far as to turn away from her and she still went on and then moved over to a table nearby and just stared at the four of us, which was almost creepy. I’m finding more and more through this training it’s more people coming up and asking about Favor than about the other two labs that my classmates have. The people that really know shepherds can tell she’s not a full shepherd, but are curious as to what she has in her, but the others that don’t are intrigued by the Shepherd thinking protective police dog. We headed back to the Foundation and it was time to head down to lunch.

Ugh- feel like the worst Dog-mom ever! :( We stepped out the door to go to lunch and we are on the very end of the hallway which is like a T- our room at one side and another guest door on the other side of the T. Since there was someone at the next room down the Hall unlocking their door to go into their room, I had stepped out, so Favor stepped out with me. I stopped abruptly as I realized they were there. Favor hasn’t been particularly fond of this dog so we were trying to give them clearance and because she stopped and I stopped so suddenly, I’d let go of our room door which is heavy and shuts completely.

The next thing I know is Favor jumps forward like a shot and starts yelping something fierce. Scared the be jeebers out of me and I don’t think I’ve ever seen trainers move that fast, as the rest of the class had just returned from their walks and two trainers came FLYING down the hall to see what had happened. Turned out that while Favor and I had both cleared the door in body, the tip of her 17 inch long tail had NOT. So when the door shut, it got the very end of her tail and as I’m finding out, Favor is very vocal when she’s not happy about something and this was no exception, and rightfully so! I was immediately in tears and felt horrible and one of the trainers checked her tail as she settled down and the trainer warned me to be careful at doors, that she may be hesitant to go through them or rush through them after this.

I got down to the dining room and I was thoroughly rattled. Greg came over and asked what had happened to her as he had heard her all the way at the other end of the building. One of the other students said she knew something had happened, as Greg had taken off running too, but when he saw the other trainers already on it, he went back to the lunch room and waited. It took me a good while to calm down and honestly, Favor seemed no worse for the wear and had definitely forgot about it long before I did!

For the afternoon, we went back and worked Kings Park again today. Greg got out the bicycle to keep some distance and to help get Favor used to a bicycle since I asked if we could possibly teach her to ride in a bike trailer. My hopes is that we can do family bike trips and then when we get out to sight see, I can use my dog. :)

Favor looking to the left as I'd told her to sit and stay- practicing obedience with her.

It turned into an interesting walk as city workers were there working on some ground by the bike path so there were two dump trucks parked on the path itself. Favor and I were booking it along and we buzzed right around and into the grass and past the trucks before they had a chance to realize I was on top of them. We flew on around the path and back to towards the van and it was good to enjoy the beautiful weather. After getting back to the van, Greg worked with my other two classmates and they took their turns going down the walk and back. I worked with Favor on some obedience while they did their walks.

We then went back to the foundation and at dinner and pretty much had a free evening for the night. I decided to sit in on the whole class lecture- about leash corrections with Trainer Mike Devlin. This lecture is always a fun one as he teaches you how to properly discipline your dog so it will work for you- and more importantly realizing how far to go in using discipline for your dog. This is one of the reasons I like GDF is that they have a floating harness handle which is attached to the harness by O rings. Mike Devlin is a really funny and good guy, love working with him and this lecture was no exception. He asked us all- what is the purpose of correcting your dog? Which the answer is- to re-direct the dog and use the minimal amount of correction to get the dogs attention back on YOU.

We are taught a series of corrections and they range in severity, starting from just a verbal expression to the dog- whether you say its name, “No”, “Leave It”, or something else to refocus the dog back onto you and away from whatever is distracting it. Next would be physical touch to the dog- reaching down and touching its shoulder, neck, or something to re-gain its attention. After this, the next step would be the harness correction- in which with the GDF harness, we can simply move our hand forward to release the tension in the dogs pull and give a straight snap backward with the hand and wrist, which makes a noise and also causes the chest piece of the harness to go away from and back against the dog’s chest. I really like this means of a correction and if possible is the one I go to if verbal and touch cues aren’t working, as it’s very quick, very much unnoticed by the public, and is most times effective in getting the dog’s attention back on me if it is that distracted by something. Lastly there are the leash corrections, which is at two levels as well. I really do NOT like doing leash corrections and they are quite frankly my last resorts or if the dog is so severely distracted that it’s obvious it’s not willing to refocus on me or putting me into danger. The first level of leash correction is the one handled snap- which is mostly used when holding the harness handle. Simply drop the handle with the forward movement of the hand- much like the harness correction, but do a very hard and quick snap backwards with the leash in hand and it can be quite loud and usually is very effective. The next step is the two handed leash correction- which is the ultimate of all corrections. Both hands are on the leash and giving a good jerk upward or to the side with the leash.

However, in my experience of having a couple of dogs now, I would honestly say that something big must be happening to get you to this point. Our jobs as handlers is to be in tune with our dogs and do our best to not let the dogs get so far distracted that it ever gets to a leash correction. I work hard to pay attention and listen/watch for things in our environment and continuously talk to my dogs to keep them focused on me. Yeah I talk to my dogs a lot! But I’ve found that if I do so, we can head off many if not nearly all corrections as long as I am focused and keep my dog’s attention on me. So attending the lecture with Mike Devlin was good, as a little had changed since I was there last and it was good to have a “refresher” on.

We then took off back to the room and I threw as much laundry in the wash as I could to try to start packing stuff up for home. I pulled out the suitcase and started putting the things in that I definitely didn’t need these last couple of days. Then it was time to call it a night. One more day and then the big day to fly home!

Day 8: April 9- Tuesday

First thing for this morning is we are headed over to the vet this morning for our check-up before heading home on Friday. I plan to talk to them about her not eating well either and check the ear infection she has again. Greg had weighed her in at the one kennel at 58lbs. Today at the other kennel, she’s weighing 54lbs. I know scales are different, but concerned of that much difference so quickly. The vet said she looks great otherwise and that the shepherds and collies tend to be like this when going through a lot of changes in terms of food. They gave us out health papers and we were quickly on our way and headed back over to the residence building and just took it easy until lunch time. I’m not sure what is in store for us for the rest of the day though. :)


Just before lunch Greg came and told me there is a recall on the Taste of the Wild food that Favor has been on. He said too that his other dog that is in the kennels hasn't been eating or willing to touch his food either! He's thinking that is why she's not eating and has gotten sick on me the past couple of days too. We are going to go with canned food until I get home and he's going to give me a few cans to switch her over to the food I'll put her on when we get home. My goal is to put her on Natures Domain from Costco. It’s a 5 star food according to Dog Food Advisor and is grain free.

For the afternoon, we took off for a fun afternoon at Port Jefferson! We started out at Starbucks and Greg went out with Favor & I first. We walked around the little harbor town. :) It is very pretty and a neat New England town with white houses and a ferry that ran in and out of the harbor. I did a bit of shopping, picking up some t shirts for the kids and enjoyed the sights! :) Favor did well too, taking me in and out of the crowds and strollers really well as it was very busy. We also ran into several CCI trainers too and they were very impressed with her! :) After making a loop around the town and seeing the sights, we worked our way back to the Starbucks and Greg went out individually with my other two classmates.

After finishing here, we went back to the Foundation for dinner. As usual, dinner was amazing with GDF’s Chef Kevin.  Kevin sure knows how to cook some amazing food!

After dinner, was the quarterly GDF graduate conference call, so Greg set us up in the conference room to listen in. We had a little bit of technical difficulties, but worked through it and were able to hear the call through to the end. The dogs did well and snoozed on the floor for the most part.

Favor laying on the floor at my feet and looking to her right at the person walking outside

Favor still laying on the floor, but looking up at me with her big brown eyes wanting to know whats up!

We all three called it a night after that, heading back to our rooms.  I chatted with Mike on the computer and Favor watched out the open window as the sun set over the campus.

Favor standing at the crank opening window with a screen.   The window sill is just at her neck and she was watching as GDF staff was busy working about the campus outside.

After a while, she became bored with me not paying attention to her and creeped herself up beside me again- with both hind feet on the floor again. LOL!   This time she was like "Look at me and play!" :)

I was pretty worn out tonight again as the time is wearing on me and wasn't sleeping well in this bed.   I had the window open all night too since the AC was not on in the building yet and we were having unseasonably warm weather for this time of year here at the Foundation. 

Night all!

Day 7: April 8- Monday

Well I think we are slowly beginning towards the road to victory! :) She ate nearly all of the canned food and then I added the second cup on that we'd pulled out and she finally ate all of that last night too! Whoo Hoo! Then this morning she's eaten about half of her food, so we are moving forward! :)

She was digging at her left ear last night and shaking her head, so Greg just came and got her to get it checked out. I'm told that the agenda for the day is traffic checks this morning and the night walk tonight- which means a LONG day for the two of us, but we'll get through it.

Traffic checks done and out of the way. Went MUCH easier than I thought it would. I was seriously impressed with her as with both Rei and Honey and from what I understand with most dogs, the car coming at them rattles them pretty good. They do several types of traffic checks- where as you begin to cross a street, a car comes at you from the left, turning in front of you as you start to cross a street. Then the second one is as you are in the middle of the street, coming quickly at you and slamming on their brakes right in front of the dog. Lastly, they do one more as you walk down the street and turn the car off and let it roll down a driveway backwards in front of you. In all situations, the dogs job is to refuse to go forward and do it’s best to move the handler away from the vehicle.

I guess it was because I think I trust in her so much already and it didn't even rattle her as it did with both Honey and Rei, especially with the check with them slamming on their brakes right in front of us, both dogs were obviously rattled, but were able to stay composed to get us to the curb and quickly regained their composure. I was seriously impressed with Favor, as she kept right on working, staring down the car and picking her way carefully on how to get around the vehicle and quickly found the up curb, stopping and looking up at me like, “what’s next????” and we went on our way to the next check.

Then we went back to the horseshoe for another walk before our night walk there tonight. Not sure what was up, she did great all the way around until we got to the big bush and kept trying to take me through it. We re-worked it a couple of times and then she took me around. If you see pine needles in my hair tonight after the night walk, you'll know we tangled with the bush and lost. LOL! :) I'm guessing she'll be fine tonight though; she is a super smart cookie and doesn't normally make a mistake more than once!

We are chilling until lunch and I guess they are going to video our walks in Smithtown this afternoon for the Celebration Sunday video. It's a BEAUTIFUL day here in the 60's already. :) Loving being out and about!

Lunch was awesome, just now I'm getting sleepy as we wait for the next round. ;)
After lunch, we went outside and groomed the dogs with the new tools we'd bought from Petsmart and then got to see Miss S again!    I asked Greg if we could sit the the two of them together and then we took pictures of the sisters together!

Two head shots of Miss S.

 

Miss S and Favor say Hello to each other as Greg holds Favor and sits them together

Favor nudges her sister in the ear as if she's telling her a secret! :)

Both girls sitting up pretty and at attention side by side, Miss S on the left and Favor on the right facng the camera.

We went to dinner and knowing what was coming up, tried hard to remain calm.   It was time, as the three of us loaded up in the van with Greg and headed back to the horseshoe.   We unloaded and Greg put reflector vests on all three of us and put blinker lights on the dogs harnesses too.   The two went one way and Favor & I took off the other direction around the horseshoe.  We made our way around the large circular block and there were multiple vehicles over the sidewalk and trash day was the next day too so lots of cans out.   Favor really did a great job- took me around the bush, slowly over the break in the sidewalk, and around the 2 vehicles completely over the sidewalk and between the trash and vehicles in another spot. I didn't have any pine needles in my hair tonight! :)

After we all made it completely around the block, we loaded up in the van and headed back to the Foundation for a last break and called it a night.   I know I was ready for bed after this long day!

Day 6: April 7- Sunday

Mostly another good morning this morning! :) The downside is she refused to eat again this morning.
:( I’m feeling frustrated and feel like I can see she’s losing weight from not eating too, which is bugging me even more.
The three of us working with Greg wanted to work at Walmart so we went to and Greg turned Favor and I lose for about 45 minutes. She did really well as we had a good handful of shopping cart/inattentive people traffic checks, had to work our way around racks and poles, and even went down the dog food aisle and grocery aisles. :) I think we ran into this one lady who totally was oblivious to things around her like four times!  Favor took it all in stride.
After we finished there, we then went to one of the neighborhoods behind GDF and took a long 1/2 mile straight walk and she did great there too. Around a huge pile of brush and a vehicle parked over the sidewalk. She's done well enough I think I'm going to be pretty comfortable with the Night walk we'll be having tomorrow night, but that will definitely be the true test of how we are doing, when I can see absolutely nothing. LOL!
Well we just grabbed another can of canned food and she has eaten again, so hoping she turns around on this soon. It’s frustrating for her not to eat!
Lunch time...    Went to a really good place for lunch with these guys, all from the GDF Talk list! :)  It was a fun afternoon today, as I went out to lunch with Bernie, Marilyn, and Poodle Marie at a local restaurant and then we all came back and they got to meet Favor.

Left to right- Marie, Bernie, and Marilyn.
They all soon took off and I came back to the room and she had eaten more of her food, so I picked up what was left and held it back for the "dinner" feeding and she was wanting to play so badly. I played with her some and then it was time to go out for afternoon break. Not long after that is dinner so we went to the dining room and she plopped down and snoozed as we all yakked and ate our dinner.
I headed back to the room and she grabbed her Kong again and wanted to play some more. She would put her front pawas on the bed with the toy, but kept her back feet on the floor, as if to say- "You can't yell at me- I'm on the floor!"   Little stinker! :)

Here she is, looking at me- relaxing and leaning on the bed, but both hind feet flat on the floor with her toy between her front paws.

So I cheated and took her down to the grooming room and let her go and we played there for a while with the couple of kong toys I'd gotten her. She bounded around the room, tail just a wagging and happy to chase the toys she was tossing around. We did this for about 30 minutes until she was happily panting and tongue lolling out of her mouth.
We went back upstairs and it wasn't long that she started whimpering and running to the door and back to me, so I took her out and sure enough she had to go potty. We came back in and I heard her crunching some more food, so that should mean she has just about ate about all of it tonight- just in stages. She then crashed out on her bed and has been zonked out ever since. :)

Day 5: April 6- Saturday

I was able to get her to eat this morning, as she turned her nose up at it but I use a tiny bit of olive oil for my hair after I wash it. So I dipped my fingers in the little bit I had and dripped it on her food a couple of times and mixed it around. Well she ate about 3/4's of the 2 cups so I was really happy with that. :) We did the country walk (walking on a street with no sidewalk) and did the U shape around the GDF campus, downhill and uphill and then walked along Jericho Turnpike- the 4 lane main highway at the top of the U to get back to the residence building. Nothing fazed her. :) She was awesome. :)
We then later went back to the neighborhood we'd walked through yesterday and she was at a good pace and not pulling much at all. We were in a spot where a tree hangs over the sidewalk which I knew as there, well in the yard just ahead of the tree a sprinkler had come on. I stopped her and was trying to time it that we'd pass the tree and sprinkler and not get wet. I told her forward and because I was so focused on the tree, she tried to move, but I wasn't focused on her and smacked the branches of the tree. So I stopped her and turned her around real quick to get back before the sprinkler got to us, frustrated at myself because I knew I should have just let her go and listened to her.
So I said ok, let her do her thing and if I get wet, then I get wet, we'd be heading back and I can change. So I told her forward and we did a big S shape, going around the tree to the right and she took me around the where the sprinkler was hitting on the left. Yeah I praised her BIG time for that one. LOL! Got back to the van and Greg was just laughing at me as he got out. I said I smacked the tree and that was my fault, not hers, I wasn't listening. He was like yeah, she's got a pretty good memory and just chuckled. :)
We got back to the Foundation and gave the dogs a break and Greg came and got me and said come on, grab your harness, there is a group of kids here going on a tour, let’s take advantage of the opportunity to get some kid time in. :) It was a group of girl scouts that came in to visit the Foundation. Just to make sure she'd be good with kids and not get too excited, we went in and I put Favor at a sit and we had 4 kids come up and pet, and then 6 more kids came up and pet her. I wanted to make sure I could do this with her because even though I've told the kids to ask first and also told the kids with the new dog they wouldn’t be allowed to pet, I know with going into the school and going into our mega-church, I will be bombarded by kids. She absolutely did amazing! She just sat there and nosed them and then licked one kid on the chin. She did great! :) So that pretty much relieves my biggest worry with her. :)
So I think we are going to work out just fine, just have to keep plugging away. :)
So I did my laundry this afternoon and think I'm going to turn the lights off and take a nap to rest a bit before we get up and do dinner. Then hope to work on some obedience with her tonight as well as work on some paperwork for some various things I have to get sent off too. :)
Signing off from Smithtown, NY.
Dinner was amazing as usual and the nap was good and much needed! After Dinner, Greg announced that he was headed down to the TV lounge to watch the Michigan game of the finals and students were welcome to join in. So Favor and I headed downstairs and we happened to be the first ones down there. She was just dying to get to him as he’d pretty much given her a cold shoulder all through the week in trying to help along the transition from him to me. She sat there just staring at him and started whining. I asked if it would be ok for her to come see him for a few minutes to get it out of her system and he was like yeah that’s fine. He came over and she “talked” and let him know what she was thinking and her tail was just going wild as she gave him kisses and was thrilled to be loved on by him. After this she was a happy camper and able to settle down considerably. I had brought a nylabone down with us to give her something to do while I was hoping to watch the game. Since she’d gotten her “Greg fix” she rolled over on her back and was holding the nylabone between her paws and chewing on it happily. Before long other students began to file in and she contentedly chewed on her bone, rolling around on the floor. Everyone enjoyed each other’s company and the dogs did too, though a couple of them kept trying to swipe each other’s nylabones as others brought some with them too. 

  Favor on her back and holding her nylabone between her paws with her paws crossed.