Ending the Year

Our visiting family all left today. It was sad to see them go, since the visit was so great, yet it is also good for life to settle down for GB and Ellie. We did more training today and will do more tomorrow. I will get the hot dogs out and remind Ellie that GB is her job, even if I am her handler. I am working on boundaries with Ellie- such has cat food and litter boxes are off limits. I am also trying to keep Joseph out of it as much as possible- he scares Ellie. Men, in general, bring out the reserved side of Ellie.

Our First Visit to Church

Ellie went to church with us for the first time today. All the loud clapping scared her. When there wasn't any clapping, she was well behaved. Training with my sister's dog, Waddles, visiting is difficult. Ellie really doesn't like her, and at a year old Waddles is still a puppy, constantly jumping and wanting to play. Ellie still  occasionally bares her teeth at Waddles and our stern  NO only works for a while.  Ellie is still all cuddles. I no longer need a leash when I take her out to potty. We are still getting use to each other.

Christmas Day

Ellie's first Christmas was a mixed bag. Between cat food and Waddles' food, she has been eating on and off all day. As a result, she had an accident in the house for the first time in days. Ellie enjoyed running circles in the yard with Waddles and cuddling with me in front of the fire.

Christmas Eve

GB and Ellie are waiting for cousins, dinner, then FINALLY decorating the Christmas Tree. TV distracts them briefly.

 

Trying to keep the excitement of the day from being overwhelming.

Cuddles

After Ellie went out this morning, we put her in the crate and cuddled GB in our bed for twenty minutes. She had a more intact day today, so putting a morning cuddle back her routine may help. Ellie went with us to Deisings for lunch today. Ellie was a well mannered lady and drew lots of complements. Ellie and I continue to work on stay and are starting to work an 100% successful emergency recall. Ellie knows 3 x as many commands as I do.

A Stray Thought

10 PM
Since we have gotten Ellie, our mornings have changed. Until Ellie, GB started her day with 15 or 30 minutes of cuddling. Since Ellie, I immediately take Ellie to the potty stone and by the time I get back, GB has already gotten herself dressed and wants to go downstairs and start her day. Maybe if I can rearrange mornings to put the cuddling back into it, GB will settle in faster. Just a thought.

Last School Night

Ellie and GB made it to almost 6 (AM) this morning. Ellie and I took advantage of GB being in school to work on "stay". There was no work expected today, so school and GB got alone just fine. GB had a great time at dancing.  After a tea party and dinner, the two of them watched TV and cuddled until bedtime.

 TV and cuddling go well together.

The Day is Done

Gadget & Ellie

 

It is 8 pm and finally bedtime. GB got nothing done at school, wouldn't cooperate at daycare, and bounced through gymnastics. Some days are just long. On the brighter side, Ellie pooped by the potty stone and made friends with Gadget. Maybe if I go to bed earlier,  5:30 won't come so soon.

Obsolete!

6:45
Alarm clocks are obsolete. Ellie and GB were up again before 5:30! Ellie went straight out to the potty stone and peed. GB has been cuddled and has gotten dressed. We have over an hour before the bus and all that's left is breakfast!

A Long Day

5:53
GB and Ellie have both been fed, GB is in the tub, and I am counting down the minutes until I can  legitimately say " Bed Time! " Ellie had an OK day- she is eating well and not shaking so much. We worked on two commands today- "Find GB" and "On your bed!". GB ran out of steam before 2 o'clock this afternoon. We managed to get 2 more math sheets done, but she ended up in tears when we tried to go back to it. The afternoon consisted of either tears or or out of control laughter about nothing. School tomorrow- I am not sure if I am relieved because I get a break or if I am dreading the last three days of school, because I doubt she will be able to hold it together. I guess it really doesn't matter.

A Day at Home

10 am
We didn't get the snow, but I decided to take a snow day anyway. GB and Ellie were up at 5:30 (No, they don't understand weekends). Ellie went and peed on command in the right spot, then GB and I had hot chocolate and tea. GB got dressed and fed Ellie, while I got GB's breakfast and medicine ready. Ellie pooped 5 minutes after eating (I was suppose to take her out after 15 minutes) so I guess the schedule needs to be adjusted. GB worked on school work, with Ellie at her feet. We have LOTS more school work to do today, as we did so little last week. GB and Joe are at the gym, Ellie is lying next to me, and I have grades to work on.

Our First Day Home

Ellie has now been accident free for 60 hours- a major mile stone. She is still very jittery around people she hasn't met before, but very well behaved anyway. GB has settled done slightly, but still zooms out of control during unstructured play with Ellie. The snow tomorrow will give us a good excuse to stay home and have a pajama day. GB is taking her responsibility for Ellie seriously, and does an admirable job of fixing Ellie's food, having Ellie sit and stay, putting the food down, stepping back, and saying OK so Ellie can eat. Now that Ellie is actually eating, the whole process seems to make more sense to GB. Ellie and Gadget have made friends and Sasha at least agreed to a truce. We will restart our training sessions tomorrow.

 

I don't think GB  understands that Ellie is a separate being from her yet, but that is one of the gains I hope to see from this journey. GB is getting very attached and Ellie takes her job seriously.

Halfway Home

We are official graduates! GB and Ellie still need a lot of work (mostly GB), but we had a totally uneventful car ride to Raleigh. Ellie ate this morning and pooped. Her and I made a trip to Becca's to return the crate, then went home to pick up GB and Joe. Becca put Ellie through her paces for Joe's benefit and it was impressive. Ellie is somewhat fearful around men and very sensitive to tone of voice. Joe will have to take time to get to know her. However, she is very partial to belly rubs, so it shouldn't be hard. GB is still bouncing, but I am looking forward to her settling down when we get home. We are behind on school work, but she hasn't been up to sitting long enough to do any. More pictures tomorrow.

Up and Down

GB lost it last night. Her tooth came out and she started screaming like someone was killing her. Ellie was in the crate going nuts trying to get to her. It took 25 minutes to get the screaming quieted enough that I was no longer worried about police breaking down my door to save her. It was 10:30 before she finally fell asleep, with a wad of paper towels in her mouth.

Ellie slept through the night. She woke me up about 6'oclock, and I took her outside and she peed. When we got back, GB was up and dressed. GB and Ellie worked their commands for almost 15 minutes. GB went to get ice and Ellie followed her. GB started yelling and Ellie took off and out of the hotel. The good part is when I went to get her, I only had to call once and Ellie came and sat in front of me. The bad part was that as soon as Ellie was back in the room, she dumped another pile. So Ellie is back in the crate and Becca will be at the hotel this morning to work on the command "potty".  Until, then, GB and I are swimming. We pick up Joe at the airport this evening.

Hanging in

GB slept over eleven hours last night- didn't even open her eyes until after eight. Becca and I decided to split the day into two sessions, as GB's attention span is getting shorter each day. Ellie was fitted with new snow boots. She was funny to watch- I don't think she liked it. The temperature was 35 degrees when we got to Georgia, but is in the mid sixties now. The rain finally stopped, so we took advantage of the dry sky by working outdoors this morning. GB is getting better at cuing individual commands and reinforcing Ellie promptly. We have been working on her "Ellie" voice (the tone Ellie responds best to) and GB has made a lot of progress. Becca worked on GB and Ellie playing together, mostly with a tennis ball. This spring, we will see if Ellie likes soccer. When GB had done as much as she was up to, we had Burger King for lunch. We are back at the hotel, chillin. We are going to take Ellie out for a potty break, then go to the pool. We are suppose to meet Becca for dinner- GB wants to go to Pizza Hut. She didn't get it last night because they don't deliver. I am getting tired of peanut butter and cracker and I think she is too.

Ellie's new snow boots ^     


GB and Ellie playing ball, while Becca helps >

Overdone

2:30 pm

Today we went to a dog park, then to Barnes & Noble for hot chocolate,and finally to Pet Smart. GB picked out a stuffed blue bone for Killer. When she went to check out, they wouldn't sell it to her because it should have been part of a set. She fell apart completely and was still crying when we got back to Becca's. She was obviously done,so I decided it was time for a break. We are back at the hotel and GB and Ellie are watching Disney and chillin. We are going to order pizza in (Pizza Hut, yuck!) and maybe go to the pool later. Tomorrow's another day.

Nothing's Perfect

6:11 am
Ellie did not like the crate. She kept whinniing and whimpering. Each time she woke me up,  (11,2:15,4 am) I took her out and tried to get her to go. I failed each time. When she woke me up at 6 am, I tried again. Much better! I got to the grass and said "potty" and she peed. We got to the woods, I said "potty" and she dumped a huge pile. I gave her a treat and told her how wonderful she was. We went back to our hotel room, took off the leash and Ellie got a drink. I took off my shoes and hung up my jacket, then looked for Ellie. She was dumping an even bigger pile! I cleaned it up, but now we have to go to Pet Smart  again for some odor neutralizer. The day has got to get better.

Our First Full Day

GB remained wound last night and it was almost eleven before she finally slept. She woke up this morning and she was still wound. It took forever to get through our morning routine and get to breakfast. We made it to Becca's by ten.

We started off by getting reacquainted with Ellie and running through our basic commands. Becca put her "working gear" on Ellie and we went off to learn "public manners".

Ready to go out

We started at Pet Smart, where GB practiced heel by walking Ellie all over the store. We filled up a shopping cart with necessary dog stuff and bought Ellie a brand new name tag. We went to Atlantic Bread (think Panera's) for lunch. GB required the usual (high) level of supervision and I found it difficult to maintain GB and cue Ellie at the same time. When we were done with lunch, we went to Walmart for necessities (Pepsi). I got better at cuing Ellie and GB enjoyed being Ellie's girl.

We went back to Becca's and GB put Ellie through her paces again. GB successfully handled come, sit, down, and stay and Becca said she could bring Ellie back to the hotel. It took 4 trips to get all the dog stuff, Ellie and GB into our room.

We do a short training session every hour or so. The rest of the time they played ball until GB got too hyper and I switched them to TV and cuddling.

GB helped me put the crate we borrowed together and had Ellie sit until she put her food down and said OK. 

I am exhausted and they are still going strong. I can't wait until 8 o'clock- bedtime!

9:45 pm
Ellie and GB are both asleep and the silence is deafening.  I am enjoying the peacefulness- I

wish this room had a hot tub. I'm going to get ready for bed.  I am sure morning will come early tomorrow and I want to be ready for it!

Meeting Ellie

After 1,178 miles of driving, today we got to meet Ellie. GB was wary at first, but soon fell in love with her. We worked on come, down, and stay and played a lot of ball. We spent almost 2 hours with Ellie and it went well right up until saying goodbye. When GB realized that Ellie was staying with Becca(the trainer) tonight, she had a major meltdown. It took almost an hour to get her back. After peanut butter and crackers to shore us up, we are headed to the hotel pool.

Meeting Ellie

 

Ellie and GB

 

Ellie likes to be petted.

 

It is hard to say goodbye!

Halfway There

GB and I spent twelve hours in the car and just arrived at my sister's, outside Raleigh, NC. We have another 7 1/2 hours of driving to get to Ellie. I plan on sleeping in tomorrow(today, I guess), but GB almost never does that, so we will see. We are taking tomorrow(today) off so GB can bake cookies with her cousins (and get some of the car ride out of her). We will leave Saturday morning and make Ellie's by 3 pm. GB can't contain her excitement. It is good to see her enthusiasm, but tiring trying to keep it within some sort of boundaries.

The Beginning of this Journey

GB is a beautiful 6 and a half (don't forget the half!) year old girl. She does great cartwheels, did her first back handspring, loves to dance, is solid student in a regular first grade class, has a contagious laugh and has been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). There are times when she gets overwhelmed, and times when she sees danger in everything. New experiences, even pleasant ones, are difficult for her. To expand her world and help her with transitions, we applied for a service dog in March, 2009. She was approved and eventually paired with Ellie. Tomorrow, GB and I leave for Georgia, to do our partnership training and, hopefully, bring Ellie home.