Summer is almost here! Well, I guess for all practical purposes in Texas, it is here. I don’t consider it really summer until after we hit the summer solstice. So until June 21, at 7:28 AM EST, I don’t want to hear anyone say it is a hot summer. Got that? It is an unbearable hot and humid SPRING. Get it right, folks!
Actually, I guess for Texas it hasn’t been too bad. April was very mild, as was most of May. But then, the last two weeks or so, the temps got up into the 90s with a good bit of humidity. This past weekend it was over 100 degrees, but it wasn’t very humid at all. Until Monday. The first day of Olivia’s soccer camp. Doesn’t that just figure – poor kid, all sweaty and dirty at the end of 3 hours. It’s good for her, though. I have no idea what the temp actually was (and I am too lazy to look it up), but that kid was dripping when I picked her up. Lucky for her, I plied her with plenty of water, and sunblock, and bought her some cold Gatorade after, and made sure the husband fixed the A/C in my car this weekend. It’s not like in my day, back when I was a kid. You played sports in 105 degrees with 195% humidity for hours, with nothing but the sweat you squeezed out of your head band to drink. Yesireee Bob. Kids today are soft. But that’s okay. Their soft life just makes my childhood sound all the more exciting and dangerous to them than it actually was.
The soccer camp is at the local high school, and is run by some seriously experienced former college soccer players and current high school players. The head coach is the current girls’ soccer coach at the school and has won like 852 NCAA championships or something. I guess the men’s coach showed up later on. There was probably 30 kids or so in attendance, from 5 years to 15 years old.
After the introductory announcements, and assurances that Yes- it’s okay to leave your little one with us for the whole 3 hours! - all the kids and coaches and assistances started the long walk behind the school to get to the practice field. I took this opportunity to run back to the car to get the sun block (which I forgot oops). By the time I got back, they were already gone. I had to hike down the only steep hill in this part of Texas to find them. But find them I did. I waited for about 15 minutes to catch Olivia between exercises to spray the kid down, and then took off. (Interesting note: it is a small world – met a woman that sends her two boys to a school in local city where we both know the speech therapist, plus two former teachers there. Who’da thunk it?)
Anyhoo, I picked Olivia up at noon – and man was that child worn out! She was all excited, but tired; so tired that in the car she told me she was too tired to talk. Ponder that for a moment. My Olivia. Too tired to talk. (Has Hell frozen over yet?) All in all, a good day for her.
Tonight was also the first night of doggie obedience school at PetSmart for our puppy Trillian. There was only her and one other dog – a Golden Doodle. I had never heard of this before – half Golden Retriever and half poodle. Kinda like a sheep dog with curly hair. Very cute and friendly.
Trillian wasn’t so sure about it, though. She is a ball of nerves around strange adults lately, especially dogs she does not know. I think it is because the poor girl hasn’t been on long walks for a while in the park. That was one of the reasons I signed up for the class – she needs some doggy socialization! Besides the fact well, she needs the training. She spent a good amount of time hiding behind me. That’s right – hiding BEHIND me. I haven’t seen her do that in a long time. I was surprised because she is very protective of me, but I guess that goes hand and hand with it (per the trainer, and the vet a few weeks ago). She seemed to handle her dog grooming experience this weekend, and she was just dying to get into the store tonight, so I was a little surprised by her reaction.
PetSmart uses the positive reinforcement method, along with clicker training. I have read 2 ½ books by The Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan, and ¾ of two books by the Monks of New Skete, and a crappy dog training book at Wal-Mart. It’s not that I don’t think the positive/clicker training isn’t worthwhile, but the crappy book makes it seem like it is the only method to use, and talks trash about any other method that seems “harsh”. But The Monks and Cesar Millan appear to have more of a balanced approach. The trainer mentioned tonight she likes some of what Millan teaches, but thinks some of his practices are a little harsh, as well. That’s okay though – this chick has a lot more experience than I do with dogs, and I don’t think the positive/clicker training is harmful. And if it works – great! I am keeping an open mind.
Tonight we worked on getting the dog’s attention, getting her to look me in the eye, and sitting. Trillian is just like the rest of the family – very food motivated, so the snacks were a big hit! The trainer had us hold the snack up to the dog, and then bring it in front my eye, and say to the dog “Watch me!” and as soon as Trillian looked me in the eye, even for the briefest second, click the clicker, and then give her a treat. The next exercise was getting her to respond to her name when she was distracted. For example, my dog was looking out the window that separated the training area from the rest of the store. I would call “Trillian!” in a happy voice (because you are not supposed to ever say the dog’s name in an unhappy or negative voice), and as soon as she turns and looks at me- CLICK! “Good Girl!:” and a treat. Next was sitting. You don’t say sit – you just put a treat over the dog, and wait for her to sit, and the - CLICK! “Good Girl!:” and a treat. After the dog seems to understand she is supposed to sit, you can then tell her to sit, while raise your hand up in front of her with the treat in it. And then - CLICK! “Good Girl!:” and a treat.
I was a little doubtful – but she caught on to all these exercises fairly quickly. Probably because: 1. she already knows her name and has started to respond to it already the past month or so more; 2. Myself and the kids have tried to teach her sit here and there, with treats and without, so this wasn’t a foreign concept to her; and 3. She is really all that and a bag of chips!
The trainer is a nice, friendly woman that is confident, but not bossy at all. She seems to know her stuff, and having a small class is a huge advantage, as I get to ask a lot of questions. Over the coming weeks we will work on various commands such as the recall (come), staying, and walking on the leash properly. This last one will be interesting. I really am convinced that Cesar Millan is on to something when he says you need to be in command of the walk at all times; even when you give the dog exploring time. The trainer stated that her opinion is that it’s okay to let the dog walk in front of you, as long as they don’t pull; meaning that if they pull on the leash so there is no slack, that they will correct that themself so you don’t have to do it, as there is no “jerking” the leash. Hmmm…we shall see about that one. I tell you that when I am consistent with our walks and take the lead (always giving her time to explore a few times during the walk), she is more likely to stay by my side, and seem to be more serious about paying attention.
So – nothing about bikes in this post. I did tell the trainer one of the reasons I wanted to master the walk more was because I thought that was important to do in order to master the bike ride. I bought one of those dog leash attachment things for my bike on Mother’s Day, but have been nervous about using it because I haven’t been able to have enough successful walks with the dog obeying me. Trainer agreed that yes, that is a good idea to do first – more for my safety than anything else, since dogs can often pull riders off their bikes.
On another bike note – husband built a small prefab store shed the over the past few weeks, so we can squeeze a few bikes in there when necessary (along with the lawn mower and everything else). He also ripped out the two big corner windows in the living room, and installed new ones. Very handy guy that.
It’s been way too hot for me to consider riding during the day anyway. I hope that changes soon – or at least let up enough in the evening before it gets too dark for a short ride here and there. I do miss my bicycle…or my little bicycle….soon I am going to be too fat for it! I gave notice at my job recently, and hope to take a few weeks off before deciding what to do next. If I can squeeze in a few bike rides, that would be fabulous, but I am not holding my breath. Just too much going on right now.
