Well, if I were to let miss Posh tell you about yesterday, she would likely say that it was a terrible, awful and very very dreadful day! And she might even cry at the memory! So I'll have to do it for her, since she is now peacefully sleeping.
The morning was fine! Excellent, in fact. It was Labor Day, and the town of Gresham was half asleep, which made our travels very easy, and more interesting than usual. There were lots of dogs and children everywhere. My wee girl ignored them beautifully, of course. We went on a little route with our roomates, in preparation for our outing on Saturday! Not too much to say, other than that the dogs behaved very well, and the trip was mostly uneventful. Her ears, although still a little crusty, didn't seem to be bothering her very much. Oh, and we did have our class pic taken before we went to Gresham. We were lovely, of course!
After lunch, we gathered to hear a lecture on handling the public. Not too much to learn here, but a good reminder. Dealing with the public is pretty much constant when traveling with these pups! They then told us it was time for us to start picking up after our dogs, (Oh loveliness!), and to bring their boots and head collars on the bus, we were going to the park! Well, first, being her most cooperative little self, Miss Posh provided me with a little gifftie to pick up right away. Ah yes, it comes right back, like riding the proverbial bicycle. Then we all went to the park and were told to put on the dogs' boots. No particular reason for this, we just needed to practice walking with them in boots. Normally, you would put them on for extreme heat, or cold, or for riding escalators. Since we live in Iowa, we will have to get really well aquainted with those boots, so practicing seemed like a good idea to me. Not to Posh! She was horrified! At first, she refused to put her right back foot on the ground, figuring that, if she didn't, I couldn't raise her left back foot to put on the last boot. I thought the plan was pretty good, only, of course, I'm bigger and meaner than she is, and I made her put the foot down, and wear all four. She sort of hopped instead of walking in her usual dignified manner. She did settle down eventually, although she kept stopping and looking at me for some food rewards, which she never does on the street. I think she felt that she at least deserved that! Then, about halfway through, we had to put her head collar on, so she could practice wearing that! She hated it! I think it's similar to a halty, but I'm not sure. I only know that my poor baby girl was quite miserable as she gamely made it through the rest of the route. She did fine, actually, and I know we'll be fine this winter, because she'll get used to the boots. It doesn't mean she has to like them! At one point, we heard a very little child wail in utter despair! Posh told me that she completely understood how that poor kid felt! She did manage to lose two of her shoes along the way, but that mean old instructor just picked 'em up and gave them to me and told me to put them back on her, just to help her get used to wearing them! We had the chance to go around again, but I decided not to. I figured that, between yesterday, when she had to stay right next to me every second and was too sleepy to play, and today when she had to wear these terrible things, she'd probably had enough. She agreed, big time! She wouldn't lie down with her shoes on. and somehow managed to get another shoe off while we waited for those braver souls who did go around a second time. But another,equally mean instructor gave it back to me, so we still have all four of her shoes. I'm a little worried about her wearing them in Iowa though, since she's not likely to find them for me if she loses them! Maybe she'll appreciate that they keep her feet from the ice and snow? I don't think so!
When we got home, she crashed in her crate, big time! She got more playful later on, and by the time it was bedtime, she was back to being her lovable and joyful self. But she told me that, if I were going to write in that thing and tell everyone everything, I had to tell you all that she hated her shoes and head collaar! So, you've all been told!
that was my main hatred of booties, losing them. Someone made me an idiot mitten strap contraption that I attached to all the booties so I wouldn't lose them if, no, when, they fell off, but that made her guidework even more dreadful. I ended up just going with using Musher's Secret.
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