Hero Dogs Deborah Sampson - Sammie... August started in the Badlands in South Dakota. Wow, that place has some funny looking rocks. I liked walking there. It wasn’t too hot during the day, and the nights were very cool. Speaking of funny things, we stopped in Mitchell, South Dakota to see the “Corn Palace.” It has huge murals inside and outside all made of corn. Inside they sell anything and everything that is made of corn. No wonder there are so many corn fields out there. Hero Dogs SammieThen it was off to Iowa. Although Iowa also has lots of corn fields, we stayed at an RV park next to a soy field. Soy plants are not big like corn stalks. So when I went for walks, I could see all around. Next we went through Missouri and Illinois. Nothing too exciting there… just more corn fields. But when we got to Columbus, Ohio, we took a detour and went to Circleville. You are probably wondering what drew us to Circleville. It was a puppy! We met some very nice people who had a whole litter of black Labrador retrievers, and they wanted to donate one to Hero Dogs. We picked a little girl. Her name is Molly Pitcher. When I first met her, I wasn’t too sure. But as we drove home, I got used to her and decided that she will make a good Hero Dog. She’s actually very cute! Once we were home, I returned to my routines. I went for walks and I went to Ms. Jennifer’s field to run. I like going there because I can run like the wind. I get low to the ground and no dog can catch me. My ears flop, my tongue hangs out, and occasionally I find a tennis ball. I love fetching tennis balls. In class, we have been working on polishing our skills. Some of the things we’ve practiced are walking on grass without sniffing which can sometimes present a challenge since there are so many interesting smells; backing into small spaces which is a piece of cake for me; going to “heel” or “side” from a distance of five feet and when a person is seated in a chair; holding a “stand stay” for 30 seconds; coming when called to a person seated in a chair; walking nicely on the leash; and my biggest challenge – passing by a dog and ignoring it. I have continued to go to stores and do other errands. When I go, I put into practice all those things we have been taught. For instance, at the grocery store, I did “paws up” to retrieve Maria’s wallet and give it back to her. I thought the man behind us in line was going to faint. He said he had never seen anything like that. I must admit I was pretty proud of myself. At the end of the month, we went to Mt. Airy to buy new tires for the car. While the car was being worked on, we walked all around town. I practiced nice leash walking on different surfaces, including the grass outside a fast food restaurant, went in and out of stores, practiced “under” and “leave it” at a restaurant, and finally settled nicely in the tire store waiting room. At the hardware store, I jumped on and off a big flat cart, went through a curtain made of long noisy plastic strips, and picked up my leash a lot. Several people asked us about Hero Dogs and thanked us for what we are doing. It sure made me proud. hero-dogs.org/puppypages/category/sammie/
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 13:17:00 +0000
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