Cade & Me: day one

y'all, I am tuckered.

today was a blast, and I am so thrilled to have started this,

but, y'all, I am tuckered.

it's so, so lovely to be able to come back to the hotel with absolutely nothing to do but recover. tonight that looked like a little FaceTime with the Shu and his cousins, some unbelievably delicious Mexican food and a big, comfy bed that someone else made. sigh.

we learned loads today about clicker training, the genius behind it and why SDVA uses it. Karen Pryor is a good woman to google if you're interested in learning more. then, markus and I got to try it out on ourselves. I "trained" him to take his belt off, and he trained me to put my sunglasses on-- all without words, just a "click!" when we were moving in the right direction. it's pretty hilarious to put yourself in the dog's position.

once we had refined our clicker timing, we got to work with the dogs. my boy Cade and I were together, and markus got to work with one of the dogs SDVA's trainer Lauren (she's our Transfer Camp leader) has been raising, a gorgeous little black lab lady named Dillon.

I know how you feel, Dillon... gingers get me every stinking time. this one in particular.

(good girl, close your mouth, he won't see the drool...)

here are Cade and me practicing "watch me," a cue that helps develop eye contact, which in turn helps develop the relationship between person and pup. it was made more difficult because I was holding a treat outstretched in my hand. as soon as he chose to make nice eye contact with me, I clicked and gave him the treat.