Our Pack

Today at the beach we met tons of kids from our school. The kids were happy to see us. They remembered one of Bud's tricks that he performed in front of the school assembly. This trick is about listening. I put Bud on a "Sit, Stay", then I threw the ball and Bud had to stay there and wait until I said the word "Release." I whispered to the group of kids that word, then I threw the ball and Bud had to listen for that word,"Release," before he ran for the ball. The kids love this. While Bud is on a "Sit and Stay" I say and sing different words trying to trick him. Finally after a minute or so we say the word "Release,"together. After hearing that word, Bud runs and gets the ball, all the kids clap. Bud then struts around proudly for good listening. At these school groups, I tell about different true stories in Jetta's Journey, and I teach the kids about training our dogs as in our families; our Pack. When we left the beach to come home, one little boy said "just blow your whistle then Bud will come". By then Bud found a guy down the beach a ways to throw the ball. I blew my whistle and Bud stopped playing and ran to me. Then I showed them how Bud's job is to help me. I said to Bud the command, "Stand," and Bud stood there to help me stand up from sitting on the sand. The best part of this morning is that the kids want to follow Jetta's blog. I love sharing about my service dogs. The kids are motivated to teach their own dog tricks. Our dogs are our family, they want to be trained. Remember what Jetta and Bud's trainer says, practice, practice,practice. More time spent on your dogs means happy dogs.