Happy 2009

Dear Aiobe,
We all hope you're doing well in your new life as a working dog.
Good luck in 2009
xoxo,
your puppy family

Prematched

I got a call on Wednesday--Aiobe has been prematched for this month's hearing dog class!
Of course a prematch isn't official, but keep your fingers crossed--if all goes well she could be graduating on FRIDAY, June 27th. I'll post more when I know more.

In the meantime, here's a picture of Leif lounging at a park in Olympia earlier this spring.
I didn't know he was such an art-history hound, but surely the resemblance to Ingre's Grande Odalisque can't be coincidental (I can tell you that it had absolutely nothing to do with me).

Aiobe the double-major

Aiobe continues to hang in there in advanced training. According to her latest report she's excelling with her hearing dog training and is also keeping up all her other skills. Good job puppy! Meanwhile, here in Seattle the spring is springing. Sometimes it's two steps forward and one step back--we've had dustings of snow twice this month(!)--but Leif did enjoy our 80-degree day two weeks ago.

More Career Options

This month's report brings news that Aiobe has been branching out in her training. She rotated through the February class without making a match and is continuing in advanced training, but is now doing soundwork. She's been learning to nudge her handler with her nose to get his attention, as well as locating and finding specific sounds. Her report says that she is doing well.

Leif would like to point out that the accompanying picture is not Aiobe's ear. It is Leif's ear, and is for illustrative purposes only. He would also like to point out that his ear bears only a superficial resemblance to Aiobe's ear. His ear is shorter and rounder.

Leif would also like you to admire his other excellent attributes. Here is his nose. His nose is also good at nudging people, but he is a self-taught nudger.

I hope that everyone is having a good March.

No match for Aiobe

There was no match for Aiobe in this month's graduating class, but she's being held over for the May. Here are some of the comments from her January report.

Aiobe has completed her 2^nd semester of advanced training. In that time she has learned to do a lot of amazing things. She retrieves items from underneath a wheelchair, tugs open heavy doors, turns on and off lights, and pushes drawers closed.

We have gone on many field trips. the last one was to an adult activity center for people with developmmental disablities. She was a little taken aback with the environment and not very comfortable with the noise and activity of the place.

It sounds like she's doing well, and I really hope we'll be watching her graduate in three months. I'm glad CCI is so careful about making sure that their graduate teams are well matched, and I hope that Aiobe will find her match in the next round. Good luck to all who graduated last weekend!

Cross your fingers...

...Aiobe is one of 20 dogs rotating through team training this month. There will be 11 students in the class, which graduates February 23rd.

Think, Aiobe, Think

Comment from the most recent training report:

"Aiobe is an enthusiastic worker. She sometimes gets a little too excited to perform a skill and ends up getting confused. This is particularly true with the Light command right now. As she gets more familiar with the skill her confusion decreases and the skill becomes more consistent."

Trainer: Aiobe, Light!
Aiobe: Quizzical look.
Aiobe: Pause
Aiobe: Sits
Aiobe: Rolls Over
Aiobe: Speaks, Downs, Heels, Shakes, Rolls, Stands, Jumps, Spinsincirclesputspawsovernosedoesahandstandturnsincirclesgrinsrollsagainpaddlespawsinair...

As a puppy she used to lose her head at times and perform commands at random when she got tired or confused. Once she got started the confusion only seemed to grow, but even in the midst of it what she most wanted was to please.

Most of the rest of the report was very much like last month's. Her December field trip was to the shopping mall. A December shopping mall trip--that must have been full of excitements and distractions!

According to her trainer, Aiobe has a moderate response to correction, high response to motivation and a high learning rate. Yep, he's describing the puppy I've known.