June 4, 2005 - 10:16 PM
It's so hard for me to believe that Geneva and I have only been together for 5 days. It feels like we've been together much longer, and I mean that in a most positive way.
This morning we slept in an hour and a half longer than normal. Funny thing was, Geneva wasn't much interested in eating. She did eat a little, and ate fine tonight. I think maybe having Lyle and Madison here when she woke up made things just a little different for her.
Somewhere around noon, Geneva and I struck out on our own and walked to the Clubhouse. It's maybe a short block away but it's here in our Park. We headed down our walkway and once to the road I had Geneva turn right. Now, this was the first time I'd asked her to walk on the right in a sidewalkless situation. She caught on right away. I was so amazed. We live in the third house from the corner, so it wasn't a long walk to the corner, and we crossed Sattern, which is the main street with 2 lanes divided by a planter area. As soon as I knew we were passing the divider, I told Geneva "right," and she picked up the left side shoulder with ease. As we neared the small parking lott, she moved us to the left finding the sidewalk. From there we easily got to the clubhouse. The return home was just as smooth.
Then, a few minutes later, after such a successful walk to the clubhouse, we headed out to walk the block. This time we turned left onto my street and the rest of the turns on the route were all lefts with no street crossings. Her pace was a little slow, but with encouragement she would pick it up. We passed one house with a barking little dog in the yard which ended up getting loose. The owner did get a hold of it before it got to us. But I had stopped Geneva and had her sit and gave her a couple of "high collar" corrections to get her attention on to me, and we worked from that spot nicely even with the dog continuing its barking in their yard.
As we turned back onto our street, an older neighbor lady who uses a walker stopped us to visit. Geneva was a push over and even gave Amerylisa kiss, which she loved.
We continued home and Geneva even knew when to turn in to our house by finding the walkway. It was such a good feeling to know she can already find her way home.
Tonight we all went out to dinner as a family when Amelia got off work. We just went to a little family owned place less than a mile away, and of course Geneva behaved like a pro.
On the way home, we stopped for gas and I had to go into the store to pay. Geneva worked me thru the small parking lot, taking me right to the entrance. Amelia was with me in case I needed her, but we didn't.
So, although we didn't have Nick with us today, we still got a little work in and I feel it was another good day.
A couple of things that I've forgotten to mention previously.
When we were in Seattle on Thursday and doing all of those crossings, we actually had two unplanned traffic checks, and Geneva handled them perfectly and neither of them seemed to phase her.
I also wanted to comment how well she does with grooming. When it's time to do this, she just stands there perfectly still and let's me comb and brush her, and the only time she may move is when I'm at her tail. It's such a treat to groom her. And I just love how soft she feels.
God is so good to have brought Geneva and I together. What a blessing!
Hugs & wags,
Cindy & Geneva
