4th of July

I know this post is a little late, sorry. Saturday was 4th of July as we all know! I was fretting what was about to unfold... Callie had never heard fireworks before and I know 100% I absolutely didn't want a dog who was fearful of fireworks. We all know that dog, the one who gets overly stressed out, hides in corners all while shivering. Mom and I were out all day and Callie was home with Joseph. Then he went to a friend's house and didn't crate her, instead put her outside. When we heard this we rushed home before the fireworks started.

I was prepared for what was to come, thinking Callie would have to be ignored when she was acting fearful or barking, then praising immensely for appropriate behavior. Well, to my surprise it was nothing like this! I believe during her 30 minutes in the backyard during the start of the fireworks no one was there to "comfort" her, thus she learned to get over it so to speak. Many people don't know this, so let me explain. Dogs aren't humans so they don't think the same way we do. Not to mention the language barrier. So when we see our dogs scared many of us think "oh I should comfort him/her" which would be wrong. Why? Because comforting is petting, cooing, cuddling, etc. all are reinforcing behaviors. So without you knowing it your fueling the fear, telling them this is how they should react to whatever they're being fearful of. Unfortunately we don't think about this in the moment so nearly all of us fall victim of this. Since we weren't there to make this mistake, I think Callie learned it was no big deal and got over it.

We then took Callie out with us to firework hunt. We didn't hear any, anc Callie just laid down in the car next to me like usual. When we parked at the high school where there was a good view big booms sounded. She perked her ears and showed interest, I praised. When she barked I just ignored the behavior. She caught on. Showing interest is okay, but barking or acting fearful isn't.

Next Mom and I were hungry and I had planned to make hamburgers but that seemed shot now that is was 9:30pm. So we went searching for an open place. Found that Papa Johns was open and decided pizza sounded good. I walked Callie around the parking lot while Mom ordered, and then we crossed the street to Walgreens. It was hilarious to tell Callie "let's go" (her run command when we're already walking) and see her grab her leash and start running. For whatever reason she cannot run without holding the leash in her mouth... I'm hoping this is her being smart and grabbing it because it whacks her in the face rather than her trying to drag me behind her!

Anyways not much else is new with her... She's just a puppy hanging out during the day with me. In two weeks we start her next obedience class. After 8 weeks of that, we move up to 6 weeks of advanced training, then we finish her training ourselves and prepare for her Canine Good Citizen test. She has to be 1 year old to take it so it gives us time. Then we go and have her evaluated by someone to see if she's therapy dog material and then if she passes, we get a badge and start our work! Just seeing her temparament and how she reacts in new situations plus how well socialized she is I think she'll do great. She really is an amazing dog!