Thursday, March 7, 2024

A TRAINED PRINCESS

Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,

I finished the training I had to do at work. I'm happy to say it was easier than I thought it would be. Tuesday was my first full day of using my new skills on a different product line. I was exhausted at the end of the day, but I'm always pretty tired because we're so busy. At least I get to deal with a variety of clients and products. The day goes quickly until I get to the last 60 minutes. At that point I'm ready for the day to be over. 

Princess and I have also been going to training together. We've had two of our four follow-up sessions that we need to complete for Princess to have a lifetime guarantee on her training, which means that as long as we complete the four sessions, if Princess needs touch ups on her training, the school will provide the extra lessons at no additional cost.

I haven't told you much about her training, so let's get started. Princess was away from home for four weeks at the end of  November and the first part of December! We missed her so much. Franklin didn't react to her absence, but Penelope was broken hearted, and my anxiety level went to 11.

Every Friday I received a report card from the school, Karma K-9, with photos and short videos of Princess. She always had lots of stars on her report card.


Princess worked with all of the trainers at the school, while I interacted solely with Curtis. When I finally got to pick up Princess, Curtis talked to me about what she had learned and the skills we needed to practice.

Then he told me he was going to ask me to do something really difficult. He said, I'm going to bring out Princess and I don't want you to look at her until I release her.

So I sat in a chair in the waiting room and turned away from the entrance. I wanted so badly to look at Princess when Curtis brought her to within several feet of me, but I waited until Curtis told her Princess, free.

I called her and she ran to me. We hugged and cuddled and kissed. I scratched her back exactly the way she likes it and she was so happy that her back legs moved like she was pedaling a bicycle. 

After the big greeting we had our first training session together. I'll tell you in my next post about the commands we use and what Princess has learned.

For now I'll finish by describing the young lady's homecoming. Although Franklin hadn't reacted to her absence, he was happy to see Princess return. He wagged his tail and wanted to greet Princess and sniff her. But Penelope was thrilled. Her best friend had returned and all was right with Penelope's world. She wiggled and waggled while she and Princess cuddled and kissed. If I had known I could make Penelope so happy, I would have gotten her a Princess a long time ago.

Infinities of love,

Janie Junebug

 

37 comments:

  1. It's wonderful that you are getting training for Princess. So few people train their dogs these days and it really shows.

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    1. Training was a must. She's very strong and can be a bit stubborn. I was able to teach her some things but not enough to keep some of her wilder behavior in check.

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  2. Good on Princess for going through the training. It'll be good for her and you!
    xoxo

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    1. Curtis told me she was very popular with all the trainers because she's so sweet.

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    1. Let's change that to behaving most of the time!

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  4. So happy for you (and Penelope) that Princess is home

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    1. It was awful without her. That's the longest I've ever been separated from one of my dogs.

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  5. Such a lovely story. And how wise to have excellent training in place.

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    1. My former supervisor at work, Bryan, took one of his dogs to Karma K-9 for training. He recommended it, which made me feel comfortable with using their services.

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  6. Wow! That video was so cool! Princess was doing great! Getting the videos must have helped with missing her. I hope she has done as well at home and your follow-up sessions have gone well, too. How exciting! :)

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    1. Getting the videos and photos every week helped a lot. I'll write more about what's happened since she finished her 4 weeks.

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  7. Replies
    1. I'll agree with that. It's wonderful to have a dog who walks at heel.

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  8. Aww, how sweet! Love this post! :-)

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    1. Thanks, Lorraine! Maybe you should take Manny for training. hahahaha!

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    2. I think he's a hopeless cause. lol

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  9. She done good!!!! She is so pretty. German Sheperds are generally very easily training dogs I hear.... right with Labradors.

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    1. Yes, shepherds are usually very intelligent. Princess is certainly a smarty pants.

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  10. This is all good news, for you, for Princess and for Penelope.

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    1. Princess and Penelope make quite a pair. They couldn't be much more different from each other.

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  11. Sweet Princess! Sweet Penelope! And of course, sweet Franklin! I'm glad they're all back together again, and happy.

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  12. (From Auntie Maureen) I am so glad Princess is home as I know you, Penelope and Franklin are. I am also glad to see you have finished your job training. Will you be returning to your normal hours now? I look forward to seeing more on Princess training and look forward to seeing you soon.

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    1. Yes, I'm back at my regular hours, although my day off after I work on Saturday has changed. Thank you for visiting us yesterday.

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  13. Aww. Princess went to boarding school. Glad it went well. Our Penny passed her first training but flunked the second. Sigh

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    1. Oh, no! Well, not everything was perfect with Princess when she returned home. I'll be writing about that.

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  14. Thanks for that wonderful progress report! Sounds like a happy household. ☺

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  15. Well done Princess, she looks so good in the video. I'm glad she is home, and your anxiety level returned to zero :-)

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    1. I don't think my anxiety level has ever been 0, but at least it's not as high as it was when Princess was gone.

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  16. That must have been hard not to look at Princess! I am anxious to hear about the commands you now use for her. I learned a lot when I took Shirley to obedience training, and it has paid off.

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    1. It's great that you and Shirley learned a lot. Not looking at Princess when she was so close to me and we hadn't seen each other in a month was so hard! Boy, did we hug and kiss!

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  17. Hi Janie - well done on finishing your training ... then Princess having hers - much more important! So pleased for you - cheers Hilary

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    1. Thanks, Hilary! Too bad I'm not as well behaved as Princess.

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