New experiences.

I had a dentist appointment today, and decided to bring Hailey along. She went with me when I took my mom there a few weeks ago, and did fine with all the noises, so I figured she’d probably not be too phased by it. My hygienist’s area was right off a main walkway, and Hailey was at the foot of my chair, so everyone walked about a foot from her nose. She did splendidly. I put her leash around a pole by my chair so she couldn’t walk off (or more likely, decide to check in with me), but she stayed in her spot the entire time.

When I first got Hailey, she was very restless on outings, so her being able to settle down in a new environment and snooze is great progress.

Then this evening, Hailey got to go to a campfire at Picnic Point. Lots of students wanted to say hi, and she did very well. But on the way home, Hailey discovered frogs. I couldn’t really tell what was a frog and what was a leaf, but she could tell quite well. The first frog she jumped for once, and wouldn’t go for again, but later in the walk, she saw more frogs that she tried to go after. With each one, after the initial correction she knew she couldn’t chase, but we clearly need to do more work on frog distraction…so I guess more walks on Picnic Point at sunset are in order. She’s gotten markedly better on other forms of prey drive, so it should just be a question of exposing her and making sure she knows she isn’t allowed to engage her retriever instincts.