Progress!

Poor Monte, his guide dog socialization includes an occasional visit to the Talullah hair salon (check them out on Facebook)in Spring Green with Lisa. Our last trip there proved too challenging for excitable Monte to sit in a corner of his own volition and not react to chatter and laughter (Tiffany has cut my hair for the last 15+ years, so we always have something to talk about) not to mention falling hair, blow dryers and a moving chair. He was terrible and seemed to know with me in a very vulnerable position and not much room to "correct" any of his mistakes, the odds were in his favor, and he took full advantage of the situation.

I thought I would try again this time and we are so appreciative of Tiffany allowing us this valuable training opportunity. Since a huge part of Monte is influenced by the energy around him, I had to let the last visit just stay in the past, and chose to project the feeling that I would not be putting up with any nonsense and hoped Monte would feel my resolve. It all worked great! He got to meet Tiffany's youngest daughter upon arrival, who was visiting her Mom at work. She and her family have a big (black) Lab of their own at home named Norman, who sounds like the polar opposite of Monte; Norman is very sedate and sounds like he finds a nice cushy couch much more enticing than wasting valuable napping time chasing silly birds. Monte cannot chase them either, but we have to talk him out of it each time he sees one. Too bad Monte can't give Norman part of his energy and vice versa, but we love them just the way they are.

I got Monte settled in a down stay in a quiet corner of the salon, dropped the leash, told him to stay and walked away. He laid in the spot I left him through all the same sights and sounds as last time and some new ones as more people came in and out of the salon. At the end of our visit, I think we had to wake Monte up to leave. Tiffany said she could not believe the change in him from the last visit, which was nice to hear, so I was very proud of the big lug! We are making progress with him. Unfortunately for Monte, that may mean more trips to the hair salon in his future!