Day 5

Last night was actually much better than what I thought it would be. We took Fern out to potty at 2130 and she lasted until 0400. They told us to expect them to get upset stomachs, not sleep much, fuss, want to go outside a lot, etc, so 1 trip at 0400 wasn't so bad. What made it bad was that Mika didn't go to sleep until 0030. It wasn't that she didn't try, she just couldn't sleep. I'm sure it's part excitement and part 'the dog is hogging the entire bed'. Needless to say, we were all dragging this morning.

I attached a pic of Mika and Fern this morning. After significant shoving, Mika got enough room to sleep on her back, but lost the right to the other 2/3 of the bed and most of the covers. And Fern had her head on Mika's legs all night, but they seemed to work it out okay.

The practice sessions this morning went very well for F & M. Our trainer reviewed how Fern would perform her basic commands like sit, down, lap, off, visit, heel, 'better hurry (go potty), wait, paw and stay. They were again better than expected so he introduced the advanced commands and let her actually try them. She learned how to cue Fern to open drawers, unlatch doors and pull them open, turn light switches on and off, nose (so she could push the button to open the handicap doors), and 'get help'. It was amazing to see how quickly Mika could cue Fern to perform these feats. What was every bit as cool was that Fern's tail was wagging the entire time she was turning lights on and off and practicing on getting help. Fern was having a great time doing it and was loving that she was getting treats for stuff she can do anyways. That dog is too smart for her own good.

We went to WalMart for our first group outing, which was fortuitous because I had to pick up a week's worth of food for Mika. I was apprehensive because we didn't receive explicit instructions for what to do. Fern could have cared less that we were in Wal-Mart. She was completely comfortable walking with Mika through the store. Fern's trainer came and found us and said that they were doing great.

I told Mika we could get Fern a new toy and I let her go to the dog aisle while I was an aisle away. I know, she was out of my sight in a store! That's a first! When I caught up with them, Mika told me that Fern picked out this cheap stuffed duck and loved it. I had serious doubts about it but she was so sure that this was the best toy I just bought it. She was right, Fern absolutely adores it. She doesn't want to play tug of war with it and she doesn't really chew on it. She just carries it around in her mouth and shows it off. It's so adorable.