She did it. Glimmer did it. She successfully passed her CGN trial this past weekend! She needs some fine-tuning, but overall, she did a fantastic job. Now, it’s onto the next step: Preparing for the International Therapy Dog test. This certification is required in order for Glimmer to legally enter such places as hospitals and nursing homes. Training will begin this week. Our goal is to put her in her first ITD trial in about six months.
In other news, Lacey – who is now 9 months old – is progressing very well. Her owners, Tanya and Matt, have been working very hard with her, and it shows. Lacey is still vocalizing, but Tanya and Matt have been following the suggestions I’ve given them about how to address the behavior, and slowly but steadily they are getting positive results. Whether Lacey will outgrow this tendency as she matures remains to be seen.
While we continue working on that issue, we are working to prepare Lacey for her first CGN trial, which is in November. Glimmer will be assisting, as one of the test components involves other dogs. Essentially, while Tanya exchanges a greeting with another person and their dog, Lacey must go into and maintain a calm sit position and not attempt to interact with that other dog. This is very important, as there will be times in daily life when encounters with other dogs will occur, and not all of those other dogs are going to be friendly. Lacey must ignore those other dogs; she must remain calm, and she absolutely must not attempt to interact with them, even if the other person says it’s okay. Because she knows Glimmer, Lacey will be hard-pressed to ignore her, which makes Glimmer the perfect tester for Lacey.
All in all, things are progressing very well. We’re going to be very busy over the coming months and we expect nothing but success on all counts. Have a great day, and remember to stay calm and lead on…