Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Team Training ~ Day 3

If it's okay with everyone reading this, I'm going to start today's post a little differently. I recently came to the realization that there's one thing these posts are missing.

I write a lot about the day to day activities and why they are important, but I haven't talked about the most important thing: the KIDS! They are after all why we do what we do!

We here at Team Training get a chance to get to know them, but some of you may not. And let's face it, these kids are pretty fantastic! So to solve this conundrum, we've decided to put short bios of each family at the bottom of each post for the next few days. Today I interviewed Jose.

Jose, 6 years old, loves vanilla cookies and playing with puppies. He is very happy, loves making friends and hopes to work with computers when he grows up. He is smart, and hopes that his Canine Angel will give him hugs and pick up the Wii remote when he drops it.

When asked what three words best described him he said "Yummy inyour tummy." So far, he has enjoyed having the dogs sit, and hopes to get even closer to all the dogs. Sometimes he has trouble steering his manual wheelchair and scary monsters get in the way, but with his brand of determined optimism, as well as his new puppy, these will be simple obstacles to overcome.

Today was the first time Jose successfully propelled his manual chair by himself. And I don't mean a few feet, I mean, all over the place!! It was truly amazing. Go Jose!

Now on to the synopsis:

Today's activities consisted of another obstacle course (this one including a "down-stay" and an "under"), a movie about the difference between the "pack" mentality and human mentality, and had a lecture on training new things and dog philology.

Breakfast was graciously provided by Sandy Mays, our head trainer, and lunch was donated by Casablanca. Believe me when I say thank you for feeding us!

Some of us are already...'dog' tired!

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Team Training ~ Day 2

Day 2 of Team Training was kicked off with the consumption of Steve Thomas's famous and exceptionally delicious quiche (seriously, it was to die for!).

This was proceeded by a review of what we learned yesterday as well as more obstacle course work.

After the obstacle course, everyone went out to get some fresh air. All the dogs were put into a play yard so that our eager students could study pack behavior.

A wonderful lunch was then provided by Infuzed Grill and Grub. After lunch and a lecture, the participants worked on "staying in tune with their dog" via a loose leash exercise. Lastly, everyone settled down to watch a short video about dominance.

Monday, June 16, 2014

Team Training ~ Day 1

“We are dedicated teams collaborating with young people at-risk, families, and communities to find effective solutions and instill hope.” - See more at: http://kairosnw.org/mission#sthash.CfVxUjYk.dpuf

Kairos

Mission

“We are dedicated teams collaborating with young people at-risk, families, and communities to find effective solutions and instill hope.”
- See more at: http://kairosnw.org/mission#sthash.CfVxUjYk.dpuf

Today was the very first day of a very exiting and big adventure: Team Training. By the end of this journey families will have learned how to handle, and been placed with their very own Canine Angel.

The morning started with a continental breakfast and introductions, and then after the "Welcome to Team Training" spiel from Sandy and Sheila, the games had begun.

The day consisted of using basic commands with different dogs to get a "feel" for different energy levels and personalities. The difference between a low energy dog in comparison to a high energy was quickly apparent. The favorite part of the day was of course, handling the dogs.