Jake's restlessness and difficult behaviors have continued. I have managed to pull gluten, and I want to whisper it so I don't jinx it, but he ate the Still Riding Pizza again last night. (First time I made it, he gobbled it down, the next two times wouldn't touch it, then last night ate it again.) We're trying English muffins, some homemade bagels, and gluten-free waffles. None of which he'll touch. So I got him some Spongebob fruit snacks and marshmallows yesterday and he gorged on sugar. I wonder how much of his problem is yeast, because he ate it all and drank a bunch of juice like his body was starving for it. However, he then calmed down quite a bit. No hyper crazy behaviors last night. It's a balance because he seems to need a ton of carbs - he's so active - and he's so limited in the carbs he will eat.
Burke and I have been doing almost-weekly training sessions again, just the two of us, since Jake's in school and I tend to go grocery shopping on Mondays when I have to go to town anyway. His first time out in a while, he was very sniffy of people nearby (especially if they have dogs, he's incredibly interested - I know this because a few who have wanted to make his acquaintance, we make Burke sit and say, "go say hi," and the person will share, "He probably smells my dogs"). He also particularly loves children and anyone with special needs. We have met a few people with special needs who just immediately take to Burke, and he truly loves to give them love and get pets more than he does typical people (which is still a lot - I often say he would go home with just about anyone who pets him and coos to him!). He just seems to have an instant special bond. I also feel like so many folks with special needs could benefit from having a pet dog, if only for the companionship and undying love they provide. Last fall in Home Depot we met a young woman with Down Syndrome who was so over the moon about Burke, I just wanted to give her a dog. I know that it's a lot more complicated than that, but wow - she so instantly and completely connected with him and he with her. It was something special to watch. And then he quickly turned his attention back to his young man, Jake, with whom he has the most special bond of all.
This weekend Jake spent a lot of time outside, and Burke couldn't go out because the chickens are accessible right now due to our fence being buried in deep snow, and he's proven that he can't control himself when the chickens are available. He was so upset, and paced around the house watching Jake from every window. All day. I had to watch him, too, to make sure there were no dashes down to the brook, and for a while we both lay together, me reading a book and Burke just watching, in front of the bedroom window. He's really such a good boy.
And yesterday I got about half a dozen compliments - some from gristled, burly men who you'd never imagine to say this - about Burke. "He's a beautiful dog," or "What a beautiful dog," is what I get most of the time. The couple of women who stopped to talk about him as a service dog were very complimentary about his behavior (we wandered up and down the food aisles at Big Lots with nary a sniff, and he even left spilled dog kibble on the ground after being told "leave it" in the pet aisle). I like educating the public about service dogs (most say, "How hard for you," and assume I'm training him for someone else and will have to give him up) but I do get exhausted and sometimes just want to be left alone. I get a lot less conversation when Jake's with me.
Burke was exhausted after doing a supermarket and Big Lots for about 45 minutes each. He came home and slept the day away. I'm making a concerted effort to take him out more between now and when we fly next month. He is doing so well, I don't anticipate any problems, but I want him to be freshly socialized and up on all his commands. He is doing a lot better with following commands in public. Before he would sort of go into this overwhelmed state; he'd be good, but it took so much effort that me saying "sit" didn't always register. Now we're refining things like "back up" and "heel closer" (he tends to wander to the left of the cart a little too far and the ever-present "leave it" for people, food, and other distractions.
Funny distraction yesterday. A local celebrity was in the store, very colorful guy. For some reason Burke was particularly interested in him. Maybe he smelled like animals, I don't know. Then he started whistling and slapping his knees and feet with his hands as he perused the merchandise (we were both in the natural foods aisle, and no one else was there). Well between the slapping and whistling, Burke couldn't stand it, and moved toward him to investigate. He apologized, but I explained it was good practice. Burke is particularly sensitive to whistling and clapping - he sees them as addressed to him, like a command, probably because of his field lab blood. So it's always good for him to learn that in public, he doesn't respond to someone else whistling or clapping or playing percussion on their legs.
It's getting to be spring and we're going to start work on having Burke follow Jake and bark if he gets too close to the brook. This exhausts me, just thinking of making this happen, but I'll enlist our trainer's help. First we have to melt some snow, recover our electric net fence, and secure the chickens. And if we can get Burke to do this it will be his most important job. Good thing he loves to bark.
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