It's Raining Goldies!

Greetings from Sonoma County and the Assistance Dog Institute! Wow, what an action packed first day of school; Dr. Bergin certainly does not waste any time jumping right into our agenda. After brief introductions of my ten classmates (quite an international group, two from Auckland, one from Taiwan, and one from Ontario) we quickly got started with the seminar. We started with a lecture on the basics of dog handling and then headed downstairs to the training facility to start practicing our basic commands, WITH THE DOGS! Now most of you know that a lot of the "pairing" has been done prior to our arrival, but we are now having several opportunities to woo our potential canine companions in five minute sessions. I'm assuming that this is what the concept of speed dating is like; the trainers bring in all eleven dogs, each paired with one of the students as we then commence to "convince the dog that he/she is the most wonderful dog we've ever met." It is hilarious but I certainly have found myself whispering lots of sweet nothings to my potential partners! By Thursday we will have found our first matches and they will be sent home with us. I hope that my new companion will like the Extended Stay Santa Rosa North!Back in the classroom we had another training seminar, the SMARTEST Dog Training, and then it was back to the training room to practice a new set of commands with our next potential companions. The breaks are few and far between and the pace is challenging but as Dr. Bergin says, there's enough info to fill a bachelors degree and we only have six weeks.Last night we had a great welcome dinner at the closing of class where we met more of the ADI staff as well as their dedicated volunteers; what an amazing group! The dinner was a nice way to cap off a long day, as well as understand how we will be hosting a similar dinner for our clients during the final two weeks of the program. Wow, I hope we'll be ready!That's all for now; I promise to have more pics next time but between copious note taking and running back and forth between classroom and training center, there wasn't a lot of standing around, observation opportunity! Stay posted. Hope all is well!~Sarah