Thursday, September 15, 2016

Thursday, September 15, 2016

Tonight's picture was taken in September of 2007..... way before childhood cancer was a term on our radar scope. On the weekends, when the weather was nice, Peter would take Mattie out in a row boat on the Potomac River. They experienced fishing together and Mattie enjoyed the hunt for catfish. They would catch them and then throw them right back in the water. Mattie had a few fishing poles and in fact his retractable rod still sits on his shelving unit in his room even today. On occasion Mattie invited me to go with them on an adventure and though I wasn't into fishing, I got a kick out of watching Captain Mattie! A boy who loved a boat. 



Quote of the day: Learning to trust is one of life's most difficult tasks. ~ Isaac Watts

Our day started at 5am. Totally NOT my hour. Peter had a day trip to New Jersey for business and he had to get up early to catch a train. Which meant as he got up so would Sunny and Indie. Needless to say I am going to bed very early these days, so I can be up by 6am, when everyone in my home is alert and moving! For those of you who know me, you know I DESPISE the mornings. So getting up each day before the sun is a challenge. 

The timing worked out well however, because Sunny had an orientation and full day play session at a facility called Your dog's best friends. What intrigues me about this boarding/day care facility is that they don't use cages or pens. In addition, they believe in positive play care. Which in essence is like positive reinforcement. Everyone who works there is totally into dogs and how they keep dozens of dogs straight is amazing to me. 

I was invited to Sunny's orientation. I spent the first hour with the owner of the facility and their head trainer. They worked with Sunny to assess his temperament and behavior in one room, isolated from other dogs. Then slowly they started introducing Sunny to a few dogs in the pack. From there, Sunny was brought into an intermediate space, to meet more dogs. Within an hour's time Sunny was in the "sweet dog" room. Filled with more gentle dogs. Whereas the "salty dog" room is filled with highly energetic and rough play dogs. It was very interesting to watch Sunny transition into this room and also fascinating to me that Sunny looked to me for reassurance. He did not move from one room into the other without coaxing from me. It was hard to leave him behind, and it did remind me slightly of what it was like to leave Mattie for the first time in preschool. I have many issues with trust and frankly in order for me to trust you, you have to prove yourself with me. Otherwise, you aren't getting too far. I always am suspect as to whether others can care for and nurture my child or dog in the same way as me. 


Orientation was from 8:30 to 9:30am, and at that point I was asked to leave Sunny at the facility until 4pm for him to get acclimated and for them to watch his behavior. When I picked Sunny up, I gave the general manager my camera and I asked her to take a photo of Sunny in the room. This was one of the photos she captured! Notice where Sunny is.... right along side a human. Sunny is very person focused. He gets along with dogs, but frankly I feel he thinks they are just that..... dogs. At times I think Sunny believes he is part human. 

After Sunny and I left the facility, he looked upset to me. As if there was too much stimulation for him and he was on overload. He complied by getting into the car, and when he got home he drank plenty of water and ate up a storm. But he just did not seem like himself. So I knew that meant he had to go for a walk. So out we went on a three mile walk. This was one of our walk sightings.... a Mattie butterfly!

Meanwhile back at home, we have Indie the cat who is now freely moving about our home again! She and Sunny are checking in with each other more and the other day when I got home from running a chore, Sunny herded me right over to Indie. He wanted me to know where she was.