Update 2-23-19

Henry Clay is now 58 pounds, his fur is scruffy and to my delight he really doesn't shed hardly at all.  At about his four month mark he was losing so much fur, I was really afraid he wasn't going to be able to stay at school.  However in just over a month he has lost all of his puppy fur and is now mostly shed free.  He is a beautiful blond color with scruffy bits here and there.  His long tail curls up like the curly bit on the end of an DQ ice cream cone and is constantly wagging.

He is smart! He knows what he is supposed to do when kids surround him. Just lay down and let them love on him, and he usually does just that! When we go into classrooms he should stay with the handler or wait for the cue to lay down by a student and let them pet him. Which he does do sometimes without even being cued.  He still is so nosey and busy when he goes into classrooms.  He looks like a drug dog sniffing everything and instead of the polite dog waiting for the handler, he sometimes becomes a puppy pulling to get some piece of who knows what  off the floor.

If by chance I remember the treat bag and have 'doggy crack' - (duck and turkey meat mix)- then he is well behaved,  He looks at the handler, follows instructions and does his job well. It's not just having the right treats,it is that when I come prepared with the right treats I am also in the right mindset to make sure Therapy Dog training goes well.  Sometimes I am just too distracted to get it right- that's on me.  Dr. Albert keeps talking about divided attention and how the handler can be focused on the pup and everything else.  This handler is still working becoming proficient at that.  So that is on the "to-do" list along with getting Henry Clay to be a little more calm when he comes into classrooms.  He is generally polite, but still sniffs shoes and bags and sometimes other things he ought not.

Chrissy (Dr. Albert) usually asks what's going well whats going bad when we start a training session. When she asks it takes me a second to reflect on that- so what is going well? He enjoys being with the kids and the kids love him, I mean love him.  He walks in and the kids all ooo and ahh over him.  Friday one of the kids said Henry Clay is like a movie star when he walks in the room.  When he greets them he sniffs and he really sniffs the people that have dogs of their own.  He lays down in the hall during hall change and greets certain students who are regulars with extra tail wags.  But all students leave feeling puppy loved.

He comes in the morning and gives all his office people a nose bump and some love. We have started letting him roam around in whole office area instead of keeping him in just one office.  I am not convinced that is the best plan, but he seems happier and so do most of the people who come and go in the office.  He has started spending time in classrooms a little bit more and he is working on how to be in the library so kids can spend some time reading to him.  He spent some time in 8th grade math and there were some really sweet moments.  It turns out when I came down the hall he knew I was on the way and he jumped up on the door. How does he know from so far away- I don't know if that is good or bad, but it sure made for a cute picture.   Ms. Johnson's students said that he made the whole classroom just feel safe and calm.  So that is a short list of some things that are going well. 

As far as what's not- He is BARKING at people.  We have had folks give him treats and talk to him, which with his deep bark they may not feel like giving the dog a treat.  I don't know why he barks when he barks.  Sometimes when he is startled he will wake up and bark, but other times he just barks and we don't know why.   He has started barking at people he doesn't recognize and for some reason at people he knows. He barks like a police dog at the Archery coach when he shows up at 5:00 p.m. every day. -- WHY?????  David let's Henry clay get his bark out, and then comes over and pets him and gives him a treat. HC just rolls over and let's David love on him and acts like those barks were just his way of saying "what's up man?". But if you don't know he is going to lick your face and roll over for belly pets someone might feel very anxious by his barking.  We have been working on it, but we are not there yet.  Not a good trait for a therapy dog.

So far commands he is good at are:

• touch
• sit
• down
• leave it (training move)
• let's go
• hurry (potty)
• off (sort of good at it)
• Go with (___) 
• crate
• in 
• out
• roll over
• twirl

Things he really needs to work on

• come- when there is something more interesting in the yard
• leave it- (in real life-and leave the birds in the yard)
• stop barking at people you know or who I am showing you are okay- but I don't really know how to go about training that out of him. 

Things I wish he knew:

• put your toys away
• stay off my desk and don't eat my snacks. 
• Ultimate Frisbee for Dogs