Train-the-Trainer: Week 4

I have been putting off this blog post because I'm struggling with how it could possibly have only been 4 weeks since we began this whole thing.  It feels simultaneously like it's been 4 years and 4 days.  As we transition into the arrival of our clients, I find myself thinking about all that has happened in the past 4 weeks.  I have learned so much from Lu about dog training, people training, and the intricacies of running an organization like ECAD.  I have gained amazing, life-long friends in my classmates and in the staff members at ECAD.  I have worked with three very different dogs who have each taught me so much and helped me expand my skills as a dog trainer.  For anybody who knows the ECAD dogs, going from Joplin to Crisco to Cocoa is covering a lot of ground in 4 short weeks.

Tonight our dogs will spend their last night in the kennel, no longer sleeping in our bedrooms to help sever the bond we've worked so hard to form.  From this point forward, we are no longer allowed to even look at "our" dogs, as they must re-attach themselves to their lifelong partners.  At 9:30 tomorrow morning, we will meet our 5 clients, officially changing out of our student hats and putting on our teacher hats.  My fellow train-the-trainer students and I are responsible for the operations of this boot camp.  We have written our lectures, made our quizzes, and are eager to impart the wisdom we have acquired on the people whose lives will be changed because of the amazing dogs we're giving them.  It is with excitement and apprehension that we begin the next and final weeks of this experience.
With that, I hope you'll enjoy some of my favorite photos from the past week:

Hana gives Tom Cat some lovin'

Ben and Honey working on "light"

"Yessss!"

My Cocoa-Bean

Don't tell Pauly, but mommy let Reese into her bed

Sprinkles does an "Up, Stay" Photo credit: JP

Garrison and Sprinkles Photo Credit: JP

Cocoa and Garrison holding each other's heads up asleep in the back of the car