Our First PAD Team Training Session

For the past three days Gypsy and I have been at PAD in PA visiting with Cooper.  He's an awesome pup and we seemed to mesh really well.

It's a bit of a drive for me so when we arrived I settled into my room and took a nap. Gypsy waited impatiently for a chance to go meet the other dogs.

Once we had a chance to rest I got a chance to meet Cooper.  He's such a sweet heart snuggley boy.  He loves to play with the other pups.  I had the opportunity to have him come down and sleep with me and Gypsy.  Gypsy likes him about as well as she likes any puppy.  So far he seems to respect her when she tells him to leave her alone, though he loves it when she is in a playful mood and wrestles with him.

Most of what we did for this session of team training was bonding.  Because Cooper is still a pup he needs to do many different things and go many different places.  Cooper loves water, but has never been swimming, so we went to the lake to play.

Of course we also did some lessons together.  Cooper and I worked on his target training and 'leave it', both very important skills for any service dog to have. 

I was very sad to have to leave, but Cooper still needs time to grow and learn before he's ready to come home with me.  Hopefully, with your help and the help of others I will be able to return again soon and continue to work with PAD and Cooper.