If any of you read my entry from day before yesterday, you understand that the last couple of weeks, or even month have been pretty surreal, and even dreamlike! Fergie and I first met on Thursday, August 7th, of this year. When Mona, the trainer that I was going to be working with first brought Fergie into the training room, she started things off by showing me what she was capable of. Of course, I had a million questions, and was having a very difficult time holding them back. After about the second or third question, she politely asked to hold my questions until after she was done showing me what Fergie was capable of so that neither of them got distracted. Although it was extremely difficult, I managed to oblige.
When they were all finished, Mona brought her over next to where I was sitting so that we could meet and greet each other. Almost instantaneously she started whining, and neither Mona nor I could figure out exactly what she wanted and/or why she would be whining. Finally I asked Mona if she could come up into my lap so that I could say hi a little easier, and a bit more effectively. Mona said, "of course, just tell her to rise." So I did, and she did exactly as she was asked without hesitation. The moment she did, she licked my left hand and simultaneously stopped any hint of noise that she had previously been making. So why was she whining in the first place? I truly believe in my heart of hearts that it was because she hadn't gotten to say hi to me the way she wanted to prior to that.
After we had said hello, and I had gotten kisses and all that sort of stuff, we started working on some basic commands such as sit, down, and stay. At this point I was giving her treats for everything she did correctly because I needed to make sure that in her mind I was the neatest since sliced bread! At one point during this process, I had asked her to sit, which she did immediately, and I was going to give her a treat for it. Unfortunately, because of the type of treats that Mona and I were using at the time, it stuck to my finger, so I didn't get it to her in as timely of a manner as I would have liked. After about 90 seconds of remaining in the sit, she calmly stood up, put her leash and her mouth, rose to my lap, and dropped the leash there as if to say, "okay, sitting didn't get me a treat, but maybe this will!" It was so cute, I was just beside myself with excitement!
When it was time for my return ride to come get me, both Mona and Fergie walked me back up to the front of the building. Once there, I asked her to rise one more time so that I could say goodbye before I left. I wasn't sure she was going to or not because there were a whole bunch of people standing in the front of the building at this point. You know, stage fright of sorts. To my delightful surprise, once again she did as she was asked without hesitation. Once she had, I told her what a fantastic job she had done, and that I would see her sometime the following week. Just as she had done at the beginning of our meeting, she licked my hand, but this time it was as if she was trying to tell me that she understood what I had just said.
It's now been over a month since that initial meeting, and her partnership and companionship is all that I've ever dreamed of, and so much more! I can't even begin to put into words for all of you a sense of independence and freedom I feel with her at my side! We've only been living together since 27th of August, but already this partnership has been indescribably life-changing! Later this week, we will take the final test that we need in order to be able to be a part of the November graduating class. If I've said this one time, I've said it 10, but I'll gladly make it 11: it was partnership at first lick!