A lovely update from trainer Beverly, who is working with Wounded Warrior Christopher and his awesome SDIT, Shoeless Joe!!

“We met at D&D feed store to review with Chris and Shoeless all the PAT skills to see where Shoeless is and what he needs work on. Since Chris had been heavily involved in his VA appointments and then had some back issues that took him away from working with Shoeless, we wanted to brush them both up on their skills. We trained for about 1 ½ hours reviewing the skills, refreshing his memory and reminding them both of what is required for a SD to pass the PAT. Shoeless picked up on all commands very quickly and did very well on the skills we practiced – sit, down, stay, leave it, heel, watch me, controlled entry and exit into stores and controlled load/unload into a vehicle. We worked heavily on his sit/down stays with distractions, enlisting the help of store employees who happily provided various distractions.

As always, Shoeless was a hit and did a great job not reacting to claps, squeaky toys, people walking by and petting him, stepping over him, etc.

The one area that Chris isn’t as comfortable with is eating out at a restaurant with Shoeless. Next weekend we plan to train again at D&D, then go to Chili’s restaurant to finish the session on restaurant skills. Chris will practice with Shoeless during the week, and I have no doubt that Shoeless will do fabulously next weekend! This picture is of Shoeless Joe doing a perfect down/stay even with his dad out of sight!”