Alf in Action

I thought it'd be fun to share a bit of what Alfie's working on these days. This walk happened to be in a nearby neighborhood.

I'm ready...let's get goin'!

The first obstacle to get around was these cars, parked so that they blocked the path of the sidewalk. Alfie pauses and works around them...nice...although eventually he should do this without sniffing the ground!

He also works on keeping in guide position, as I change my walking speed from fast, to slow, to fast again. Alfie thinks this is fun. We both prefer a faster walking pace, but he needs to be able to adapt.

Of course we get lots of practice crossing the street. Alfie must sit at the "down" curb (here, it's really a textured pavement ramp), and then also wait for me to get my footing on the "up" curb before we continue.

It's important for him to work calmly despite distractions...like this mean-sounding dog. I was proud of Alfie for this!!

Here's an interesting obstacle. The bushes have overgrown the sidewalk on the right, but you can't get by on the left either because there's a big pole right there. You have to step down on the street to walk past. On Alfie's first walk here, I showed him how to work it by going to the curb, sitting, going down, then walking past the obstacle on street level before getting back up on the sidewalk to continue. The second time we approached it (a couple weeks later) he improvised an easier solution...anticipating the obstacle ahead, he uses the sloping driveway to walk down to street level. That way he doesn't have the extra step of sitting at the down curb.

...So, that's just a little taste of what we've been up to on our walks. Right now, though, Alfie's off to a new adventure. I have a trip planned this coming week and so Alf is going to join Officer Mullins and the crew at Travis County Jail's Pawsitive Approach Program. We'll miss him but I'm pretty sure he'll have a terrific time making new friends and working in new places! Stay tuned because I'll have a couple posts coming out while I'm gone...just in case you need a "chocolate" fix over the next week!

I like adventures!