From our trainer, Candace, in Ft. Worth. She has been juggling an internship while training, so she apologizes that there are not more pictures. But we congratulate her on passing her internship!

“Simba, the Singhania family’s son Vedant’s SDiT, (Vedant has Muscular Dystrophy) has been on a little bit of a training vacation. But, he is doing wonderfully! Today, the family worked on retrievals! We practiced with one of Vedant’s socks, so that Simba can get used to bringing back things that smell like him. I showed them how to turn the command into a game, and their SDiT just had a ball (or sock!) We also addressed his digging behavior, which he has just picked up. It seems that it might be an anxiety issue when he digs. Also, it seems that the family were accidentally reinforcing that behavior by engaging him in a game of chase once they caught him digging. We are still working on this.

Vedant got a new electric scooter, so we practiced walking Simba with the scooter. He wasn’t scared, nor did he bark at it! They need to practice walking with Simba and the scooter outside, but it was too hot at the time I was there to do this. Simba is a dark dog and just doesn’t like the sun so much. He has quite a personality! There was a lot of review that happened to go over his basic and advanced training techniques. Simba is still so young and has come such a long way. He will be a great companion for young Vedant. The Singhania family is doing great with him!”