all over the place

so, friday we went on our first group fieldtrip with the dogs. we took them to the mall. now this sounds well and good, and even simple for karen and i who are used to doing such things...except that we had to spend the whole day in the wheelchairs. combine this fact with VIGGO's pulling problem, and call it one exhausting day. we did make headway though, and VIGGO got better as time went on....but boy am i going to leave here with some biceps. i really love working the dogs from the chair though, it's good for both of us. the inmates do it all the time, but i think they'll be impressed to hear i got all the way around a mall and then some!

we were cleared to go wherever we wanted with the dogs all weekend, so karen rented a car so we'd have some freedom. the mall was so tantalizing on friday when we couldn't actually enter any stores and spent the whole time drilling, so we just had to go back and hit the sales. again, i got a little frustrated with VIGGO's pulling, but again, he got better as time wore on. oh, did i mention, i'm also learning patience! we also hit target and trader joe's to refresh our groceries and went out for lunch and coldstone ice cream! the dogs and the three of us (karen and jennie from australia) were definitely done for.

today we decided to head to a redwood forest heidi recommended that was pretty close by. it was amaaaazingly beautiful. what was not beautiful, however, was that all the smells and nature's call made VIGGO crazier puller than ever. the first mile or so was AWFUL and i really wanted to quit, but i had to keep checking my attitude so he wouldn't get even worse. talk about draining and frustrating, though. thank goodness i had karen and jennie there to coach me or else VIGGO and i probably would have sat on a stump all day long. he got better very gradually, building my biceps again...however some point in the second hour or so something really clicked with him and he began heeling perfectly the rest of the time (except for a few really good smelling spots along the way). i must say, i sure am learning a lot. it was really good to get out and see what california has to offer here and have the wind in our hair for the weekend. oh and ps...you should have seen 3 dogs and 3 people in an economy rental car, we look like lunatics! but it was very fun. i'm feeling a bit under the weather now, probably from all this ongoing excitement--we all know how i do with a non-stop schedule--but hopefully i can force myself to do an assignment or two for my online summer school class (boo) tonight before getting ready for class tomorrow!

LOVE,K
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