I think Barely and I have finally reached the turning point in her training. By this I mean that she has now done two lengthy down/stays for me in populated places without whining once! If you've read my Whining thread you know that this has been a major issue with Barely. Well, last weekend Barely and I accompanied Gretel & Linzey to Barnes & Noble where we sat in the Starbucks cafe area talking and reading magazines for a while (and by a while I mean over an hour). Barely snuggled up to Gretel and fell asleep for most of the time. She remained in a down/stay just about the entire time. (I'd also like to mention aka brag that I told her to stay and left to use the bathroom and she never moved once the entire time I was gone!)
Then tonight at Cold Stone, Barely surprised me again by lying nicely next to our little table while I had ice cream with a friend. Our table had the unfortunate position of being right next to the door where a long line formed. However, Barely was an angel and didn't pay attention to anyone unless they talked to directly to her in which case she looked at them and wagged her tail but still didn't move. It was easy enough to get her attention back after this too. A girl even stepped over Barely and she didn't budge or even look at the girl! I know this all doesn't mean we're completely past the problem yet, but I'm happy with these small successes.
Barely was also wonderful as we walked around campus today enjoying the weather. She gave me nice attention and ignored the hordes of students walking around. When we entered buildings, she hit the door open buttons dead-on on the first try just about every time. This is also a major success for Barely because it used to take her a few tries to actually hit the button right so the door would open.
Overall, I'm just very pleased with how Barely is coming along!
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