I haven't updated the English page for quite some time. So here comes an update on Alec's training.
He is five and a half months old now and doing amazing. He is still living with one of his trainers, who has a big farm with other animals such as horses and dogs. The whole family is doing a phenomenal job socializing him.
Obviously he is still a very young Lab, but he is already very well behaved. He walks on the leash without pulling. He will sit, stay and lay down on command. He is awesome in the city, nothing can scare him and he has a very calm personality. With the command "look" he will look me straight in the eyes, this way I can concentrate on him. I am less likely to panic or dissociate when I can do that. He loves to play with his best buddy Elvis, which is a freakishly large Landseer. He is great with other dogs and curious to get to know more. He has been shown all kinds of different breeds, paces and circumstances. It is very important that a puppy gets to know as many different things to be able to socialize him properly. But it is even more important for him, because he is going to be a service dog one day who has to be calm at all times when working. You can tell that he wants to learn and work.
He is a water and food junkie, true to his Labrador breed. :D
I visit him every two to three weeks. Our bond is getting stronger and stronger every time we see each other. He will stay at his trainers' house until Mai/June. Because I am not able to socialize and train him properly on my own due to my disability. We train together at every single meeting nonetheless.
This month (January) his trainers will start teaching him his first service related tasks. Which is to block me from anyone, by standing in front of me and to cover me from behind. I easily panic from people getting too close to me, this way he is giving me more space from strangers. Later he will also learn to show me when someone is approaching me from behind. Alec will also learn to nudge me with his nose while I'm outside and to give me his paw when I am inside. This task is also immensely important, because of my dissociation, depersonalisation and derealisation, as he will ground me and to keep me in reality through nudging me .
Alec will start spending some weekends at my apartment starting in February. The purpose is to bond more and to get used to living together. I am definitely looking forward to spending more time with him and to show him his new home.
In April we will spend a whole week together, while training every day with one of his trainers.
I absolutely adore him. He is so funny, I love watching him play especially with his best bud Elvis. Alec is quite big for his age, so he will become a pretty big dog.
This blog entry is solely to inform you on how Alec is doing. I will post a blog on how I am holding up soon.