Dog walking

 Hello! Today is the beginning of the last week of high school. SO crazy to think about! I remember my first day here sophomore year like it was a few months ago and not three years. Today we started off our day with senior seminar hosted by Will and Laurie. We talked about microagressions and basically how to be a decent and empathetic person. It was a valuable lecture and I sincerely hope that my classmates know not to be racist. Afterwards, McKenzie and I walked Joe and then headed over to walk Stanley but he wasn't there today so we will walk him tomorrow. After that we grabbed some snacks and spent a few hours working on our reflection paper and putting together the final presentation. Today we worked for 3.5 hours which puts us at 51.5 in total!

 Hello. McKenzie and I were able to maintain close to the same schedule as last week. This week we focused on being in the sun while we have it and making sure the dogs have a great time on the walks and get adequate exercise. Our system of emailing the parents of the dogs the night before to confirm the time and pickup location seems to be working well. We have also obtained a good amount of videos of the dogs enjoying their walk around Proctor for us to make progress with the final presentation. This week I was interested in learning about the effect COVID-19 had on animal shelters and rates for adoption and surrenders in the country. What I found was that there was a massive increase in adoptions in 2020 since a lot of people had to work from home. An article written by TIME Magazine details the increase of adoptions by saying, “We’ve seen an incredibly compassionate response from people willing to open their homes to foster and adopt vulnerable shelter animals during this period of

 Hello! Today McKenzie and I had to abbreviate our schedule because of vaccine appointments!! We started off our morning walking Joe. Next we walked Stanley. I am very grateful that Proctor is having a vaccine clinic on campus and since I didn't have a game today and was wary about the effects of the second dose, I spent time learning about kill shelters and the rates of dog adoption and surrenders since covid. Turns out that many shelters are running out of dogs which is amazing that so many animals have recently found a home. An article from the Washing Post says, " Last Chance saw its pet adoptions — mostly dogs — increase 30 to 40 percent last year over 2019. Lucky Dog Animal Rescue in Arlington said it expected to finish 2020 helping about 3,385 pets find homes, up from about 1,800 the year before." Today we worked for 4 hours.

 Hello. Today was a little hectic. With games happening in the afternoon, McKenzie and I had to abbreviate our schedule. We started off our day with Joe the golden retriever. As always, he's a great dog and loves pets from everyone we pass. Next we walked Orwell. He was very excited to see that we had treats with us today. He was ran with us for a bit, then played in the grass and got many pets from people walking by. After our first two walks, we headed over to the theatre for the senior seminar. Afterwards, we spent some time working on our short video and continuing to learn about the effects of different types of training. We then had other commitments to go to, but worked for 3 hours while we could! 

 Hello. Today we started off our day by walking Mac the basset hound. We picked her up from the counseling office and walked her around the pond. Mac said hi to a class which was happening outside and then got tired so we bought her back to the office. Next we walked Flirt and Cricket, two of the most well behaved dogs I have ever met. While we were walking on the rail trail, I threw a tennis ball for Flirt. She brought the ball right back to me, ready for the next throw. Next we walked Stanley around our regular route. We ended up running into Jill and she took Stanley home with her. Next we took Comet around the playground and did some training with treats. This was our best walk with him so far. Finally, Rocky and Mindy were the last walk fo the day. They are beautiful dogs and very well behaved. Today we worked for 5.5 hours. 

 Hello. Today McKenzie and I met Joe at his house for our first walk of the day. We had a pretty standard walk until Joe saw the neighbor and really wanted to say hi. Next we walked Radley and Stanley. They are both great dogs and walk well together. At the end of our walk somehow the dogs became tangled and Radley was able to get into a mud puddle. We then brought the dogs to the pond for a swim. Although we were not thrilled about the mud, Radley seemed proud of himself for seeking in the puddle. Next we went over to Maxwell to get Orwell but he was already out for a walk with another dog so we decided to let him play and will see him tomorrow. Finally we walked Novasota and Merrill. They were very keen on sniffing everything. After the dog walks, McKenzie and I spent some time putting video clips together and researching about training techniques for our final presentation. Today we worked for 5 hours.