Reintroduction and new introduction

[Miru]

I don't know if I'm doing this in the right subforum, so if it's in the wrong forum, mea culpa.

I was around the DOL forums oohhh... 4 years ago? I was looking for information on Aussie Shepherds and was gently redirected to the Aussie Shepherd forum and had a great time learning about the breed. I decided that they were definitely for me and after a lot of waiting and mooning over the puppies for sale section of the site, my little girl was finally born. July 6 last year was her birthday, so she's almost a year old now! This is Pawsitive Art of Dreamtime, aka Muse. She was part of the "Creative" litter and I wanted to keep that theme for her use name, so she is named after the Muses of Greek mythology (not the band). It all felt like total serendipity as I am an artist, so it was perfect.

Muse is my assistance dog in training. I have disabilities that she is being trained to help me with and allow me more independence. It will be at least another 6 to 12 months before I do the Public Access Test with her and she becomes GHAD certified (Guide, Assistance and Hearing Dogs). This dog is everything I could have ever wanted in a companion; we are a match made in heaven. Waiting for the 3+ years that I did for the right dog was the best choice I have ever made.

Our public access training has begun in earnest and it's been both interesting and nervewracking (for me, not Muse, she loves it all). So far most people assume I'm training her for someone else, so I haven't been grilled about intimate medical details yet, but some people can be pretty hard to deal with and could probably do with some obedience lessons themselves. Muse absolutely lives for training of any sort, so I also do trick training with her in between the assistance dog stuff. I'm thinking about doing something like noseworks or search and rescue as well, (though the latter is only if we both have what it takes!)

Here she is personifying the meme "No take, only throw". She wanted me to throw the strap she was holding in her mouth so was offering a beg. Silly dingdong hadn't given it to me yet though! Please excuse the mess around her. One of her greatest joys is shredding things into confetti.
 

[Rebanne]

The right dog is indeed worth the wait! Welcome back and I love her name - Muse, it's beautiful, as is she

[Miru]

Thank you, Rebanne! I blocked an old lady from patting her at Coles the other day and was berated for it. "She's too pretty you know, it makes people want to pat her!" I don't disagree, I think she would get far less attention if she was a bit more homely

[Tassie]

Welcome back to DOL .. and biiig congratulations on finding a beautiful dog from an awesome breeder!!!     It will be interesting to be able to follow Muse's training journey if you don't mind sharing.

[persephone]

Oh Welcome back ... and how wonderful to bring with you your very own MUSE   ! She looks perfect .... even down to the confetti manufacturing ;) 

[Miru]

Thank you, Tassie and Persephone I am happy to keep sharing her training journey! These two pictures are from relatively recent public access training sessions. She came voting with me so I nicknamed her Democracy Dog The other picture is her learning to give deep pressure in a busy environment. I rarely use the headcollar anymore now. She had a habit of just about pulling my arm out of its socket for a little while so my trainer had me use it for safety until we trained her not to lunge at interesting things.

[persephone]

"democracy dog"  LOL