This is Cabana's pal and fellow puppy-in-training, Poppy. Poppy is just a couple weeks older than Cabana, and Poppy's puppy raiser is our puppy group leader.
This morning, Poppy and her raisers came over to give us instruction on food protocol for Cabana's raging dog distraction. Basically, we had Cabana sit on the sidewalk in front of our house, while Poppy sat several yards away. Every time Cabana looked away from Poppy, she got a treat. Eventually, Poppy got closer and closer, while I kept marking Cabana's positive behavior with "nice" and a piece of kibble.
Next step was to have Poppy walk toward Cabana, with Cabana stationary, while still encouraging Cabana to pay attention to me as her handler and ignore Poppy. Finally, we progressed to both Cabana and Poppy walking past each other. Normally, Cabana would have been pulling and going bonkers, wanting to play with Poppy. But thanks to all the positive reinforcement, Cabana was able to walk past Poppy with barely a glance. Miraculous!
Of course, the real test will come when we go for a regular walk and pass some big fluffy German shepherds or huskies (Cabana likes fluffy big dogs best). But I felt like we made a lot of progress today. The challenge for me will be to take it slow. I think I have a tendency to expect too much, too soon.
After the training session, we let Cabana and Poppy play--and boy, did they ever play! They were so happy to run around with each other, cavorting and nipping and jumping. They're so similar in size that it was sometimes hard to tell them apart.
Here they are drinking water after their romp session. Cabana is darker and redder, pictured in the back. 
I think Poppy's raiser had called Poppy to come to her and was rewarding Poppy with a piece of kibble. But it looks like Cabana was horning in, even though she'd already received plenty of kibble earlier.
Tonight, I'm looking forward to the opportunity to teach some good manners when someone comes to the door. We don't get many visitors at our house, so when the doorbell rings, Cabana becomes overly excited. This evening, when trick-or-treaters ring our doorbell, I'm going to give the "go to bed" command while someone else in my family hands out the candy. So hopefully, in the future, Cabana will know that's what I want her to do when someone really is coming over, instead of running to the door to jump all over the person who enters.
Happy Halloween to everyone!! Don't eat too much candy! Well, go ahead if you want to--it's once a year, after all!
Over the weekend, poor Cabana was confined to our house and backyard, just in case she was in silent heat. She performed her share of labby loops through our living room, but we all survived. Thanks in part to the fortunately timed arrival of the new GoughNuts stick! 
We already had the GoughNut donut, but the stick is their new rollout, and on the Guide Dogs' approved toy list! These toys have a lifetime guarantee. If the green wears out and you can see red, you send it back to them, and they give you a brand new one.
Yes, it definitely has the look of the obscene, but it's rather ingenious. Your dog can play with the pieces individually, or you can create a "puzzle" that the dog can try to separate. Cabana enjoys being able to demolish her toys, so the puzzle gives her the satisfaction of feeling like she ripped them apart.
Shocking to realize this contraption is $50!! ($25 for the donut, $25 for the stick, plus or minus a few cents.) Still, the lifetime guarantee helps make it worthwhile. It's better than spending $10 on a toy that doesn't last til nightfall.
Onto other news, no, Cabana is NOT in silent heat. We saw the vet at Guide Dogs today, who was very nice and complimented Cabana on her lack of fearfulness. She was her usual outgoing self, trying her darndest to meet every dog in the kennels and vet clinic. The doctor said Cabana was definitely showing some signs of going into season and that it could happen anytime now, maybe even the minute we got home. But for the moment, nope.
Well, I suppose it's my fault, though, because I never made Cabana a Halloween costume. If I had, she would have gone into heat by now, but since I didn't, she'll have nothing to wear to our puppy group Halloween party tomorrow night. Maybe her fairy godpooch needs to show up and whip up an outfit for our little Cinder-Cabana. If no celestial beings visit us this evening, I'm going to have to get busy tomorrow! But a Cinderella dress isn't what I'm envisioning. Suffice it to say, if I can make what I'm thinking, it will be the perfect costume for this wild little girl!
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