Air&sugar

Lynn Shaler (American, born 1955)

One Summer Evening, 2018

Etching and aquatint

14 x 19 cm

We were told that our upcoming dog-sport championship will include search areas in a fire station.

Baby Muppet has never been to a fire station. I imagine there may be all sorts of new smells and things to get excited about (and distracted by.)

If he was a horse, I'd take him to a schooling event as close to that environment as I could find. That way he can settle in and do what he does best, unbothered by the no-longer-novel environment, on the big day.

But he's not a horse and there are not "firehouse schooling days".... so I emailed the county fire & EMS department and asked if we could arrange to visit a fire station. That way he can walk around, sniff everything, and get used to the environment before we need to work in a fire station.

I am only reassured that I've not *completely* lost the plot because I fully grasp that this is a weird, abnormal thing to do and I don't expect anyone to think otherwise.

Who has four paws and gets to visit the fire station any time he wants?

THIS guy! 🤣😂 We caught up with the nice fire department man and we can visit our local station whenever we like. They are excited to meet Baby Muppet and show him around. He will be delighted to meet them. ❤️

One of the weird things I do with the dogs is that I never try teaching them not to bark at things outside the house, the doorbell, etc. It can be a scary world, and we are home alone quite a bit. If they see or scent something out of the ordinary, I am fine with them making a big noisy to-do about it. They are large, powerful dogs and they can look and sound pretty imposing when they choose to.

What I have taught them, though, is that after they carry out their alert, I will tell them they did a good job and say thank you. Once they hear praise, they stop barking and we all go get a cookie. I don’t yell or fuss at them to stop barking. If they want to go check the windows and doors during the alert phase, I let them. Once we can see the UPS truck or the pest control salesman or building contractor (or whatever caused them to alert), I praise them and tell them thank you, and we all proceed to the kitchen for a treat.

I don’t have a way to test it but my suspicion is that if I were not able to praise and thank them (or walk into the kitchen and hand them a cookie), they would continue making a tremendous racket. In the event of an actual emergency, that’s what I would want them to do.

In the end, rather than everyone being stressed out and frustrated every time the dogs bark at something, we all end up very well pleased with ourselves for carrying out our assigned roles in yet another intruder preparedness drill.

Isn’t dog “training” interesting?

Bro, I do not know you. I am a fairly small middle aged lady who has just opened the door to a stranger. Even if he IS friendly, why would I tell you that?

I said, “well…. I wouldn’t come any closer…” and had the pleasure of watching the pest control salesman back up several steps and get a lot less interested in peddling pest control.

We were told that our upcoming dog-sport championship will include search areas in a fire station.

Baby Muppet has never been to a fire station. I imagine there may be all sorts of new smells and things to get excited about (and distracted by.)

If he was a horse, I'd take him to a schooling event as close to that environment as I could find. That way he can settle in and do what he does best, unbothered by the no-longer-novel environment, on the big day.

But he's not a horse and there are not "firehouse schooling days".... so I emailed the county fire & EMS department and asked if we could arrange to visit a fire station. That way he can walk around, sniff everything, and get used to the environment before we need to work in a fire station.

I am only reassured that I've not *completely* lost the plot because I fully grasp that this is a weird, abnormal thing to do and I don't expect anyone to think otherwise.

Who has four paws and gets to visit the fire station any time he wants?

THIS guy! 🤣😂 We caught up with the nice fire department man and we can visit our local station whenever we like. They are excited to meet Baby Muppet and show him around. He will be delighted to meet them. ❤️

We were told that our upcoming dog-sport championship will include search areas in a fire station.

Baby Muppet has never been to a fire station. I imagine there may be all sorts of new smells and things to get excited about (and distracted by.)

If he was a horse, I'd take him to a schooling event as close to that environment as I could find. That way he can settle in and do what he does best, unbothered by the no-longer-novel environment, on the big day.

But he's not a horse and there are not "firehouse schooling days".... so I emailed the county fire & EMS department and asked if we could arrange to visit a fire station. That way he can walk around, sniff everything, and get used to the environment before we need to work in a fire station.

I am only reassured that I've not *completely* lost the plot because I fully grasp that this is a weird, abnormal thing to do and I don't expect anyone to think otherwise.