Lilly

Lilly is a five-month-old fox red Lab out of Wildrose Kennels in Oxford, Mississippi. Lilly belongs to the Boyd family. When she grows up, she will be Reb Boyd's diabetic alert dog. For now, she is in training.

We traveled three hours from home yesterday to pick up Lilly. She will board and train with me for a minimum of three weeks.

Lilly traveled well in her crate. Upon arriving at my house, she met my two Labs, Cody and Murphy. Lilly is a small Lab. She will probably be no more than 55 lbs. when she is grown. She is about half that now. My female yellow Lab, Cody weighs 70 lbs. Murphy, my chocolate male, 90 lbs. No matter. Lilly was not intimidated by size. She saw, smelled and heard: DOGS! Woohoo!

After much mutual sniffing, posturing, and general goofiness, everyone settled down. Dinner was consumed, canine toileting needs were met, and we settled in for the evening. Everyone slept through the night and awoke bright-eyed and bushy-tailed - ready for another great doggy day.

Follow along as I work with Lilly. Understand that she is a smart dog, full of energy and willing to challenge the rules at every opportunity ... but also very teachable. I will work on improving her existing obedience skills - adding duration, distance and distraction to everything. We will spend a great deal of time on public access. Since she will rely on her nose when she is an operational diabetic alert dog, we will work on scent recognition and alerting. The final piece of the puzzle: building her self-confidence and teaching self-control.

Onward.