Nuri's Evaluation

So today was the BIG day up at NER for Nuri. We had an appointment with Katrina, our PPM, at 10 am and were determined to leave with enough time to spare. As it always turns out, this didn't happen, but we did leave just before 8 am this morning to make the 2 hour drive out to Long Island. There was soooooo much traffic this morning! It was a sign that Nuri shouldn't be going for an evaluation. Hahahaha. It ended up taking us about 2 1/2 hours to make the trip which wasn't so bad and we arrived shortly after 10:30.

We met up with Katrina and headed into one of the training rooms to let the dogs run. I was told to bring Wilara up as well so that Katrina could see how the two of them interact with each other and to see how we correct them during play. Wilara was a model citizen as usual and Nuri was acting on her best behavior. We went over a few ways to give corrections which was great and what I had already been doing. It was a relief to see that I was correcting her the right way when I need to.

For the most part, that entire time was a complete wash since Nuri didn't act up like she normally would at home. It's a different setting so it makes sense that she wouldn't be acting the same. She didn't bite Wilara nearly as much as she usually does. We all came to the same agreement that it's mostly a "sibling rivalry" thing that is going on between them which makes a lot of sense. Those that know me are aware that I overlapped Wilara and Nuri for 6 months (from September to February) and they both did a lot of growing up together. It was just nice to have another opinion from someone.

We were going to see how the dogs did outside, but the trainers were about to run their strings in the outside grass run and we didn't want the dogs all wet, so we couldn't go to the pond. Nuri also showed Katrina how she hates getting her nails clipped. I purposely left them uncut so that she could try working with her and cutting her nails. She just likes to squirm a lot and it takes a looooooong time to cut her nails!

Then I had to say goodbye and let her wander off to the kennels. She went off with Katrina with no problem which was great to see. At least I won't have to worry about that! They are going to try and put her in a foster home for a day or two to see how she acts in another home environment. They are also going to let her run with other pups that are in the kennels to see how she plays with them and how she gets along with them. Nuri is very very very independent and prefers to play by herself and not really interact with other dogs, so this should be quite interesting.

They are going to call me in a few days and give me an update as they go along the process. Katrina agrees with me in the fact that she is far from a "lost cause" and that she can be worked with to get her to stop behaving so badly. She has the energy and the drive to be a great working dog, but I believe that she would be better off as a hearing dog. But like I said before, we just have to see what happens!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that something positive will come out of this experience for Nuri. She just takes a lot of work and this downtime for me might be the trick that gets both of us to work that much harder.

Wilara is very sad that her playmate is not here and keeps on giving me her very sad look and wondering where Nuri could be.

I must admit though, it's awfully quiet around here...