Great day.

Today was a good day. I had 100% attendance for the orientation at my latest group obedience class. Ramona was really good during class, even when a train was going by and the wind was rattling the door to the building, which made her very nervous. The hands-free microphone I bought to make it easier for people to hear me in class worked really well. People took notes during orientation and asked good questions. Everybody seemed to like the prizes I handed out.

I did a couple of things differently this time. The microphone was new, and I made a printed agenda for the session, with a space to take notes, and provided highlighters and pencils so people could do that. I also took a few minutes to throw on some makeup before I left the house, mostly because I had new mascara and lipstick that I’d added to a Target order the other day to hit the minimum for free shipping, but also because wearing makeup gives me a kind of subconscious signal that I’m doing something important and need to bring my A game.

Once I confirmed that the microphone was going to work, I got a little confidence boost from using it, and it was really cool to see people taking notes and listening carefully. That gave me a little confidence boost that I think Ramona picked up on.

I realized last night that this is my 10th class in Tucumcari and my 11th class overall since I started training dogs in 2019. That doesn’t include all the private lessons I’ve given, obviously; I’ve lost count of those, but there have been many.

I’m going up to the city shelter tomorrow to do a behavior assessment on an Anatolian shepherd mix, and then I might have one private lesson. The rest of the day is probably going to involve laundry and prepping stuff for school, because it’s too windy to go anywhere.