OCBA Course Ends, Dorica eats a mushroom and has a birthday + planning for England!

Phew ! It's been a busy time!  So a quick blog post to check in ... the course I have been taking (very intense) in Operant Conditioning Behaviour Analysis is coming to an end this week.  We had submit our final video a few days ago - training a complex chain behaviour.

Rose can now go to the fence, pull a tea towel off, proceed to a set of bells and ring them and come back to me - all on ONE cue.  She's still a bit hesitant and it's my fault for rushing her through a bit.  I'll back up though and make everything fluent again.  Rose has been a joy to work with, although a very different personality from the others.  She is a thoughtful, calm girl and a delightful student!

Needless to say "when it rains it pours!" and that has been truly the case in all ways!  I had work in a 3-day multi-media performance, company for the weekend (clean house, buy food, cook meals, sightseeing) and it has literally been pouring, making it harder to train Rose and video our progress!

Because of the copious amounts of rain, mushrooms have popped up (who would think to look for mushrooms in almost-July?) and while I was chatting with a neighbour, Dorica snatched the cap off one that I didn't see and ate it .... yikes!

Dorrie has been a known gourmet, sometimes to her detriment - I decided to "dilute" any ill-effects of said mushroom and gave her some hay and then a walk around the neighbourhood for some huckleberry shrubs, Oregon grape, etc.  At last check, some 5 hours after consuming the mushroom cap, she seems fine.

Meanwhile, she had her 15th birthday on the summer solstice and I didn't even have time to take her picture.  Must do that though before she gets much older!

With everything else going on,  planning for our 2-week holiday to Britain in September is taking shape!
So many bits and pieces to research but it's all very exciting!