Trinity Turns Me Into A Liar

At training class yesterday we were working on push up sits. Trinity has had issues with this. She likes to push up her front paws then 'butt scoot' into a sitting position. I tried a few times to get her to sit correctly but it wasn't working without luring her to do it. So, I asked my instructor about how to get her to sit without a treat in my hand. We went over a few ways to get her to do it. But we came to the conclusion that it is a distance problem and that I've been using a verbal command prior to the hand signal (in this exercise you don't use a verbal, just a hand signal). I decided to just use the hand signal and if she didn't do it the first time to use the verbal command so she will begin to anticipate the verbal and she will sit on the hand signal. I started to do this and the first time I signaled to her, she sat, correctly. *face palm*

Yup Miss. Trinity she turns me into a lair. I think she heard what we were talking about and decided to skip the anticipation part and just do it. I wouldn't put it past her. She's to stinking smart!

Kylie Gets Some Training

Trinity an Kylie are both very different dogs not only in breed but personality as well. When we first adopted Trinity I began her training almost as soon as possible. I had a lot of time to train her throughout the day and bring her to class. I loved it and the training world was a big eye opener into how my dog acted.

"If I stand here like this I'm the same size as Trinity!"

Once we adopted Kylie I knew I wanted to train her as soon as possible but unfortunately her illness has prevented us in going to training classes. So for right now I have been attempting to train loose leash walking and very basic obedience. Being a small dog (only 15lbs) I hadn't really attempted to do this with her. I think I did what many owners of small dogs do, slapped a harness on her and let her pull me to where she wanted to go. I never even realized she was doing it half the time because she's so tiny that her pulling is nothing compared to Trinity who is 65lbs. When we first adopted her I told myself that I would not be that small dog owner and let her get away with things that I don't let Trinity get away with. For the most part I had not except the leash walking.

"I'm so small I sometimes think I'm a cat."

So, I decided to go for a walk with her. I did what I had been taught last year and brought my clicker and a handful of treats. I told myself again not to let her pull me and to attempt to get her to walk by my side. I started off by clicking her for looking at me then delivered the treat on my left side. I was so amazed by this. I used to think small dog's were harder to train than large dogs (yes I know how narrow-minded that is). She's doing so well at this. She now knows when she hits the end of the leash she needs to come back to me. I'm working on duration with eye contact and keeping her at my side instead of in front of me. I also love that she takes treats outside on walks. Trinity never did that. She only likes treats given to her in a building or in our backyard this makes walking difficult for us.

"No matter what you think this is very comfortable."

Kylie is doing very well with this. I've been trying my best to walk her when I have a day off from work and when it's not dark and super cold. Where I live there are no street lights and Kylie gets so cold at night. We are going to start basic obedience after the holidays I'm ready to get her going and learn how to train her to her own specific needs.

Have you allowed certain behaviors in one dog and not in the other? Are your dog's training styles different?

Bragging Rights!

Trinity and I have been continuing our training in competition obedience for quite some time. We are coming up on our 4th session in the same class, but don't worry we haven't failed by any means, the class continues on until we are ready for the novice class.

I have seen her grow so much in the last year and a half, not just physical, but behaviorally to. She has gone from an over excited little ball of energy ready to do anything and everything, to a smart, obedient (sometimes she ignores me but she's getting better about that) girl who learns quickly yet still remains full of energy. She's always loved to play and will take any chance she gets to play with another dog, well so I thought, up until last class that is.

 

We have another dog in our class who also is full of energy. He wants to play with the other dogs and attempted to play with Trinity. We were in a sit/stay in heel position when he came right up to her. Guess what she did? Nothing, absolutely nothing. She never moved an inch, not even to adjust her front feet. I was so proud of her, she got a lot of chicken and praise from me.

By the end of class she was mentally drained, so as our instructor was asking to us I had her lay down. Again, this dog tried to play with her. Now you would think that she would try to play, but no, she shifted her weight and turned her back towards him, as if to say, 'No, this is not play time, it is work time.' Again, I was such a proud momma, stuffing my baby's face with chicken. She deserved it! As we walked out I was on cloud nine, so I told everyone about it.

To think, back a few weeks ago she would have gladly accepted his invitation to play. But she didn't and all our hard work is paying off. I'm so proud of my girl. She's growing up!

Trinity's Training Lesson: Week Five

This week we learned some new things we had not worked on before. Which made me excited, but not Trinity. I get excited and she gets confused because she doesn't know what I'm asking her to do. But she ends up learning what I want from her pretty quickly.

Standing in one spot while turning the back two legs ( I don't know what this is called)

Our instructor gave us a plastic plate to work with and the dog is supposed to put the front two legs on it. She got this pretty well but kept thinking it was a frisbee she needed to pick up. So she kept digging and bitting at it. She broke two of the plates, but our instructor wasn't upset by it, thank god. The goal of this exercise is to have her front paws staying in one position while the back two move. Easier said than done. She was able to stand o it and moved her back legs a few times in the 10 minuets we worked on it. So i think we have some more practice to do on this.

Backing up into heel position

It's like backing up into a parking spot, but with the dog. Its pretty self explanatory, you get your dog to back up next to you into the heel position, then they sit down. She was doing ok with this. Our instructor didn't care at this point if she sat at the end of it, as long as she backed up. It will take awhile for me to figure out how to get her to do it perfectly. But, she has known how to sit on my left side for a year now, so hopefully backing up there won't be to much of an issue.

The long jump

This is where the dog sits on one side of the jump, you go to the other end and call the dog over to you. Well, let me tell you that we tried agility two times. Both times Trinity was more interested in playing with the other dogs than actually doing the obstacles. Plus, she was scared of everything except the jumps, a-frame, ladder, and the weave poles. To top it all off she would run away from me after finishing the obstacle. But this was last year so I wasn't sure how she would do at the jump in obedience. Well, she did excellent! She stayed on the other side, looked at me while coming over, jumped over it, and came right to me for her reward. I was very happy for her!

Next week is our last class in this section. I think that our instructor will have us repeat it before going on. But that's fine and we can work on our skills further.

Trinity's Training: Week Four

What we learned this week.

A sit from a down

This involves getting your dog in a down position on their haunches then have them sit. We have done these before, so we pretty much just reviewed it.

Right turns

While heeling you make several turns some right and some left. We focused on right turns this week. They are easier for the dog because they have to go faster than you, which dogs like. We all lined up and made several right turns In a row Trinity did very well with this, she was more interested in the chicken than the other dogs around her.

Figure eights

In the ring you have two people standing facing each other and you have your dog heel around them. I get very confused with these and trinity has no idea what I'm doing. I have to practice these without her to get my footing right.

Right pivot turn

It's pretty much exactly what it sounds like. You and your dog pivot to the right while standing exactly in the same spot.

Trinity did really well this week. Even our instructor complimented her. I don't know if it was the extra walks or the chicken. My money is on the chicken. :)

Trinity's Training: Week Three

Last week was our third training class. Here is what we learned.

A kickback stand

This is where you have your dog sit at heel position, then they stand up. Trinity already knows how to do this. So we just practiced.


Stand & stay

You have your dog do a kickback stand, then they stay standing, you take three steps in front of them and then pivot looking at them. I already taught this to Trinity. And again we practiced it. She did very well and the teacher even said that she did a good job.

Curl

This is where your dog sits at heel position then lies down on their left side. Trinity did not want to do this. Our instructor even had a hard time trying to get her to do it. So we've been practicing this at home, it took a few tries but she got. So now I have to see if she will be able to do it in class.

Heeling

Trinity is still having trouble heeling while in class. Her brain gets fried by the end of the hour session and then doesn't want to listen to me at all She was too busy trying to get the other dogs, who were waiting for their class, to talk to her. We've been practicing this outside with distractions at home. Our instructor says that she still needs to be lured because she still new at it this.

We have been doing a lot of things in the three weeks we've had our class. All we have to do is practice, practice, practice.

Trinity's Training Class: Week Two

This was posted be posted last week sorry for the wait, google needed to fix the blog before I could post this. So, here it is.

On Thursday we had another training session. Last week we learned a lot of new things that we hadn't learned in the previous class. Those were a lot of basic steps that Trinity just loved. This week was just about going over some stuff that we had learned before.

Touching a target

Last week we went over touch on the palm of my hand. So this week we expanded that and used Mason jar tops as a target. Trinity did this really well and only after a few short times she was able to touch it twice before getting a reward. The goal of this is to have her touch it on the floor. Then once she is able to do that we teach distance between the target and her. You teach this as a beginning step to what is called a "drop on recall". We have been practicing this a lot over this weekend. She is now able to touch it while it's on the floor and with distance between it and her. This is a really engaging activity for her which she loves to do.

A sit and stay

We practiced a sit and stay for a minute and a half. She did wonderful with the sit and stay with multiple reinforcement during this activity. I knew she would be able to do this because she did so well with this in our previous classes.

Entering the ring

This activity included from outside the classroom. I think we need a little bit more practice with this. She was a nutcase entering the ring. She pulled on her leash the whole time while we were walking ring. But unfortunately, I think this is my fault considering we practice where we have play group.

I hope to have her settle down a bit during class. Fingers crossed she will!

Video Friday: Trinity Showing Off Her Stuff

Trinity loves to do tricks. Especially when there is food involved. Her new favorite treat is peanuts. Happy Friday everyone! I hope this puts you in a good mood for the weekend!

  

Eating At Restaurant's With Dogs

I always like to bring Trinity with us places and since I've been reading the Take Paws blog I am have been thinking about more places to take her. This year I want to be able to take her on a mini vacation to see how she does in a hotel or cottage. But if she wants to go with us she needs to be well behaved at a restaurant. Here in New England their are not many places for dog's to eat outside. I always read others blogs and how they have outdoor seating at a pet friendly restaurant. Then I get jealous that we don't have many here. But I have found some and on Thursday before our class we went to Panera Bread to eat where they have an outside seating area. She was very good. She only barked once and it was more of a 'I'm nervous about this please reassure me it's ok being here.' bark. Which we did, we gave her a lot of treats for lying down and being silent. She just watched other people walk by while she continued to lay down. I was very happy she didn't want to meet every person who walked by, especially kids, she loves kids.

On Friday we went to a surf & turf car hop restaurant where they have picnic benches to sit at. Once more she was very good. She was more concerned with what we were eating than the other people around us. This time she barked at the birds for a few times, but then stopped after they were done mocking her.

A few more times of doing this and she will be ready for a real restaurant.

It's Back To School!

Thursday was our first day back to training in 2 1/2 months. That's a long time for us considering we have been doing one class a week since last May. We started Intro to Competition Obedience for a six week course. We have already taken this class but untill our instructor allows us to move on we need to take it again. Once we do that we will be in the Novice class.

"I love school!"

This week we started back on our basics. The first thing we did was the 'bird feeder'. That is where you take a treat and hold it out to the side of you, then wait until the dog looks at you and not the treat then you click then give it to them. This is also called 'watch me'. Trinity's a fast learner and she picked it up pretty quickly. She knows the fastest way to get the treat is to stare at me.

"What is the fastest way to get out of the bathtub?"

We also did 'Touch'. This involves the dog touching its nose to your palm. This is considered a treat in the ring because you are unable to carry food with you. Trinity knows this one well and was doing it without pawing me or ignoring my hand signal (which she likes to do a lot with this one).

Like this. "I ignore Mommy when she tells me not to do this."

Another exercise we did was 'finish'. This is called 'around' to Trinity. You teach your dog to stand in a heel position at your left side from were ever they are standing. Our instructor in our puppy kindergarten class taught us this and she has been doing it for a year now. All I say is 'around' and point at my left side and she sits next to me in the heeling position. Sometimes this is hard for her in the class because of all the good smelling stuff on the floor. But we are working on that!

It's just like when I open up the fridge. (That's where the cheese lives)

The last thing we did was 'coming when called'. Now, she's usually good at this one. Our instructor in our continuing education class was very impressed by her when she did this. But unfortunately I was to blame with this one. We did a restrained call and she started to run to me but then veered off to see Zach outside the class ring. Opps! It was the very last 10 minuets of class and I knew she was tired and overwhelmed. I should have been closer to her and made sure that she could only see me and not Zach or the other dogs waiting outside for there class to begin. But we did not make the same mistake twice and we set her up for success by doing all of that. She came to me with no problems the next time.

"I love my daddy!"

This week we are practicing all of this as our homework. I think she'll enjoy competition obedience. She's so smart and I know she can do it!

We Love To Swim Now!

I have said before that I am very nervous about bringing Trinity off leash while on walks. Luckily Zach's parents live on 7 acres of land where we can go for a walk without worrying about anyone coming up to us or distracting her from coming to recalls. I am very glad to share that she (maybe me) have made some progress with off leash work. We brought Trinity down to the river on there property and she had a blast running around and eventually swam. Here's a very adorable video of our experience, enjoy!

High Energy Dogs and Why I Love Them

I love a high energy dog. I know, your probably asking your self, why? Well, the reason that is, is cause they are so eager to train. They want to be with you all the time and doing things with you. Having a high energy dog makes you get outside and play or take a walk. Plus, being high energy, they enjoy being with you. I love the fact that once Trinity gets really hyper it means it's time to go outside and play fetch or go for a nice long walk in the woods. Which means I exercise, which I do not enjoy doing unless it's fun for me and I think it's fun training her. I once told someone what type of dog she was (at least my best approximation) they said, "Wow, two hyper breeds." "Yes, she is hyper and we do a lot of things together to burn off her energy", I replied. I love to put her with my niece and nephew sometimes because she looks at them like, 'I don't know what your saying but it must be fun cause your really excited about it!' Which makes her excited therefor she runs around like a wild maniac.

"I so tired after running around all day."

So, my next dog needs to match Trinity's hyperactive personality. Plus I want to do agility with him/her because someone won't do it with me. I wonder who that could be??

Proper Dog Socialization or How Trinity Would Be The Perfect Foster Sister

Proper socialization is very important for everyone. Whether you have 4 legs or 2, we all need to interact with things that are out of our comfort zone. Dog's, in my opinion, are very high on the scale of proper socialization. They need to be desensitized to be around all types of things such people, animals and especially dogs.

Trinity playing with all her friends at our training center

 I was very lucky to have such a well socialized dog. Trinity loves all types of dogs and people. Of course it does help that she had a great dog mommy to show her how to do this. Although she still enjoys chasing her kitty sisters. But I understand that not all dogs are as perfect as my baby is (I'm a little biased). An incident that happened over the weekend really got me thinking about this.

She loves to play!

Zach and I went over his parents house and our friend came over with his small dog, Pancake. My father-in-law's dog, Lady, was adopted after living with her 8 siblings in foster care for 4 months with out being with their mom. Unfortunately, Lady doesn't have very good social skills and dislikes new people and dogs coming into her home. Which caused a problem when Pancake came over. She ended up getting out of the house and pounced on him scaring the crap out of him and my nephew. I was inside with my niece and all I heard was yelping and people yelling.  Lady's quite a fat large dog and doesn't understand that is not the way to greet other dogs. Trinity, on the other hand, knows that to greet others you have to smell them and then if they like you, a play bow is the way you initiate play time. You don't just force your way on to another dog.

She's got an 'only child syndrome'. (Sirius Republic collar shout out!)

But I do know that it's not all the dog's fault. As their parents we need to train them, socialize them and if need be, to desensitize them to things that cause them to be scared or react. So I ask myself. What happens if I had not taken Trinity to puppy kindergarten? Or allow her to play with all types of dogs at the dog park? Would she still be a wonderful dog whom has wonderful doggie social skills? She still has many things to work on, but that's nothing training can't fix. I feel confident that Trinity would be an awesome foster sibling (bucket list here I come!) and would be ok with having another dog in the house. Even though Trinity's ok with it I still have to convince Zach, er??

"I like to socialize with my Auntie!"

I do know that when you adopt a dog not all are perfectly socialized. So, how do you work with your dog? Did they come well socialized or did you work on their issues?

Positive Training

I am a person who believes all pets are a part of the family. I call my animals my children, 'the girls' and sometimes I refer to Trinity as 'the baby'. I also believe that, like all children, they need to be raised appropriately. They need to know right from wrong, and for dogs, how to behave politely in public. As the parents we need to teach them this.

"What? Your my parents?"

 When we first adopted Trinity  I was watching a lot of 'The Dog Whisperer' on the National Geographic channel. I was amazed how these dogs reacted to him and the behavioral methods that were done with them. Caesar trains the 'alpha' way and treats dogs as wolves in a pack. I attempted these methods with Trinity and they just did not work. I also re-examined my thoughts on my animals and thought 'if I believe that dogs are a part of our family why am I treating her like a dog'. That may come off as strange to some people, but dogs were trained to work with humans to do human tasks. We breed them to help us do hard tasks to make our daily lives easier and as a result dogs have bonded with us like no other species has. Even monkey's, who are supposed to be our closes species, do not even bond with us the way that dog's do. 'Dog's Decoded' showed us this. I also wanted Trinity to enjoy her training with me and not be scared into doing commands.

"Training's tough!"

I have now gone in a different direction with our training. We are a 'positive training' family, with minimal punishment. She goes in the bathroom for a few seconds (literally) when she's done something wrong, I saw this method on an episode of  'It's me or the dog'. We clicker train and have been doing positive training at Masterpeace. This has advanced our training and she loves positive feed back from us and lots of treats! I have been doing much more bonding with her this way and follow Zak George on You Tube. He has tons of positive training methods that involve bonding with your dog as the primary way to train. I also have subscribed to Pamela Johnson who is also on You Tube. She teaches freestyle methods to have fun with your dog.

"Mommy even made me do a trick before I ate my birthday cake!"

I know that everyone has a different way of training. I believe if we can train our dogs with love and bond with them in the process it makes ours and the dogs lives better. But remember training takes time, consistency, patience, and love!

"My mommy and daddy are the best! I love them!"

Trinity's Really Reliable Recall

Trinity, Zach and I have been going to a training class for eight months now. We have had our ups and downs during this time from, not listening, to barking and distracting everyone around us, to jumping for the instructor to pet her. But recently she has been getting better at paying attention and has not barked during two classes now. She still loves it when Fran pets her and we work on that at every class.

Me? Jump on people? Never!

Because of our training, I can now call her from across the room during play group (every Friday we go to our training center to play for 45 min with her best friends) by just yelling, 'Trinity, come here'. When she hears this she comes flying towards me for a pet, then she gets right back to playing with all her friends. Now, I have decided to start training her to go on off leash hiking areas. We have a wonderful area only a few miles from us where dogs are allowed off leash. But the catch is that they  need to be under voice control at all times. But, Trinity's not at that level yet, she still has to be told a few times for a reminder. Yet, I still want to take her on a hike and be safe.

"I'm definitely some sort of pointer. I like to lift my front paw and stare at things!"

 Therefore, I have devised a super, crazy, awesome way to have her under my complete control at all times. I took her old leash and attached it to a 50ft rope. It amazingly keeps me from being super nervous that she won't listen to me and run off after something. And while I know what your thinking, 'wow, she's a genius' It's not that awe inspiring and many people do this to off leash train their dog's.

Zach is one good rope holder!

 But, I still have to work on Miss. Trinity's recall. While at training we have used 'here' as the recall word, we've practiced it in class, in the backyard, in the house and at family members houses, she doesn't always respond to it. Just recently she's had problems with it while in the house and at the dog park. Plus I don't use it quite enough with distractions because I'm afraid she wont listen to it and of course I have created just what I was trying to avoid. That figures. So now I have decided to use 'come here' while at the dog park and in the backyard, which this now has become her Really Reliable Recall. I practice it over and over again while out on our kinda-sorta off leash walks. Here's a video of us in the field practicing.

P.S I hate my voice. I swear I'm not a 12 year old girl.

I'm not that good at teaching this, so here's a post from a real dog trainer to teach you how to recall your dog. As with anything you still need, time, consistency, patience, and love to train your dog! Good luck!

Trinity & Her Tricks

Trinity and I have been working on learning tricks since she was a puppy. I love to work with her and she loves to do anything for a piece of meat. So here is a video from over the summer of Trinity doing some tricks. Some she was taught and one of which was a coincidence. She's learned some more since then but I need to take a good video of her. I hope you enjoy it!

Today's Training Class

I stated in my previous post when we adopted Trinity I assumed I would train her myself. Of course, after two months, I knew I needed help with that. As a result we have been going to Master Peace for eight months now. We love it there! We do clicker based, positive training. This really bonds us and she gets to work her brain in order to make the right decisions. We have had many classes which include, puppy kindergarten, three rounds of graduate puppy, two agility classes and we are in the middle of our continuing education course right now. This course will prepare us for the CGC. Trinity is not quite ready for the test but she sure is getting better every time we attend class. 

Today, we did a class involving the scary (well, for Trinity anyway) hula hoops. She had to sit and stay in it for a whole 30 seconds. For her that's long considering how scared she is of inanimate objects. We also did an exercise involving having other people pet the dogs. For Trinity this is the hardest thing because she LOVES people. So much so that she wants to jump on them. But today she didn't jump on anyone, not even our instructor which is quite hard for her. Of course it helps that I give her treats full of hot dogs, bologna, cheese, chicken, steak & peperoni ( her favorite). We used to use regular dog treats but little spoiled Miss. Trinity became bored with them and will refuse to eat them. So now we have upgraded. But hey, if this makes her a well behaved dog I'm all for it. In two weeks we will be starting our intro into competition obedience class!

Here she is on our first snow 'storm' of the year!

Dog Training

I am and have always been an animal lover. As a child I dreamed of working part time and running a animal rescue out of my home. I foresaw a nice house, on a few acres of land, with a custom built dog house for the dogs I would rescue. But as I grew older my child hood dream fell to the way-side. I do not work part time as I hoped (I also saw myself married to a rich man who would make all the money. Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?). I also do not run nor manage a dog rescue group. But I did do my part for animal rescue. I adopted this adorable little pooch

And I rescued these precious ones as kittens.

Maybe in time my dream will surface but for now I will advocate for the animals in need.

Now on to my purpose for this post. When we adopted Miss. Trinity I had in mind that we would train her ourselves. Then, I thought to myself. Well I've never trained a dog before and Zach was young when he first got his golden, Goldrush (Mr. Goldrush to be more exact) so therefore he has never formally trained a dog. Mr Goldrush did know some stuff like "Hurry up if you want treats" and  "nose-level" but I'll get to his 'tricks' at a later time. But here's a sneak peek at him. What a handsome little senior he was!

Here's her certificate from puppy kindergarten!

I looked online for a place to take Trinity to for puppy kindergarten. I knew I didn't want to take her to Petsmart or Petco for training. I wanted to be able to have her go into agility and those places are not equipped to do it. Plus, those places take in people and give them a quick course to go threw and bam! your a "dog trainer". Well, that's not exactly how it works. I finally came across a dog training place in Franklin, which is not too far from our house.

So in May we took her for a drop in class on a Saturday to see if we liked it. We didn't just like it, we loved it! We signed her up for the next available class and now I'm hooked. We've done Puppy Kindergarten, 2 courses graduate puppy & 2 courses of puppy agility. Were going onto our third graduate puppy class in December, the dogs are allowed to be in it up to a year old and she still gets to have play time.


We're holding off on her agility for now (I'll let you know why at a later date) but eventually I would like her to get her Canine Good Citizen and I want to start her in some beginner competition obedience classes. We have a long road ahead of us but I know she can do it. She's done great so far!

Summer Activities

Now that the summer has passed and fall is here in New England. I want to share some things that Trinity, Zach & I have done during the hot summer months.

In May we went to our Niece/Goddaughter's birthday party in western Mass. She turned the big 3! Isn't she cute? Apparently I never got a good picture of Trinity.

In June she got spayed. This was her still waking up from being under anesthesia.

 July started our swimming lessons for Trinity. Zach's parents put in an in ground pool to much of all of our delight.  Trinity had to be carried in by her Uncle Matt. She did get the hang of swimming and learned where the exit was very fast!

After she got out of the pool, she was very wet and shook off vigorously. My niece & nephew call her 'porcupine dog'!

In May we started puppy kindergarten at Master Peace. She graduated in July.

In August we went to the beach with her cousin & Auntie Lisa. I searched for awhile for a beach to take the pup to. Unfortunately all of the beaches on the RI coast all prohibit dogs. But I did find one beach in Plymouth, MA that lets dogs on the beach. It was also much cheaper for parking & a lot less crowded than in RI. Trinity really enjoyed herself on the beach. It was also my nephew's first time at a real beach! Next year Trin & I will bring my niece!

We went on many walks in the woods this summer. Zach had a vacation and we all went for a nice long HOT walk in the woods!

She also has had MANY play dates with her Aunt Lady, cousin Calypso , and her late cousin Jewles.

Trinity & Lady after a long play session

Calypso came over our house one night

Trinity & Jewles drying off after a dip in the lake

As you can see, we have been bringing Trinity everywhere and anywhere we can. We want her to be comfortable around many situations. She still has some progress to make, but in the 8 months we have had her she has progressed so much. We look forward to bringing Trinity on some fun trips this summer.