Day Six...

Well, it's all fun and games till somebody pukes in bed!  Aren't you glad you signed on to Zachary's blog?!! LOL  My poor little guy has some type of a virus....vomitting, potty issues and now a bit of a fever.  It's going to be a long night.  The poor thing is in obvious pain.  His belly really hurts.  He falls asleep then abruptly is woken up by his raging belly.  He's white as a ghost, too.  My kids are so pale that they pretty much blend in with the sand, so it's always amazing to see how pastey they look when they're sick.  I certainly hope this isn't the long-lasting type of bug and only lasts a day or two.  I'm also hoping and crossing every finger and toe that we collectively have that the rest of us don't get it.  About two year, a nasty virus infultrated our house, and one by one we dropped like flies.  It was pretty bad.  Pray for us!  I hope my little guy can get a couple hours of restful sleep; he's exhausted right now.  No training for him tomorrow.  He'll need to be symptom free for 24 hours.  This is not a sharing moment I want to encourage. 

On a warm and fuzzy note, we called Aubrey "up" to Zachary's bed after he got sick, and she jumped right on. With some prompting from us for her to lay in the right place, LOTS of praise and some Low-Fat Pup-peroni, Aubrey did her job and comforted her guy. Zachary asked for her and just kept stroking her or draping his arm on her. It was very, very sweet.  I also let him give her some treats as well to reinforce that bond.  Aubrey was great!! She let him bury his feet under her, lay his legs over her and push his feet into her...she never flinched. She even got up just before and looked when he got off the couch and went into the bathroom. Although I felt badly that Zachary was hanging over the bed getting sick, I was happy to see Miss Aubrey follow our lead and comfort Zachary.  She likes to sleep at the end to middle of the bed.  After Zachary got sick, it took some practice and reinforcement to show her that we wanted her to sleep next to Zachary because there was something wrong with him.  She's incredibly patient and took my direction so well.  I used the "side" command to show her that I wanted her to either lay into Zachary on one side or allow him to lay on her from the other side.  Zachary wanted to lay with me as well so this was an excellent opportunity to manipulate Aubrey's body as I needed to so she understood more clearly what I was verbally prompting her to do.  I'd also take her cute little head off of my thigh/lap and put it on Zachary's pillow or very close to his chin.  He just curled up next to her and gently patted her. 

Just a few minutes ago, Zachary was sick again but this time went back to his bed.  In an effort to reinforce the bond they're developing and the concept of Aubrey making Zachary feel better in his time of need, I asked him if he'd like Aubrey to sleep in bed with him.  His big, droppy eyes looked at me, and I got an "Mm-hmm" as he was drifting off to sleep.  By this time, Aubrey was asleep on her big, cooshy doggie-bed that we got for her.  She loves it.  I gently woke her up and gave her a minute to orient herself before I called on her to help her guy feel better.  It took a couple of prompts to get her off of her warm, comfy bed, but she did get up and follow my "up" command as I pointed towards Zachary's bed.  This time the MOST remarkable thing happened.  She not only jumped up on the bed, but she immediately walked right over to where Zachary was curled up and laid down next to him with out any verbal prompts or treats from me.  The only thing she had to go on was the natural cue of me standing towards the head of the bed where Zachary was.  I guess all of the verbal praise and Pup-peroni Zachary and I gave her earlier really paid off. This was a slam dunk...it seems as if Aubrey got it!!  Now the PS to this is that she's back  at the middle to the foot of the bed now, but her initial reaction was to help Zachary before she did what she wanted to do. 

 It really is remarkable to see their bond form so quickly. 

 It's very innocent and completely unconditional. 

 (let me just apologize in advance for any typpos/grammatical errors in this blog entry...or any of the entries for that matter!  i am blearey-eyed at the moment.  training is really wiping us out!)