After lunch we went back to Dogtown HQ for our afternoon assignment. Jessica asked us if we wouldn't mind helping to clean out some runs behind the main building, and we said sure.

We were pointed outside and around the building behind the clinic, where one of the caregivers was working. We recognized her from our first visit to Best Friends, she was the caregiver who brought Sassy out for us to socialize with. We said hello, and we told her we had been sent to clean out some runs. She was in the middle of doing something else, but when she was done she got us a bottle of bleach, a scrubby brush and a poop scooper. She walked us up the road behind the clinic to a number of concrete fenced-in runs side by side, labeled with Adoption signs. I wasn't sure what that meant, but I assumed these might be holding runs for dogs who were going to be adopted, since they were right behind Dogtown HQ.

She showed us what we needed to do, and it was pretty simple. Just scoop up any poop then bleach and scrub each run. Then we would use the nearby hose to clean them all out. There were some dogs in a couple of the runs, including a small and beautiful Shiba Inu. I asked if we could go in and pet her, and she said that would be fine. As we began to start cleaning out the runs though, a couple caregivers came by and took the Shiba out, and back to the clinic building. Darn, I really wanted to pet her.

Oh well. It took us about a half hour to clean out the runs, but before we went back to turn in the cleaning tools we wanted to hang out for a bit with the two small dogs in the two runs closest to the clinic. An and I each chose a run, and we went in to sit with the dogs. They both had Elizabethan collars on (or, "satellite dishes"), and the one in my run was skittish and unsure about us. I just let him do his thing and tried to pet him a bit but he was nervous. The one in An's run was a little calmer, but she didn't have much more luck trying to pet him.

Small and timid, but friendly

After sitting with them for a bit, we left and brought the cleaning supplies back to the building behind the clinic, and then we left to try to catch the 2 PM clicker training session that was being run by one of the caregivers at The Fairway. This was an entertaining experience, and Bojangles (or BoJee, as he was known) was a willing participant. With clicker training it's important to find out what motivates the dog. In BoJee's case, it was toys. He was extremely toy motivated, and hilarity ensued as he was let out into the main area of the octogon and made a beeline for the toy bin. He started pulling toys out one at a time to play with them a bit and then go back to pull out another one.

The clicker training demonstration was informative, and BoJee was properly motivated by the ball held in the caregiver's hand. When he did as she asked, his reward was to chase the ball. It was a good learning experience for me.

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