Leaving early means that I miss the St. Jacob's market (which I loved last time) and the practice public access test (which makes me nervous).
St. Jacob's is disappointing but I'll live. It's the practice test which I'm obsessing over. Lynyrd is a great dog and he's responding well to me, but I rarely have confidence in my ability to perform under evaluation. I know I can do something perfectly a dozen times and then mess it up once it's important. But, as I keep reminding myself, NSD wants us to succeed and will work with us.
I've got my to-do list for when I get home. Mainly daily practice of food refusal, ball ignoring, and the halt command with Lynyrd. Almost everything else will get used in regular practice, but those three are unpredictable and important to get right even when spontaneous. So I need to make sure Lynyrd's skills stay sharp.
My wish list of things to work on include: going to the mat automatically when the doorbell rings, practicing "hide and seek" and "find Alex", and a remote halt command (not sure if that one is possible, but I'm hopeful). Possibly also a "cuddle" command, which would be like the "visit" or "over" command but more of a lean in than a deep pressure. But any new tricks will have to wait until Lynyrd is settled.