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Hi, i'm Nanc and new here, just purchased Brain Training. I have a super smart 2 1/2-year-old male Cairn Terrier named Griffin. I have had him since he was 8 weeks old and he is a sweetheart. I have had rheumatoid arthritis since I was 19 years old and am now 72. It has gotten worse. I was married for 46 years but my husband died in 2021 and my old Cairn Wally died a few months later. I was thrilled to get Griff in August. He has been my constant companion since. Initially, training went great, he is the 6th Cairn I've had in my life. Here's the but then, my hip deteriorated and I needed a new one. I could not find a surgeon who would give me one. I weighed too much, but a body resists losing weight when it cannot move because of debilitating pain. I hired a trainer to help me figure out how to work around my disabilities. His answer was an e collar, which worked pretty well, as Griff did not mind paying attention to it. He responded to very little stimulus. Unfortunately, the trainer quit abruptly (with all his clients). Then a few months later, in March of 23, the ball on my femur bone disintegrated and I was no longer mobile. I went searching for surgeons again, 3 said no, still too heavy, although and get this, if I had fallen and fractured any bone around my hip or leg, I would have been given a hip no matter what my weight. I was furious. Because I had been favoring my right hip since I fell in 2018, by March of 2023, the ball of my femur was gone as were all the bones in my left wrist were gone, eated by arthritis, my left knee and ankle are both bone on bone, and the lower vertebra in my spine have severe arthritis. In late May of 2023 I found a surgeon who said yes, finally and in early June, I got my hip. Rehabilitation has been very difficult because of my left side joints. When I went into the rehab facility, I got no rehab. Short-staffed, they said. Then why am I here? I had no one at home to help me, that was why. I had to board Griff with a woman who boards in her home, better than a kennel I thought. He came back to me way different, barking, peeing inside again and not listening. I still struggle with these. I need help. His excitement is too intense and the e collar doesn't work at the same low level as before so I don't use it. I use a walker and have balance issues, I am afraid to walk him for fear of falling and fear of losing him to the forest that surrounds my home and the predators it contains. We play inside, ball mostly and he has a small fenced yard where he barks at deer and birds and bats and neighbors' dogs that run loose, and neighbors, and the UPS guy, Mail truck, garbage truck, and he does all this barking inside the house as well. I cannot get on the floor with him because I cannot get back up, and I cannot use my walker over rough ground. So I need some workarounds for any of the training that requires a physicality that I do not possess. I want to be able to get down, or take him to different locations, outside for instance, but I don't do stairs well. I do have a paved driveway and can get out to that, but there are the loose dogs or deer to stimulate him possibly causing me to fall. But I am willing to try. He already has a lot of skills. He touches my hand and looks me in the eye before getting a treat and he picks things up for me when I drop them, pens, paper, salt shaker, grabbers, just about anything. For which I give him a treat, small. So he also will steal paper from the recycle bin and bring it to get that tiny treat. He will also get my shoes from another room for me. Griff is super smart and I don't want him to loose that. He understands so many words. And he loves vegetables. I think he would rather have celery than meat. I am hopeful that this course can help me achieve the control to help him be my best dog.