Morey's Mazda Part 2

As you can see, I had the seat directly behind the driver's seat removed so I can pull my wheelchair in to that space without needing to take it apart. That was my goal for my new vehicle and the Mazda5 was the only vehicle that made that possible (other vans are too high off the ground).

Morey has basically the same riding arrangement as he did in my last van. He gets the entire back seat. He jumped right in and settled in nicely for his first ride. However, on our way home I made a beginner's mistake. The set up of the van was practically the same as my old van and I assumed that Morey would figure out that he was going to sit on the back seat that was carefully covered with a sheet. So I opened the door and said "jump". [An important note here is that it actually rained in Austin and so Morey was a bit wet and muddy.]

Instead of jumping on the back seat that was protected by the towel and sheet, he jumped on the brand new tan middle seat. As soon as I saw where his momentum was going I shouted "NO!" (more at my stupidity than at Morey), but it was too late. Morey, muddy paws and all, was sitting on the middle seat looking confused and scared. I gave him the off command and tried to redirect him to the back seat.

I immediately realized my mistake and took full responsibility for that mix-up. Morey wasn't sure where I was wanting him to "jump" so he found the first seat available (unfortunately the one that was not protected from his muddy paws). I didn't want Morey to associate the new vehicle with a screaming Emily so I "jollied" him up with a happy voice and then got in the Mazda and sat blocking the middle seat. I then had Morey jump in and out of the back seat, getting him used to the fact that the back seat was where he was going to sit. After several repetitions he was eagerly waiting for the jump command and was consistently going straight to the back seat.

So my van is officially broken in with a few muddy paw prints and the seat is now covered with a towel to protect against future incidents. And I had a valuable reminder that I can't just expect Morey to be able to know what I want him to do, I need take time to set him up for success by providing continuing education in new situations instead of expecting him to figure it out on his own. Hopefully I will be reminded of that each time I see the muddy paw prints on the seat!