Our First Weekend

The weekend went well... we spent our Saturday morning sleeping in until 9am and then off we went to shop for some furniture.  We checked out the Ephrata Re-Uzit Store (a whole lot of nada- minus some nice light which made for a great picture of Charlie).  After that we went to Garden Spot Furniture (which is always successful).  I had Charlie do a "down, wait" and I rolled across to the other side of the building (he wanted to smell every piece of furniture so I thought he'd be better off laying there).  But, I wanted him with me so I called him and he came running at me as fast as he could...it was so awesome.  So he laid right at my feet the rest of the time.

After that we loaded back into the van where he decided to make a heart with his paws.  He has been doing excellent getting in and out of the van.  Somehow he can manage to get his big body in the crack between the two seats and lay there comfortably on his blanket.  He is not whining as much when we stop to get out of the car and will sit there patiently until I release him to get out.  It's funny how whenever we go through the drive thru (oh how I love coffee) he will sit up and stick his head between the seats as if to say, I'd like something too, please!

After lunch Charlie and I took a walk around the block a few times to get him used to my power chair more and to work on his pulling.  Once I whipped out his little squeaky cupcake he kept his eyes on me the whole time!  Then, we headed out to Worship Center where I teach 1st-4th graders once a month for the three services.  I was excited for the kids to meet him and see how they'd react.  I came out on stage with him and it was completely silent.  With 80 kids in one place that is highly unusual.  I explained to them that he's my service dog and what he does for me and showed them a few things.  The lesson was on determination and I used him to demonstrate an example... I first showed them how he got his leash for me.  Then, I put the metal clip on it that attaches the leash to my wheelchair (this is much harder for him to pick up) to show them how it was harder for him to get but he kept trying until he did it.  Great work, Charlie!  I also let anyone with a birthday in January come up to pet him... I think they really liked that better than a balloon!

We did two more services on Sunday and boy, did it wear him out!  When we got home late Sunday afternoon he passed out!  The rest of the day we just vegged (played scrabble and ate pancakes) and went to bed early so I could get up at 5:30am!