Training...Day 6

Can we say FREEZING?!  It was way too cold out to do much, so we decided to stick to the things we absolutely needed to accomplish today- going into my office and testing out the bus with Charlie.  Lorrie picked me up in the accessible van so we could use my power chair and we decided not to go to Central Market and Cross Keys Coffee.  We loaded into the van and headed to the Queen Street Bus Station.  There weren't many buses waiting there so we had to pick one and do it fast because it had to leave within five minutes.  The only problem was that it was a type of bus that I rarely ride (once or twice within the past year)- the extra long and tall bus (Lititz doesn't have very many riders so we always get the smaller bus that has only a ramp that flips out).  This bus actually has stairs so the ramp slid out and then raised up.  We decided to try it and I made Charlie sit in front of me.  He got a bit of grease on his paw from it going down a crack, but other than that he sat still and had no problem as we were elevated up together.  We did a u-turn on the bus and then went back down on the ramp.  Not too bad, thankfully the driver was gracious enough to give us the time to try it out. 

We scurried across the street to my office and Charlie easily pressed all the buttons to get through the door ways despite all the possible distractions around us.  He followed me nicely through the doors and metal detectors.  The noise of the metal detector that I caused (it was set off by the metal in my chair) made him jump but the other times it went off he just twitched his ears.  We continued up in the elevator where he sat calmly in the corner and rode to the third floor.  We went into the back door of my office (where we later attached a tug for him to open the door for me- which we tried and he did AWESOME at opening it) and then went to my cubicle for him to check out.  We put a padded carpet down for him to be comfy during the day.  We also visited a few people, including my bosses and even the Commissioners!  We tested Charlie to see what he would do if I rode away toward the kitchen and had him "stay"- the first time he did whine and got up and we put him back, but the second time we tried he stayed and only whined a tiny bit.  But that was great for being in an unfamiliar place with his girl zooming off in her wheelchair!

We ended up going back to the bus station to find a bus that is like the one I ride daily and had to wait about 30 minutes for one to come through.  Of course a bunch of strange people (we were at the bus station where they love to congregate) kept bombarding us with questions and comments-I will have to get used to that!  We were able to test the bus out and get settled as I would if I were riding in or out of town.  It's a tight fit but we will have to make it work... just praying that the bus drivers and other riders will have patience with me and Charlie. 

After all that hard work we stopped at Coffee Co for some great food, coffee, and conversation.  Charlie loved it cause he was able to take a nice little snooze!

We ended our day at my house with a run through of coming in the garage and he did an amazing job of pulling the door shut for me.  We worked on some clicker training as well for him to pull my boots off by the heels.  Another day together under our belts!