Busy Day

Bear and I had a VERY busy day yesterday. First we stopped at MIDAS for an oil change.

http://www.midas.com/index2.aspx

I thought it would be uneventful for him but then we heard the air compressor. At first he jumped and looked over at the glass door to the garage. Then he just watched as the mechanic sprayed off the tires on a Jeep. He did great!

Next we went to my kids' school to drop off a lunch. We ended up going into two classrooms and doing an impromptu speech. First we did a Kindergarten class. WOW! Does Bear ever love small kids. He had a hard time settling down and I'm sure it's because of the energy coming off the little people.

The 5-6 year old kids asked some great questions. "Is he a boy or a girl?, Does he bite?, Can he do any tricks?" This was a pretty easy group of questions. :) My main focus with kids this age is to explain that when they see a working dog in public, they can't pet them.

Then we went to the 4th and 5th grade class. The 5th grade kids met Bear back in May right after we got him so when we walked in they were shocked at how much he had grown. Their questions were much harder. "Do you prefer to work with certain breeds?, Are there different kinds of service dogs?, Are there other animals that help people in wheelchair's besides dogs?" Then they wanted to see Bear do something. Other than basic obedience, he's pretty reliable with "rise". So I showed them "rise" on a table. They all clapped for him and I don't think he really knew what to do. His ears were going every which way but he stayed on the table until I told him "okay". Then we left.

The command "okay" is a release word. When doing obedience you always need a release word so they know when they are done. If you say "sit, stay.", technically they should do that until you release them with "okay."

Next we went to my job. He was so happy to be there. I keep a blanket under my desk for him and that's exactly where he went to sleep for the rest of the work day. Everyone there was really good about respecting the "no pet" rule and they didn't touch him (much). :)