First run-through of service dog practice was this morning. Saoirse Louise performed adequately for a pet dog. She has miles to go before I'd even vaguely consider her to be a service dog in training. We started with a car ride up to King Soopers, so I could get the one ingredient for tonight's dinner that I lacked. She growled and woofed at dogs on the street, showing that she has now decided the car is an extension of her territory. Not sure I approve of that. I left her in the car at King Soopers, and by the time I reached the sidewalk in front of the store, not forty feet from where I parked, I heard a car horn going off. I turned around, just sure it was my car, even though I couldn't see the taillights flashing or anything. It stopped, so I went to buy a head of red cabbage, an errand that took less than five minutes. As I approached the car, I heard the horn again. I also received an alert on my phone. The horn was the motion sensor in my car as she danced between the seats. No, Hyundai, I did not leave a child strapped into the back seat on a hot day. I left an anxious polar bear in the front seat on a cloudy, brisk day. She was fine.
We growled at a dog next to the Murdoch's as we crossed the parking lot, on the way to a coffee drive-thru. The young woman handing me a drink (for my daughter, not me) asked if I wanted a pup cup. I raised an eyebrow at Saoirse, and asked if she deserved it, after threatening that dog across the parking lot. But I let her have it anyway.
It has been way too long since I took her through a hardware store, so she did a lot of pulling and sniffing at Home Depot. Two people tried to pet her. One made contact before I could say anything, and the other was reaching as they asked. I explained that we were trying to revive her training, and the woman understood and pulled back her hand. Saoirse, on the other hand, loves people, and would have happily cuddled the woman. So we are off to a very slow start.
The kids were a whole new level of extra today. I was overstimulated and a bit shell shocked by the end of the evening. They are still cute and wonderful children, but wow, am I in over my head on days like this.
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