Eye Love Newsom Eye Center and Dr. Levitt

Only one more day and Coach will be In For Training and we will be at home with only Jam and Willow for company.  I know he is ready and it is time for him to go.  He is a good boy and certainly knows his commands.  I did learn a thing or two at the eye doctor's though.

The first thing I was reminded of was that it is always good practice to take a nice little potty break before you go into any building regardless of whether your pup has had his morning poo.  I was just waiting for a pee, when Coach surprised me with a second morning poo at 8 am.  Oh my!  Off schedule indeed!

After that, we went inside to sign in.  Since I hadn't been to the eye doctor in 3 years, it was almost as if I was a new patient.  Forms, forms, forms.  But Coach was mostly patient and the staff was thrilled to see him.  The patients were thrilled to see him as well and I gave out some cards and explained the guide dog program to a few people.  

Then I was called back to a room.  Maria was my nurse and she had me sit down.  I thought that Coach would be able to do what 8 month old Andros did, which was a nice down under in the chair on the opposite side of the room. 

NOPE.  

He wanted to be by me.  Maria said he could lie down by the side of the chair and it would be fine.  So, he did and he went to sleep.  

Coach in a down stay by the side of the exam chair.

Note to self for Dewey (our next puppy): Work harder on down stays that are at least 5-10 feet away from me.

After my eyes were dilated, Dr. Levitt came in to do the exam.  He was really excited that Coach was there and told me about his two yellow labs. He even showed me a photo of them.  It was very cute. At one point in the exam, Coach went to sleep with his head on Dr. Levitt's foot.  At the end of the exam, I took Coach's coat off and let him and the nurse pet Coach.  Coach had been a very good boy (as opposed to the dentist's office!).

Coach with his buddy Dr. Levitt.

 What I really found amusing though, was when we left our room and turned down the hallway to make our payment, there was a Southeastern donation statue in the shape of a dog.  Coach got very excited and thought there was another dog in the building.  I had to let him go up and slowly greet the statue to discover that it was not a real dog.

He was disappointed.

Photo of the statue dog.

Then the ladies behind the counter asked if they could come out and pet Coach.  I said if they didn't mind if I took his coat off, I was ok with it.  They were fine with him being out of coat.

All in all, I would highly recommend that everyone get their eyes checked at Newsom Eye Center (I went to the one on Swann, formerly Guggino Eye Center, 3115 W. Swann Ave. 813.879.7711) and I highly recommend Dr. Michael Levitt.  After all, I found out the doctors who pass the opthalmology boards face the same sort of percentages of passing that our guide dog puppies do: 37-38%.  And Dr. Levitt passed!  He knows all about tough programs and has an appreciation for what our puppies will be going through and he loves labs.  And he's a good doctor.  Pretty much the whole staffed loved Coach.  What's not to like?