Secret Photos

My Dad likes to send me random photos of things that he likes: pretty flowers, javelinas that are in walking by his office window, new haircuts my mom gets and any service dog that he sees when he is out and about.   I love getting these photos as they are usually accompanied by some funny remark.

The service dog photos are a little different though.  Those I think he takes on the sly without letting the dog's owner know that he is capturing their puppy for posterity. I never thought about it until yesterday when I was stopped at Nature's Food Patch, our neighborhood grocery store and go to dinner spot for a quick salad.  I had put Jam into a down stay by the cold drinks and was taking a photo while I waited for Fred to get his salad from the amazing salad bar.  I was approached by one of the store managers.

Guide dog puppy in training Jam lying down.

"Hi!" He said as he strode up to me.  He was a little out of breath as if he thought he might have missed us and hurried out from behind a counter to talk to us. "You know I have a photo of him on my phone."

I looked at him.  "You do?" I smiled.  We go to Nature's Food Patch a lot. We like salads and even more, not cooking during the week. 

Encouraged, he continued, "Yes.  He or she?"

"He."

"He has a bag of treats in his mouth and is sitting." He smiled at me.  "He's so beautiful."

Now at this point, I could quiz him on the bag of treats he says are in Jam's mouth (Seriously! What?!! Fred says it never happened.), but I decide that quizzing this clearly besotted man is not the right thing to do, so instead I start talking about Jam's impending IFT date and how smart he is.  Jam is calmly lying down and being good and not lunging for crumbs under the drink holder. (Thank you!) 

Fred comes over to take Jam and the manager walks away with his secret photo of Jam.  

At school, during one of the all school convos, I happened to sit next to one of the girls who was taking photos of Jam with her phone.  She showed the photo to her friend.  I caught just a glimpse of it.  

"Oh, can I see?" I asked.

"Sure." She showed me.  It was a great shot of Jam.  I told her so.  She said she had a photo of Jam as her phone background.  I asked her to send me the shots she took of Jam.

It made me think of all the people who take secret photos of our puppies and think happy thoughts of them or dream big dreams for them.  They are so excited to get to know one of our puppies.  I know my student was thinking Jam would make it.  And the store manager will always ask about Jam.

Guide dog puppy in training Jam at the check out counter.

At the checkout line Jam was ogled by three checkout girls.  They commented on how pretty he was, how good he was and how calm he was.  We gave them our hopes for his bright future as a guide dog once he goes in for training and they nodded and looked down on him with optimistic gazes.  Yes, they believe in Jam.

We believe in Jam.

Publix, Where Shopping Is a Pleasure

I have to say that there are two markets where I love taking our guide dogs in training: the Publix on Gulf to Bay and Belcher and the Fresh Market on US 19 and Enterprise. Bingo was a regular at both spots. During our first visit to Publix with Bingo we were at the checkout counter and the cashier asked about him. We explained it was his first visit and that the reason Fred and Bingo had come back in and out twice was that he had never experienced the automatice doors. She smiled and said, "Why don't you just do a big circle? Go out that door and come in over at that door? It would give him more walking time and we don't mind at all." Publix is so nice.


Recently, I took Her Royal Highness (HRH) Berkeley to our favorite Publix. I started with a basket to ease her into it. HRH found the basket to be a source of endless fascination. Every time I put something into it, she wanted to see into it more and more. It got to the point where she would try to cross in front of me and lung toward the basket. We had to stop and do a few doggie push ups to get her focused back on walking.

We toured the produce aisles, the seafood section, the deli and then the frozen food section where this photo was taken. One of the managers kindly took the photo.

Grocery Store Zen

Friday was a long day. Wish I could say Bingo was a good boy, but he was too much of a pill most of the day to qualify for that status. He was testing me all day long. Fred had hernia surgery on Thursday, so Bingo didn't get much exercise Thursday. So on Friday, he was raring to go.

We go to convo late because I had to do so many turnarounds and go the other ways. Then we had to leave convo early because he was doing the biting thing and I couldn't do a loud NO correction. When I took him over to busy, he went puppy crazy on the leash. So I thought a bit of tough love walking would do him good. We are in the process of building a new quad and there is this section of sidewalks that intersect at all different angles, perfect for puppies who are recalcitrant. So I marched his little uncooperative butt over there and we started to walk.

Forward. Sit. Down. Forward. Right about. Right right. Forward. Left left. Right about. Forward. Right right. Forward. Left left. Right about. Sit. Down. Stay. Forward.

Did I mention it was raining on Friday? Did I mention that I chose to wear a long skirt that brushed the ground (Friday is uniform day, AKA dress really nicely) and heels? So I am doing all this and the bottom 3-4 inches of my skirt is sopping wet, not to mention the nice heels that are flapping loosely off my feet. But I persisted. Because at the end of it, Bingo was tired and finally walking right beside me. This lasted until lunch.

After school I took the little demon to the grocery store for more practice. I grabbed a basket and we blew in like we owned the place. I love Publix because they never hassle you. They are very friendly and understanding. At least the ones we have been in are. Anyway, we went up and down the aisles practicing our turns. I made him sit before things I was considering buying. When he started to sniff at bread I would tell him NO and then I would stop and make him sit by the bread. He did and he sat there without sniffing it. He was so good. We went by the seafood counter and he went to sniff it. So I stopped and made him sit. he stopped sniffing and just sat and looked at me. I waited a good minute, then we walked on. All the time, people were passing and smiling. Moms were pointing and telling kids that the puppy was learning how to be good. I was in the zone and Bingo was being a good boy.

Bingo is at a teenager stage where he is testing limits and doing crazy things. With Fred not able to walk a dog for several weeks, it is all on me to keep him in line. It's quite a lot of pressure, but I know that we can do it.