A Bag of Poo and a Bad Decision

A Time to Poo

I had to get some dinner.  My idea was to go to Whole Foods and pick up something from the buffet.  My only hesitation was Corky.

Corky is relaxing in the wheelwell on the drive home.

Corky generally doesn't poo at school.  He saves it for 5 pm at home.  It was nearing 5 pm and we were not at home.  We were pulling up to Whole Foods.

It was the Pooing Hour.

Corky and I got out of the car and I walked him over to a grassy median where I tried to get him to busy.  He wandered around sniffing.  He finally peed halfheartedly and sniffed a bit more.  I knew there was more in there. I stood my ground.

Corky turned in a half circle and then back again.  Aha! Got him. He did a half squat and then shift and started to poo.  Success! I was so stoked.  I got out my poo bags. They were electric yellow and could be seen from the moon.

"Good boy, Corky!" Corky wagged his tail.  He looked at the yellow bag and looked away.  It may have hurt his eyes.  They were bright.  I tied the bag into a knot to prevent any stink from escaping and began to walk toward Whole Foods to throw it away in one of their trash cans.

Now, here is where it gets a bit tricky.  As you approach Whole Foods, there is an eating area off to the right.  I certainly didn't want to walk up to that area and wave my big bag of poo around with diners: "Hey! Got some poo here! Look!  Does this make you want to eat your food?!"

Fortunately, I had parked to the left and my approach was away from the diners.  I was hiding the bright yellow bag (haha, as if you could hide that bag) by my side.  I started to look for trash cans.

Nothing. Not one trash can.

Really, Whole Foods? No trash cans?

A shot of a Whole Foods shopping bag.

I'm standing by a planter with a big bright yellow bag of poo.  What now?  Take it into the store? Certainly not! I can't even take it close to the door.  IT'S POO! LOTS OF POO.

What store doesn't have trash cans?

OK.  I set my bag of dog poo down on the ground and say to anyone listening, "I will be back for this bag of poo," and I walk away.

I leave the yellow bag of poo and Corky and I walk into the store.  I did turn to look and it glowed back at me accusingly. POO, POO.

There was nothing to be done.

A Bad Decision

And that wasn't my bad decision.  My bad decision was settling for a basket and not a cart.  I thought the basket would be easier to maneuver.

I walked Corky into the buffet area and got a wet wipe out of his coat and wiped my hands off. I didn't want to touch anything without cleaning my hands.  That done, I went over to the plates.

I grabbed two plates and pulled them apart.  I dropped them into the basket.  I didn't notice that the plates didn't sit flat.  I grabbed two tops and spent three minutes trying to get them apart while Corky tried to sniff at them and at the basket.

Then we walked over to the buffet area.  Corky was very good.  He didn't lunge or jerk around.  He was very calm and sweet.  I quickly realized that when I filled a plate that it wouldn't sit flat in the basket.

Really, Whole Foods? What good are your baskets?

So now I am staring at Corky, my useless basket, my filled plate and my unfilled plate.  How will I fill the unfilled plate and how will I get both plates to the checkout counter?

Close-up of Corky looking sweet.

Finally, I got Corky to stay and put the basket in an out of the way spot and put the filled plate in an out of the way spot and filled up my second plate.  Then I stacked the two plates on top of each other and Corky and I ran very fast to the checkout area.

Not an elegant solution, but it worked.

Everything was put in a paper bag and now I had a handle.  I left and picked up my yellow bag of poo  (which was still there!!) on the way out, which I carried home to throw away in my trash can.  

Corky 1

Poo 1

Cheryl 1

Whole Foods -3

Bathrooms and Waitresses

Cheesecake Factory

Some days are just good days.  You have a lunch date with a friend you haven't seen in a long time, at a restaurant you really like.

Cheesecake Factory usually puts us in a booth when I bring a service dog, but this time they put us at a four-top table in the center.  They explained that they didn't want us at a two top because there wouldn't be enough room for the dog.  I thought that was nice.  When we got to the table, our hostess offered to take a chair away, but I told her we were fine.  

Corky doesn't have the best settle, but he does ok.  True to form, he stood like a horse in a stall under the table. Sigh.  He's also not a puppy that takes kindly to you pressuring him to sit down.  He's either going to do it in his own time, or not.  There's just no way around it.  

He decided Michele's feet looked comfy and sat on them.

Our adorable waitress came up and nearly stepped on Corky and then nearly fell all over herself apologizing.  Turns our she has a golden and is a huge dog lover.  She was delightful.  She showed us photos of her puppy.  Very sweet.

Corky was very good under the table.  There were a few moments when he got up and wanted to stand and test out the standing, but he finally settled and fell asleep.

Bathrooms

After our nice lunch, we stopped by the bathrooms, which were all full.  The  first one to open was a regular stall, so Corky and I made our way in.  The stall was stall number one against the wall, so we only had one neighbor on our right side.

I had to scrunch us in and then turn Corky around so that he was facing the right hand side and I could close the stall door.  I hooked his leash up on the door with my purse.  

Corky poked a nose under the stall to the right.

"Oh!" Came the response from the woman in the stall to the right.  I could see her lovely shoes.

Pause.

I see a nicely manicured hand scratch Corky's chin. 

Corky sticks his whole head under the stall.

"No peeking! No Peeking!" The lady said in a laughing voice.  I pulled Corky back.  Thankfully, we were ready to go. 

If I timed it right, I could wash my hands and be out of there without meeting the person my guide dog puppy had seen in a delicate position!

I timed it right.  Thank God for automatic faucets!

Corky Helps a Friend

A friend of mine at school will be going to meet a career changed Southeastern guide dog on Thursday afternoon.  They have been waiting a long time to get their forever dog and are extremely excited about it. (All the photos here were taken by Christina Arcuri, many, many thanks!)

Everyone arrives to greet Corky

Since their last dog was a Jack Russell, I offered to have their boys come over and meet Corky so that they could really get to know a big lab before meeting their dog on Thursday.  That way, they could practice petting a big dog, how to interact in a calm way, and ask questions.

The two boys are a bit tentative about petting Corky.

Corky is a really good test big dog because he is so friendly and has such a waggy tail.  Everyone likes him right away and he likes everyone back.

Mom watches as I talk about Corky and how old he is.

I had Corky do a down stay because he is a big lab (74 pounds, their dog they will meet tomorrow is only 55 pounds) and they are still pretty small.

The boys are sitting by Corky and asking questions. Corky is lying down.

I also had them pet Corky on the body.  I had told their mom to try and avoid having them pet their dog on the head as that can lead to jumping and mouthing.  

The boys are both petting Corky.

We also talked about having very calm voices and moving slowly, not running around and getting the puppy excited. I loved their questions.  The first one was about stuffed animals.  Was she going to like stuffed animals.  "Yes, she was," I said.  "So it is important that you keep your toys in a safe place out of her way. If she does get one of your stuffed animals, just go and get one of her toys and trade her so that she knows which toy is her toy."  

I told him it was probably going to be a good idea to keep his socks off the floor and his bedroom door shut too!

Mom and son are listening as I explain about stuffed animals.

We decided his younger brother had the stinkiest socks and had the most to worry about.

Mission accomplished: a happy boy with Corky.

Mission accomplished: Another comfortable boy with a big dog.

All in all, I think they ended up being very comfortable with Corky and will have a very successful visit with their (hopefully!!) new forever dog tomorrow!!

Dewey News! Cautiously Optimistic

Dewey Gets Matched

We got the call last week.  Dewey had been matched with someone in this month's class of graduates currently down at Southeastern Guide Dogs.  We knew it was a possibility, but we thought it was another class or two away.

He had been chosen to do blind fold walks at the last open house. He had also been chosen to do the AC conference and lead one of the ACs around for her blindfold morning.  So. we knew he was getting close.

But we were really surprised to hear that he had actually been matched.  I think after having Coach be matched and then unmatched we are cautiously optimistic.  Every dog is different.  

Dewey is very calm.  He has a nice settle.  And as indicated by this photo from Friday, he can sleep through a noisy food court with no problem. He was the ultimate napper.

Dewey napping in a food court while out during class.

We will be attending Puppy Raiser Day on March 7th.  We are excited, but trying to be calm.  Like Dewey.  Hopefully, we will have some fun photos to show you all.

Keep your fingers crossed.

And perhaps your toes too.