Pizza Hut

Yesterday Isaac and I went to Pizza Hut with Mike for lunch.  Isaac's behavior in public has been a bit inconsistent lately.  I think I know why that is.  I haven't written about it here yet, but two weeks ago, I was hospitalized for five days.  I think Isaac got out of practice during that time and I think it may have affected our bonding process a little bit.

Anyway, I wanted to go out to lunch with Mike and decided on Pizza Hut because they have a lunch buffet, so it could be a fairly quick meal.  Isaac and I met Mike at his office, and Isaac was very surprised and excited to see Mike someplace other than at home.  Because he was so excited, he wanted to jump up on Mike and didn't want to heel or sit or anything else I told him to do.  I got him calmed down, though, and then we all went to Pizza Hut.

I had to tell Isaac a couple times to "go under" before he went under the table.  He doesn't really like sitting under the table at restaurants.  I think it's because he wants to see what's going on, plus of course restaurants are full of interesting smells.  The server was trying to get our drink orders at the same time I was trying to get Isaac to go under the table, which was kind of getting on my nerves.  I know she probably had several tables to wait on and just wanted to do her job, but I needed to focus on Isaac and more importantly, to get him to focus on me.  If you happen to see someone with a service dog that is busy dealing with the dog, please be patient and let them do that before trying to engage them in conversation.  It's a lot like if a parent is dealing with an irritable toddler; the parent would need to take care of their child before telling you what they want to drink.

But Isaac did go under the table and I told him to sit and he did.  I asked Mike to go up to the buffet and get his food, then to hold Isaac's leash while I went to the buffet.  I felt it would be too difficult for both me and Isaac to try to take him up to the buffet with me.  I'm not very good and holding a lot of stuff while also holding Isaac's leash and I could see myself spilling food all over the buffet.

After I got my food and sat back down, I took the leash back from Mike.  After a couple minutes, Isaac lay down and rested his head on my foot, like a pillow.  A few minutes later, I think he was sleeping and dreaming, because he was twitching a little like he was running in his sleep, which I always think is really cute.  I tucked the leash under my leg so I had both hands free to eat and enjoyed my meal.

A couple people in the restaurant had noticed I had a dog with me and one elderly man asked, as he was walking by my table, how old my dog was.  Another woman commented that he was a pretty dog, which I think he is. 

Isaac was quiet and well-behaved through the whole meal.  When we were done eating, Mike went to pay and I took Isaac on outside for a potty break before we got back in the car.  I think this was our best outing to a restaurant so far and I felt really good about it.