Today Isaac and I made a quick trip to the grocery store. It was really, really cold but the roads were finally decent. I guess most people were staying in, though, because the store was practically empty. I also found a lot of perishable food items, like yogurt, marked down. I guess because of the weather and bad roads, they hadn't been selling as much as they normally do. So I bought lots of cheap yogurt.
As I was shopping, I noticed how easy it is to shop with Isaac now. Maybe that seems obvious, like why would I have a service dog with me if it didn't make shopping easier, but it hasn't always been that way.
For a long time, having Isaac with me made shopping easier in some ways and harder in other ways. Simply figuring out how to hold the leash and push the cart at the same time took me forever and trying to push a cart with one hand is definitely not easy. Keeping an eye on Isaac to make sure he wasn't sniffing things he isn't supposed to sniff while at the same time watching where I'm pushing the cart (sometimes with one hand) while also looking at my shopping list and looking for items on the shelves that are on my list, well, I didn't have enough hands or eyes for all that.
I think I've gotten better at holding the leash and pushing the cart at the same time, but Isaac's also gotten better at heeling and better at not sniffing things and probably his skills have improved more than mine. It was just nice to realize that Isaac's grown into a really good service dog and that having him with me is a lot less work than it used to be (although it's still work and sometimes still a hassle).
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