New Experiences

Isaac had not one but two new experiences today. He's a pretty seasoned service dog now, so he doesn't get new experiences that often. The last new experience was the Halloween store we did a couple weeks ago (I still need to write about that) and I planned that experience on purpose to give him a new experience.  I think the last before that was a spiral staircase.  No, maybe it was seeing farm animals up close when we went to Nebraska - he got to see chickens and horses up close. I think the spiral staircase was before that.

Anyway. He doesn't have new experiences very often these days. Maybe a walk on a new trail, but not something totally different that what he's used to.

The first new experience today was a glass elevator, which I hate, but he just seemed interested, not worried. He kind of stretched his neck out a little, like he does when he wants to get a good look at something, and just watched out the window.

The second new experience was a revolving door, which he did not like too much, and it took us forever to get through it because we had to inch along because he didn't quite get the concept. But he was willing to give it a try.

I think new experiences are good for him because, well, life is full of strange things. When Isaac gets to experience something new, he gets to practice how to handle new and strange things. We might never go through a revolving door again, certainly it's not something I think is important for him to get good at doing, but I am certain we will run into something new and unexpected again, something Isaac hasn't trained for, something surprising or confusing, and it is important that he is good at coping with those things. That's important for any service dog.