Daddy Pup

Isaac made a friend at the Medicaid office today. It was a little boy, maybe three years old. He patted Isaac on the head and then showed Isaac his toy dinosaur. The little boy was very chatty but difficult to understand. I did, however, understand the word "Pup."

After the little boy patted Isaac and showed him the dinosaur and chatted a while, I told him "The pup's name is Isaac."

The little boy's mom said "That's your daddy's name!"

The little boy looked at Isaac with wide round eyes, like he was just so amazed that this pup could have the same name as his daddy. I could just see him thinking about it. I think maybe it blew his mind. But finally he pointed at Isaac and announced, loudly, "Daddy Pup!"

Car Accident

New experiences for Isaac last night. We were in a car accident and I was taken to the hospital by ambulance. The EMT at the scene told me that the officers would "take care of my dog" and I said, "No, he's a service dog, he will come with me" and I was prepared to argue. I would have refused to be transported if they refused to take my service dog with me. But as soon as I said that, the EMT said, "Oh, that's good" and they were happy to bring him with me. There was plenty of room in the ambulance and the EMT told me they had transported other service dogs before. Isaac jumped up in the ambulance with no problem and I told him to lay down and he did.

Isaac has been in the ER before so that was no big deal for him. They took me to get a CT scan and the nurse asked me if my service dog had to go with me. I said "He can't stay here by himself" because of course I was not going to leave him unattended in the ER. She said an aide would take care of him for me while I was gone if that was OK with me and assured me I would not be gone long. I would not have asked staff to watch him but it was their idea. I agreed and the aide said he would take Isaac outside to go potty if that was OK with me. I said it was. He mentioned that there wasn't much grass outside (this was a hospital in a city area) and I told him Isaac would pee on concrete or other surfaces and told him to just show Isaac where to go and tell him to go potty and he would. When they were bringing me back from the CT scan, Isaac was lying on the floor by the nursing desk with three employees gathered around petting him.

I was really glad Isaac is perfectly fine being handled by other people and is not stressed by being separated from me. He seems OK after the accident, but I might take him to the vet today or tomorrow just to get checked out just to be sure. An EMT looked him over for me at the scene of the accident and then a friend checked him over carefully for me at the hospital later. It was a while before I could check for myself because I had a cervical collar on and stuff for a while. I am OK now, just really sore, and Isaac and I are at home.

The hospital and the EMTs were really great and I was relieved not to have to argue about taking Isaac in the ambulance with me.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Random Guy at the Food Pantry Today: What's your dog for?

Me: He's a service dog.

Random Guy: Yeah, I know. But what's he for? Like is he for seizures or...?

Me: I don't share personal information like that with people I don't know.

Random Guy: Oh, I know. I was just curious. Do you have epilepsy?

Me: Look, I'm not going to tell you what's wrong with me and I won't ask you what's wrong with you.

Random Guy: Oh. OK.