I Want That Job

Yesterday while I was sitting in the waiting room of the periodontist, Isaac was stretched out on his side, sleeping soundly, looking very relaxed.  An older man and woman sat down across from us and the man looked at Isaac and read the patch on his vest out loud: "Please don't pet me, I'm working." 

I knew right away what he was thinking.  Isaac really looked like he was hard at work.

The man smiled and said, "Huh.  I want that job."

Sunshine

After a few days of rain, the sun finally came out yesterday afternoon. Isaac was delighted and took the opportunity to roll in a sunny patch of grass. Doesn't he look almost angelic there?

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.

Review of SoFetch Natural Cleansing Wipes

I am going to start including some reviews of certain items on my blog.  There are a couple reasons for this.  One is that I have received some items at a discount, or even free, in exchange for providing an honest and unbiased review.  I promise not to tell you it's a good product unless I really like it!  The other reason is that there are some products I really, really like for dogs in general and/or for service dogs in particular.  I think these reviews can be helpful for people.

So, my first review here is of these SoFetch Natural Cleansing Wipes.  They are like baby wipes for doggies, but not only for use on their bottoms.

If you read this blog much at all, you know how Isaac loves to play in the woods, swim in creeks, roll in stink stuff, and just generally get dirty. Since Isaac is a service dog, I need him to be clean, to look and smell nice, when he accompanies me into public places. Sometimes I need to run errands after we've gone for a walk or played outside and I don't always have time to go home and bathe him first. I've been trying to clean him up with a spray bottle of water and a towel, but thought these wipes would come in really handy instead.

Please note, if he is too dirty or smells bad, he does not accompany me to public places. I make other arrangements. And I generally plan my day so that I don't take him places where he is likely to get really dirty before we have to go someplace else where he should be clean and presentable.  But, dirt happens.

So today we went to one of our favorite parks and he ran around and swam in a pond and rolled in something that smelled quite bad. Afterward, I used a couple of these wipes to clean him up. They are soft and pretty big and worked really well. Isaac not only looked clean but smelled good, too!

The environment is important to me and I do not generally use disposable paper products. At home, for instance, I don't use any disposable paper products. I use cloth napkins and cloth rags instead of paper towels. I use cloth wipes instead of toilet paper. I use cloth menstrual pads. I wouldn't use disposable wipes for my dog all the time, because it's just not ecologically friendly or sustainable.

However, there are times that these wipes will really make my life easier and I feel OK about using them occasionally. And I like that the box these come in is small and cardboard, so It can be recycled (inside the box, the wipes are in a small plastic bag). And I like the fact that these wipes use natural ingredients, so they are good for my dog as well as for the environment.

Disclaimer: I received these wipes at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review, provided here.

You Don't Like Tomatoes

I was slicing grape tomatoes in the kitchen and Isaac came in acting like he wanted one. I told him he doesn't like tomatoes but he was pretty insistent. So I offered him one.

He took it, carried it into the living room, spit it on the rug and considered it. He licked it. Sniffed it. Picked it up, spit it back out. Picked it up again and carefully bit into it.

I think he got a squirt of tomato juice in his mouth and apparently did not like it because he quickly spit it out and backed away from the now-deflated tomato. Silly dog.