Hazel and the Cat

After two weeks of team training at Bergin University of Canine Studies, we brought Hazel home. She seemed very happy to discover that her new people live in a house, and not in a boring hotel room. Houses are interesting. She sniffed through the rooms. She sniffed the backyard. And she sniffed the cat.

Hazel likes little animals. During team training, we had field trips to Petsmart, and Hazel was enthusiastic about the parakeets, box turtles, and kittens. The trainers joked that Hazel wanted me to buy her a pet of her own.

So Hazel was pleased to discover that there is a CAT in her new family. I've never seen a dog be so kind and gentle while trying to make friends with a cat. They looked at each other. Tricolor wasn't so sure. She has had experiences being barked at and chased by dogs.  But this gentle Golden Retriever is a different kind of dog.

Hazel wants so badly to be friends, and she is courting the cat. Hazel  moves slowly, trying not to frighten Tricolor. Hazel lays down on the floor in front of Tricolor, her eyes pleading, clearly wanting to play, but controlling her exuberant dog energy, letting the cat get to know her. Hazel offers the cat her most precious offering.....Hazel places her treasured blue and orange ball before Tricolor, a gesture of friendship, and an invitation to play.

Tricolor inches closer and closer. Often now, the cat sits fluffed out and regally upright, near to Hazel, watching her, bemused. I don't think it will take long for these two to become friends.

We were gone for two weeks, and the cat was upset.  Our first night home with Hazel, Tricolor was sleeping at the foot of Ray's bed. In the middle of the night he awoke to the sound of the cat retching up a hairball. With his feet under the covers, Ray pushed her towards the floor, and moved quickly to get her outside.

What he saw was the cat clinging to the side of the bed, her claws caught in the fuzzy white blanket, with the dog sniffing her butt.
"Help me," she said with her eyes.
So Ray unsnagged the cat, carried her outside, supervised the cat and dog in the backyard, and then came in to clean up the hairball mess. At 3am he went back to bed. The cat, the dog, and their humans curled up and slept til morning.

Obsession is not a bad thing

  Hazel is mad for tennis balls. She keeps losing her tennis balls in the house, and has been squeezing herself under and between furniture to find them. We've established a bowl on top of a high shelf for her balls, and I think we'll be limiting tennis ball play to the backyard.  She needs some exercise in the morning before her breakfast, so the current plan is to sit outside with my mug of coffee and play ball with her first thing in the morning. Hazel is filling my life with joy.

 

Hazel was Golden

On Saturday we took our working final at the Santa Rosa Mall.  We were given a page of directions....Go through two difficult outside doors, go through Sears, to Starbucks, sit at a table for a bit, with the dog unobtrusively lying down. We were ahead of the timetable, so we stood in line (Hazel with good manners), and got a latte, then sat at a table for five minutes. Then on to first one store and then another, Hazel at a "heel", then by elevator to the second floor, to another store, "down stay" and do some shopping, then "carefuls" in narrow aisles, and "leave its", for food on the ground, shaking hands with children who wanted to pet, and doing a transaction by giving my flannel coin purse to the cashier, and getting it back again. It wasn't on the schedule, but we went to a jelly bean and candy store. When Hazel walked in the door, her head went up, startled by the scents of candy. But she had good manners, no sniffing into candy bins. Such a good dog! From start to finish at the mall, Hazel was golden!

After the Mall, we met Ray outside the mall and he drove us back to Bergin. In the classroom, the Associate students, Bonnie Bergin, and the people who were following us were seated in a big circle. We joined them. The shadowers reported what they saw as they watched their service dog team. They were all very positive (pawsitive). After their shadowers reported, each team told about their adventure in mall-land.
The students told us that everyone had done well on their tests and that Hannah and Willis, and Hazel and I had passed.  We are now a Bergin-trained-and-approved service dog team!

The End of Team Training

Tomorrow afternoon, Hazel and I will be graduating as a service dog team from Bergin University of Canine Studies. Wow.  I am exhausted and excited.  Hazel is excited because she is playing with her toys, her favorite orange and blue ball, and a crackling chicken house that has squeaker chicken and squeaker fox that fit inside.  I think she is tired too. She must be. She worked hard the past two days, with ADI testing and our working tests at the school.  Now she is rearranging her bed. I'm so glad we got her that soft furry bed... she likes it.....(the fleece cover looks rather like the fur of a faded, curly brown dog).
I will write more about team training later. It was an incredible experience.  I've learned so much. And I have a dog. I really have a service dog, my forever friend.  One morning this week I woke up crying, because I love her so much, and I am so happy. I took a lot of Kleenex, thinking I would be crying with love and joy all day, but then we went to team training, and we had practice and lecture and practice some more.  Learning how to handle a service dog has been a ton of work. There are all these things (much more than I thought there would be) to think of and do at the same time. Don't repeat commands. Don't say yes (yes is only for training). And all the things to do if Hazel doesn't do the command right away. Give her time to think. I have an analytical dog.  There has been so much practice and learning crammed into two weeks.
Tomorrow morning we have our final at the Santa Rosa Mall.  And then in the afternoon.... graduation.  Amazing.
Then the next day,  on Sunday, we will be traveling home.
Hazel and I are starting out on our adventure together.  I love her so much.
Having a service dog is an incredible thing.