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!
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