dizzy shatting sunday again on camera PASTING NUMBERS AT 2PM AND CHICKENS OUT AT 3:00--- thankfully.. sold out the main board again !!! you know... if we hd a next year's goal... of everyone getting 2 more people addicted to the cameras and the shatupon society, sdp could hire another trainer and maybe put out a couple more dogs a year....
THEN WE WOULD NEED TO MAKE MORE PUPPIES !!!!
***
CALENdar report.... i spent 3 hours yesterday sitting in the post office while they typed in $1483.50 worth of postage--- i was delighted to hear ---they would (probably) all be delivered monday east of the mississippi and tuesday beyond- but when i got home there were 2 cartons left in the overflow room that did not fit in my car ( with also 2 dogs and a "transfer chair" ( a wheelchair sort of thing without the handwheel pushers).. linda was shocked to think i went alone but i assured her chivalary was not totally dead, and by the time i caused enough attention as the old lady with wheelchair , 2 huge dogs,and about 7 heavy cartons, somebody would help me... and it worked.... the supervisor of this big central post office gave me one of the 3 "windows" all to myself, and i just sat in the transfer chair-- i set out a calendar for the other people in line to look at- and i managed to give way 48 pokerchips-- and met 3 people who knew of us--- one knew haley...
by the time i finally got home.. there was another 2 cartonsfull of calendars to go... statistics??? one carton takes 30 minutes to 'process'. ------ it works like "siri " in teh gps deal ---where they put in the zip-- then start in with the street address and before they get too far the computer list 4 or 5 possible which they ehen just tap... and the bar code is porinted... with the $4.53 postage label for one....... the reciept then has a tracking code and all the info on it... but don't anyone dare ask for that--- the reciept is 16 feet long-- with small print- it will have to be an emergency to look thru all that ... which we coudl do.... but.... i still have the 2 voerflow boxes plus another 2 which happened while i was not even here so that is another 2 hours on monday... sitting around giving poker chips to anyone who will talk to me while in line waiting for the other 2 clerks ...
it is not terribley painfull... i had a good time...i love talking to people wh o for one reason or another are forced to do nothing except maybe have fun thinking... like standing in some line or another.....
it is such a beautiful calendar.... another job well done-- mostly william and kitty... if any of you know of a photographic job that needs the artistic touch you can certainly give them william huber's name-- he does travel -- i think world wide... he is good. --- i wish purina would hire him to do a dog calendar for them.... we certainly would contruite any of our danes --- we could do that--- i spent 30 years as animal episodes doing just that with all kinds of animals...
we could even use animals other than danes... if we really had to.... and we should start in january... like we did last year... HA !! -- i wonder how we could do that- like submit a bunch of conceptual proofs for them to pick from ... hmmmmmmm.
*****
Dear Carlene,
I've always been into theater, and one of my favorite things to do since moving to Rhode Island is to go see a show at the Providence Performing Arts Center. It's one of my favorite venues because it's beautiful and not overwhelmingly big, but since being matched with Asher, I've been worried that the large, pushy crowds at the start and end of the show, the loud noise, and the lack of leg room would keep us from being able to enjoy going to see a musical.
I had talked to several other recipients to find out if they had taken their dogs to see a show and how it went (and to ask, was I crazy for expecting Asher to not mind the crowds, the noise, and the scary applause after every song?), and got several great tips. I called the box office ahead to ask about where I should sit since Asher takes up quite a bit of space, and they gave him his own seat (which they removed as they would for a patron in a wheelchair so he could sprawl out) and I would have the seat next to him.
We saw the matinee showing of Finding Neverland this afternoon and we were definitely given white glove service - they let us into the lobby before the rest of the public and set us up away from the crowds until the theater doors opened. An usher led the way to our spot and we had one house manager and one usher making sure we had everything we needed before the show started. The manager explained that the show had two instances with loud noise - a cannon would be fired a few times near the end of the first act and again at the end of the second, people would be "flying" above the audience, and there was a large dog cast in the show. Well, I sure picked a great first show to get Asher acquainted to the theater, didn't I? She told us that there was a service dog there last night that got startled by the cannon and wouldn't settle down after, that it kept panting and pacing around. I couldn't tell her we'd be fine since I've never put Asher in this kind of situation before, but I told her he'd always been so good with noise and other unfamiliar things so I had no reason to think he'd have a problem.
As soon as the show started, Asher got comfy and fell asleep like he would anywhere else. The frequent applause woke him just enough that he'd open his eyes, look at me, stretch, and go back to sleep, but he stopped reacting at all after a few songs. I kept an eye on him close to intermission and finally, we heard the first shot of the cannon and it seemed like the whole theater shook. It fired a few times, but Asher stayed right where he was and looked through the gap in the seats to see what was going on. He didn't seem worried at all, just interested. I got him up for a little stretch during intermission, and then he was content to finish his nap during act two.
The ushers were so amazed at Asher's indifference to everything going on, but I expected nothing less from my superstar! He started to get up when I did during the curtain call, but stayed down when I pointed to his blanket and told him to stay. We took our time heading out, and never had a single issue during the whole experience. I'm so grateful to the knowledgeable trainers at SDP who make sure these dogs are ready for just about anything. We're frequently complimented on Asher's perfect behavior, and today was no exception. I'm so glad that Asher and I can continue to enjoy going to the occasional show together!
