aug 6 2014
why on one day we had 59 pieces of mail for sdp and yesterday we had 6
of the 59, 38 were letters... of the 6 only 1 was a letter.
doesn't figure...
pups growing like weeds... and merlow is pretty picky about who baby sits with her... she is trying to talk to us about it... even when pam moved last night she very carefully nibbled on her arm... like "don't move" .
i am going to go in with her as soon as i post this and see if she can explain it to me what exactly is the problem-- it is getting difficult to find people of whom she approves.
one of them is of course earlene --- who had said her family commitments mean she will have to give up her steady sunday/monday sdp visit by september 1st..... there is no way she an carry that little grandchild around here while she baby sits. she said she would try and get here for the sunday stew of dogfest..
we have ge people coming this weekend- and i bought fencing so we can split the "A" field into 4 parts....one off each of the dog houses deagle and nutt... the middle one a run off th e house front door... and...4th... the muddy one at the bottom of the hill where the stream and frogs make white dogs into black ones.
so many recipients reports i get off easy today
lydia report
Lydia great in car-- even when and ambulance passed us blaring sirens and we had to pull over and everyone was honking like crazy to get back into the road. Lydia was cool as a cucumber.
Practiced walk with vest to dog park then took vest off, clipped 16ft leash on and let her be freer. She had to be prodded to go enjoy, but she got the hang of it. And when I put vest back on for the walk back, she was right back in service mode again.
She met Chloe, my little one at dog park. They were fine. Minor tiff tonight, but they seem to be finding their space.
Lydia LOVES her yard, plushy beds, and her new toys.
I will check in with you by Wed night at latest!
Thank you again, Lydia is a very very special girl.
Must get to sleep, we have a super busy day tomorrow!
with gratitude,
joanna
wicked report
So, day 2 of classes went off without a hitch! Wicked did a great job with three classes today, picking up my daughter from camp, a doctors appointment AND the grocery store. she was a tired girl when we got home.
She's settling in at the house, though she stays close to me and I walk around with a lovely black, grey and white shadow. She's decided that she likes one of the cats, but is very suspicious of the other!
Here she is looking lovely on the campus green:
and boris
Hello Carlene,
I have some interesting stories for you. I attached a couple of pictures to this email for you, too!!!
My sister's graduation was last month, and boy, was it an interesting day. The graduating class was 21 students, so you can imagine it was not a 'huge' crowd, and we were luckily able to get an end seat. When I sat down, I was surprised to see that they had tied all the chairs together so that you couldn't move any of them, but thought nothing of it. I brought Boris's little mat and he was such a good boy and laid beside me. Then the ceremony began and well, let me just say, I did not expect the bagpipers to come marching in. Boris is still working on loud noises like that and it was so incredibly loud. My own ears were ringing and the entire floor was vibrating. To make matters worse, the musicians lined up against the wall only TEN feet away from us, right next to my dog. Boris was trembling violently and leaning up against me (since we had to stand for the entrance of the graduates). As I said before, the chairs were tied together, so the entire row of chairs was vibrating in sequence with Boris, like an earthquake. These men in their kilts played for a good 5 minutes and poor Boris was just a mess. He trembled for most of the graduation on his mat, but I reassured him over and over that he was okay and reminded him that he was a good boy. Admittedly, it was very funny. I still laugh when I think about it! People commented later about how they could feel his tremors at the other end of the row. I'm not sure he'll ever be a fan of bag piping, though!
When the ceremony was over, we took pictures and eventually got in our car to go home to the graduation party. Well, we didn't get home very quickly. First we had to repair a flat tire...and you have to imagine a Honda CRV with a dog in the hatchback, my mom and me in the backseat, and my elderly great Aunt and father in the front. The car was pretty packed. So, we're on the side of the highway, and of course...Boris is standing on top of where the spare tire is. We didn't want to take him out of the car with the busy highway beside us, so we did what any truly crazy family would do: we made it work. My mom folded down the backseat, so that I could get Boris to get into the backseat with me and thus, access the tire. Well, low and behold, Boris ends up in my lap instead, and decides to sit right on top me like an oversized baby. My mom and dad were outside changing the tire, so it was just me, my great aunt, and a giant 140lb Great Dane on my lap inside that car. As painful as it was, he was being so well behaved and wagging his tail. It only took my father fifteen minutes or less to finish up before we drove off down the high way. It's those fun times that remind me why big dogs are amazing.
Then only a couple weeks ago, I went on a college road trip, visiting three colleges in Pennsylvania and New Jersey with my lovable service dog and my mother. It was the first time Boris had ever been away from the house for more than a day, so you could guess my nervousness. Overall the trip went really well. Boris slept on his blankies in the hotels, sat quietly in the backseat when we drove anywhere, and behaved really well in new situations. The first night in the hotel was scary for him because he didn't understand why we weren't going home, but on the second night, he fell asleep from exhaustion. In addition to interesting new living arrangements, Boris got to see the Amish countryside in Lancaster, PA, go clothes shopping with me, and of course, pull me around on all of the college campuses. I must say, college touring is great for training a dog to pull a wheelchair. He caught on quickly that I wanted him to pull, and he's doing so great with it, especially through doorways, which are not wide enough for both of us to pass through.
I was, however, horrified at how 'not' accessible these campuses were. They all had ramps, but few or no automatic door openers. It would be impossible for me to live on a campus if I had to try to open those heavy doors everywhere I went. One college dean loved me so much that he promised to talk to the new admissions director about installing door openers on all doors. He has kept to his promise and is working diligently on getting everything together. Even if I don't end up going there, I have helped someone else who needs an accessible campus. I was pretty sure it was illegal not to already have had these installations, but they sure get away with it. In the end, Boris was definitely a memorable piece for the admission deans (it's hard to forget the bubbly, sarcastic girl with the giant Dane)! It was so much fun, though. Next year, we'll be attending one of them (unbeknownst to Boris). I hope he's ready because I'm not! haha! Thank you as always for what you do!!!
~Boris and Lauren
