At approximately 11am Thursday morning, an alien from another world landed in Pawley's Island, South Carolina and chose to corrupt the mind of a small 9 week old labrador puppy. The puppy, though normally fairly well behaved, spiraled out of control, racing around the residence and seeking to maul every electrical cord in sight. The puppy's grandmother had no choice but to pursue the puppy to each location, yelling commands that fell on deaf floppy ears. The alien, however, was smart enough to evade capture and eventually slipped away unnoticed after the puppy was offered lunch at 12pm. The puppy, exhausted from his encounter with the unfriendly alien, was then placed in his crate where he slept for the next two hours.
However, after Tucker's rampage ended, he was a very good little puppy. We took him to the Coastal Grande mall tonight and he slept under a chair in the food court while we ate. While I was sifting through sale racks, Tucker hung out with Mattie by the cash register, and was very good except for trying to bite his leash out of boredom. Oddly enough, no one even questioned Tucker being in the mall until we were getting ready to leave. A security guard approached us and asked if he was a service dog. She took my word for it, but I showed her my ID card regardless.
From there, we went to Broadway at the Beach to expose Tucker to the craziness. (Surprisingly, no one questioned him there at all.) He did a wonderful job and walked most of the way himself. When we stopped at Johnny Rocket's, he fell asleep under the table again, amazing those around us. From that point on, we carried him most of the way, eventually stopping in a pet store to let him enjoy the AC. After he'd settled down on the floor, that was it. From there to the car, he had to be carried like a baby. He hung his head upside down off my arm and went totally limp. I'm sure the people we passed thought he'd literally passed out. He should sleep well tonight!
My favorite episode from today, however, had to be when I took him out for a break this afternoon and a woman came off the beach (a woman I'd never met) and said, "Oh, you must be Tucker! I've heard so much about you." I'm telling you - he's celebrity material ;)
Soapbox of the day - Children should learn more about service animals in school. Here's my thought - maybe if more kids learned about service animals in school (and how you should ask before you pet them) they would go home and share their new found knowledge with their parents. I was so tired of people just bending down to pet him (without asking) tonight even though he was wearing his bandana, which should make people realize he's not your average puppy. I don't mind explaining it to people at all, but it makes life difficult when they squat to the floor to pet him before you have a chance to say anything. Hopefully, Tucker and I will get to visit several schools once the school year starts and we can set some people straight. :)
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