Anyway, the following Monday Tucker and I spoke to the Boiling Springs Rotary Club. Last year, I gave them an overview of Leader Dog and puppy raising, so this year, we called it Part 2 and I essentially just answered a lot of questions. We had a good time and everyone seemed really impressed with Tucker. (I may or may not have had a friend take him on a really long walk right before that meeting while I was in class...) They gave us a certificate for speaking - "to Chelsea Usher and Tucker." Love it.
Wednesday night we went into Gaffney for my friend Suz's birthday. As usual, it took me longer to get inside the restaurant (Outback) than it did everyone else since I had to park Tucker. When I walked into the restaurant, I glanced around but I didn't see my friends. Being the genius that I am, I stood there, puppy in tow and said, "I can't see my friends" to the hostess. Bad word choice. My friends had already warned them we had a Future Leader Dog in tow, and instantly, the hostess forgets the "future" part of that title and attempts to help me to the table. So, after explaining that I appreciated the help but simply didn't know where my friends had been seated, she pointed me in the right direction. Outback was awesome with Tucker. They didn't question him at all, they didn't seat us in a back corner because of him, and they really seemed to understand why he was there. It didn't hurt that Tucker did an AMAZING job. He settled down almost instantly and remained that way through the whole two and a half hours (they were a little slow). Everyone was impressed with the little guy, and I think he was pretty proud of himself, too.
Friday night we went to the South Park Mall to go to a deaf event in the food court. For those of you unfamiliar with deaf events, that essentially means that my GWU sign language friends and I mingled with members of the Charlotte deaf community while we ate dinner. Tucker did really well for the majority of the outing. He wasn't too bad about trying to get to food on the floor and he didn't get overly excited by all the people. At one point, a little girl (just old enough to be walking around) came up to us and wanted to pet him. I realize that Leader Dog says no petting period in public, but how do you explain that to a child so young they aren't even verbal? Plus, I thought it was good practice for Tucker to learn to remain calm even when hyper little kids approach him. He did an excellent job. He just sat there and barely wagged his tail as she pet him and then started poking him in the nose. I got a good laugh out of it, too, watching the look on his face as she held her finger to his nose. He was absolutely thrilled that the baby was touching him, even if she was trying to plug his nose. ;)
About fifteen minutes before we were going to leave, Tucker had enough. He was bored out of his mind, had been really good for almost three hours, and sort of needed to go to the bathroom. So, what did he do? He barked. In case you're wondering, a puppy bark in a food court sounds like that of Great Dane. It echoed so badly that you could feel it vibrate through you. I'm not kidding - my deaf ASL professor "heard" it. At that point I decided we'd just wait outside while my friends finished up.
Yesterday was a busy day for him. We went back to Hendo so he could see the vet and I could pick up some winter clothes. While he wasn't thrilled about the vet part, when we got to the house and he realized he was going to get to play with Kalli, he forgot all about the poking and prodding at the vet. They played and played and played until they both literally couldn't stand up anymore. Afterwards, I took Tuck with me to meet Dad for lunch at Piggy's and then we came back to Boiling Springs. Kalli had worn him out so badly that he slept from the time we got back at 3:30 to 4:40 when he woke up hungry, and then from about 5:15 on through the night (the exceptions being a few forced bathroom breaks). Not surprisingly, I paid for that long nap this morning at church.
I don't know what it is about the 9:00-10:00 hour, but Tucker refuses to cooperate. He wouldn't sit still in Sunday School and I had to take him outside and walk around the building twice before he would even think of settling down. It's really frustrating and I'm not quite sure what to do about it.
Regardless, he's precious and although he adds a little stress to my life, the stress he reduces outweighs the stress he adds.
Next weekend, he'll go with me to Western Carolina for an Honors Conference.
Chelsea, I keep hoping I'll run into you and Tucker here in Hendersonville someday. You talk about the Apple Festival, Walmart, etc. and I'd love to say hello to you both. You are doing a great job with him.
ReplyDeleteHe's getting so big! Also, that's so cool that the rotary put both you and Tucker's name on the certificate! :)
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