September is Slipping Away...

Tucker's life has been at least somewhat normal since we returned from Big Sweep.  The weekend after that excursion was Boiling Spring's 100th birthday, so we went to the festival out on Main Street.  Tucker thought it was a piece of cake after the Apple Festival. :)  Unfortunately, Tucker didn't get to stay for the whole event - I had to take him back to the dorm so I could be in the first ever GWU flash mob. ;) 

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.

Helping Katey do her homework.  :)

The certificate from Rotary.

That Puppy Looks Wet

First, my most sincere apologies for those of you who patiently wait for new blog posts *cough*my mother *cough*  ;).  The words "busy", "hectic", and "insane" don't begin to describe my life at the moment, so please forgive me for pushing the blog to the back burner. 

Anyway, Tucker's biggest adventure since the last blog was Big Sweep.  Each year, the Honors Student Association travels to Ashe County (specifically West Jefferson) to clean out several miles of the New River via canoe.  We camp beside the river in New River State Park, too. 

Tucker is a wonderful traveler - he slept through the majority of the roughly 4 hour car ride.  When we got to camp, I needed to help set things up, so I passed him off to Ethan, the son of two professors on the trip.  Ethan and Tucker were best buddies by the end of the weekend. :)

To answer your next question, yes, Tucker slept in the tent with Stephanie and me and yes, he got in my sleeping bag sometimes. :)  Basically, he used me as his personal heater, so he went back and forth from his spot in the middle of the tent to in my sleeping bag (or on top of me).  Considering that he has never slept anywhere but a crate, I thought he did a great job in the tent. 

Saturday morning, we rose early, got ready, and went to the river to begin our morning/afternoon of canoeing.  I believe we had about a 5 mile stretch, so we were on the water from about 10 to 1 or 2... I can't really remember when we pulled out.  Tucker had his very own life vest, which ironically enough, matched the life vests the park service made Steph and I wear.  Now for a disclaimer - Tucker has always liked water, which is why I brought him.  I thought, "a Labrador and a river - what could go wrong?"  One of these days, I will learn the danger of assumptions....

Tucker hates canoeing.  He loved the river, but he HATED the canoe.  As soon as I put him in the boat, he started to whine.  He whined almost constantly for quite some time, and I felt horrible, but it wasn't as if we could just pull out of the river anywhere.  So, he had no choice but to grin and bear it.  About five minutes down the river, Tucker decided to dive head first out of the front of the canoe (he had been trying before this, but I had always managed to keep him in the boat).  When he bobbed back up, he turned, dripping, and looked at me as if to say, "MOM IT'S COLD!"  Yes, it's September, but this is a mountain river we're talking about - and it was only 10am.  Much to his delight, I got out of the canoe and fished him out of the river.  From then on, he didn't really try to get out of the canoe - he decided that the canoe was at least better than the frigid waters. 

Considering his dislike of the canoe, I thought he did an excellent job.  As I said, he was much better about staying in the canoe after his little plunge, and although he whined (and attempted to howl at one point) quite a bit, he was altogether well behaved.  At one point we stopped on an "island" of sorts made of river stones and I let Tucker hop out for a few minutes.  He was instantly happier, sniffing every rock he could find, splashing in the shallows, and attacking some plants.  You should have seen his face when he realized I was going to put him back in the canoe. ;) 

About an hour from the take out, he got sleepy.  Keep in mind, Tucker's sign name (an ASL thing) basically means "lazy Tucker", so it wasn't pretty when he missed his mid-morning nap.  He tried desperately to find a comfortable way to sleep in the canoe.  He tried resting his head in my lap and on the side of the canoe, but he just couldn't do it.  By the time we got to the take out, he was miserably tired.  I got out of the canoe, picked him up, and carried him across the rest of the river to the shore and handed him off to someone.  By the time Steph and I got our canoe cleaned out and got up on the bank, he was in one of the deepest puppy comas I've ever seen.  We had to carry him up to the hose to wash him off. 

Once he was on land again, he had a wonderful time.  Honestly, we only had one major problem at camp - eating rocks.  The first night, we noticed he was licking the gravel around the campfire, but assumed he was just licking them.  The next morning, when he pooped straight gravel twice in a row, I realized I had been mistaken.  Saturday night, in an effort to keep the rock consumption to a minimum, I sat away from the fire on the grass with him.  Well, the boys had cut up firewood there and left piles of wood chips. Guess what Tucker did.  Yep, he ate it.  While I assumed that wood chips were at least better than rocks, I really didn't want him eating either one.  So, although it was against Leader Dog rules, I let him sit in my lap in the pop up chair by the fire that night.  I figured his physical health was more important at that moment than a training mishap.  He was fast asleep almost immediately anyway, so he may not even remember it. 

He's had a pretty crazy day today as well.  The metropolis of Boiling Springs turned 100 today!  There was a street fair, so we walked around playing with kids and other dogs for an hour or two, and that just wore the poor boy out.  I let him stay in the dorm with a friend while I participated in the first ever Boiling Springs Flash Mob (soooo much fun) and came back to find him passed out.  :) 

Thankfully for me, he slept the majority of the afternoon and let me get some work done.  Tonight, they had fireworks at Boiling Springs Baptist, so we walked across the street for those.  As usual Tucker did a great job even though we were 1. walking on a new road, 2. with heavy (heavy for Boiling Springs mind you) traffic, 3. in the dark, 4. with fireworks exploding.  He's such a trooper.  What was really funny was watching him try to figure out why the sound of the fireworks was echoing off of the Library.  :)  He couldn't figure out why the sound and flash were on his left one second, and then the sound was on his right the next. 

Now he's passed out on the floor. :) 

No, this is not an action shot - he really fell asleep that way. :)  Look at all those pretty, not ridiculously sharp adult teeth. ;)

Here are some Big Sweep pics:

Matching.

"Mom, I hate this."

"Okay, so the canoe is better than the river." (After jumping out of the canoe)

Adventure Dog  (BTW - he was never tied to the canoe just in case it flipped - the leash was for land excursions only.)

Chillin' on a giant rock.

"Are we there yet?"

Puppy Coma :)

That Puppy Looks Dead

Favorite quote of the day by an older gentleman in Villa Roma: "That puppy looks dead."  (He had fallen asleep in the waiting area)

Tucker would probably have agreed at some point, seeing as how we spent a few hot hours walking around the Apple Festival this morning. :) 

We have a new puppy at the house (Kalli), so Friday night, after we got back from a quick trip to the Festival, the two puppies played their hearts out.  Well, they did the same this morning, and then we took Tucker back to the Apple Festival for some more "exposure" to crazy things.  Kalli had already worn him out, we walked a lot, and it was hot - so it wasn't too long before Tucker thought it was time to go.  Although he may have played the pity card with everyone we passed, we really did make sure he had plenty of water, breaks, and that the pavement wasn't too hot on his pads. 

On a side note, we had an odd experience Friday night.  We wanted to eat downtown, and we decided on a restaurant called The Blue Note.  Well, before we asked to come in, we talked with the owner/manager? who told us how she used to be a puppy raiser for the dog guide school in Florida. (Clearly, I assumed she would be totally fine with Tucker)  Long story short, she went back inside before we asked the host if we could come in.  Confused, he left and came back several minutes later and said that would be okay.  Funny thing was, once we had been seated, we were completely ignored.  The owner and waitresses just walked past us again and again.  Once it was clear we were being ignored on purpose, we had a choice to make - stay or leave.  Mom wanted to leave to prove a point.  I wanted to stay to prove a point. ;)  I couldn't understand why they had even let us in if Tucker's presence was going to tick them off that badly. (He was asleep almost the entire time, by the way) In the end, we ended up staying, but it seemed to take forever.  The food was pretty good - the service, not so much. 

Anyway, at the festival, Tucker got to see...
TONS and TONS of people of all shapes and sizes.
A giant, inflatable, dancing policeman.
A giant stuffed dog.
A Lions Club vision screening van. ;)
Several kiddie rides (ie, a train in the shape of a caterpillar and giant spinning strawberries).

I thought he did a really great job considering there were times you could hardly move there were so many people, and there was food everywhere. 

Now, after playing with Kalli again, he's tired and passed out beside the couch. :)  It's been quite a busy weekend for the little guy.