Asked for SD ID at BestBuy

We were having a fun day. I got to chase the ball first thing in the morning, then we went to the Doctor's office with my big buddy, we went to a restaurant where everyone admired me... well, not in an obvious way. Silently, but a dog can perceive admiration using special canine senses.

We went to Walmart and I almost got run over by a cart pushed by a woman with an infant in a car seat! I'm sure she admired me too, once she quit growling about us being in her way.

We shopped at BestBuy next. My person and our big buddy got human things and "paid" for them, whatever that means.

As we left, the guy in yellow at the door stopped us to ask whether I had SD ID. My person explained the law that ID is not required. The man rolled his eyes and we left.

My person decided that that would not be the end of it. While our buddy went to another store, we went to the car and got a card made by PSDS that has National law and CA law and the 800 number for the Americans with Disabilities hotline.

We returned to BestBuy and my person put on a smile and handed the man the card. She said she knew that there was a lot of mis-information out there and that this might help him and his coworkers.

He looked it over, and thanked her, saying that some people said one thing and others said something entirely different. My person commiserated, and they parted very pleasantly.

We rejoined our big buddy at the next store over, where I was greatly admired (again, silently).

My person thinks I've been to too many pet stores lately, because I seem to think that each check-out staff is going to give me a treat.

Well, duh! That's all part of admiration of Dog.

New Friends

I met a great pup this morning at the Bark Park. We stop by there after dropping off my big buddy at work nearby. Usually, we are the only ones playing!

Today, Penny the Chocolate Lab came, and bow-wow-WOW did we have fun! I haven't played chase since seeing my little husky friend where we used to live.

Penny is much faster than she looks. I had to really put paws to the ground to catch up with her. My person tried to get a photo of us playing, but I happen to know that when she points that thing at me, she really wants me to sit or lie down and pose.

Penny was so much fun, I hope I see her again soon!

We went to the grocery store after playing. The manager there loves me. But, of course, right? BOL!

We walked over to Walmart before getting in the traveling den to go home.

When we drove to pick up my big buddy after work, he brought some of his co-workers out to meet me! Wow, even more new friends! I think I am the official dog of the company because I had my picture taken in the lobby with the company logo. If I'm not, I should be, because I'm just a fabulous dog. : )

Updates

My human has not been able to take dictation for a long time, so my diary has been neglected terribly. She is quite sorry and will do her best to make it up to me. I foresee many extra play sessions.

I like my new den. It has two levels and a convenient carpeted hill where I can run up and down as I please.

Our friend lives here, too! I love having another pack member. He's like a litter-mate, being sort of goofy and always ready to play with me and treat me the way a duchess should be treated by her admirers.

Our days weren't very busy, but now we're always doing something, it seems. I wake my person up before the sun comes up. After an early morning walk, we drive our friend to work because he hurt his knee going up the carpeted hill.

After breakfast, we trot around the den and take things from one place and put them in machines and then take them out and put somewhere else.

Late morning is when we go to the dog park. After I meet and greet my friends, new and old, I chase the ball. I have to rest a while, and then we run our errands, such as visiting the library where there is a peaceful greyhound therapy dog. Someday, I'm' going to be a therapy dog and have kids read to me and people love on me all day long...

We take a well-earned nap before it is time to get our friend from work. He is always so happy to see me!

I get my dinner, a long chew session with my latest chew, and then a final potty break before I run up the carpeted hill to my HUGE bed. I could have lots of friends over and we would all fit on my bed. BOL!

And that is my usual day. I'm so glad my person can take dictation again!

A new den

That's why my person has not been keeping up with my diary properly. We packed up all of our things during the summer and had them brought to the den where our big buddy lives. It's so far away that we can't see our SD friends any more.

I got to hang out with Ollie a lot before we left, because his people helped us shovel our things into boxes. Ollie and I were prepared to help, but there was no time for jumping into boxes or chewing on them. Our people were moving too quickly! We never would have finished getting packed without our pack. My person didn't want to leave our friends, but our big buddy needed us and we need him, too.

The next day, people came and took all of the boxes away and we played fetch in our empty den one last time before hopping into our traveling den for the trip to our new den.

I made a lot of new friends at the hotel where we stayed on the way. Of course, BOL! Everybody loves me.

I don't know how my person found our new den. I couldn't smell our big buddy at all, but when we finally slowed down, I sat up to see him standing in front of our new den. Yay!!!!

My new den has stairs. I love to run up and down and up and down as I follow my person around. I have a new bed, too! It used to be part of a papa-san chair and it is huge! All of my friends could fit on it with me if they could visit. Or if we could take my new bed to visit them, I'm sure we could fit it in our traveling den...

It's almost time for my big buddy to wake up and come downstairs to pet me before heading away in his traveling den to earn our living. I have to choose a toy and get into position so that I can help him put on his shoes.

The dreaded cone

I don't know how it happened, but I was rushed into surgery yesterday to remove an infected cyst.

It was perfectly okay until the vet stuck a needle in it last week and sucked out a bit to test for malignancy. Benign. Tiny thing, didn't bother me a bit. Suddenly, it was growing, though.

So now I wear The Cone and can't play indoors or out and have to lie in my crate and can't chew on my bully sticks without help because I can't use my paws!

Our friend Linda come over yesterday specifically to entertain me. We had planned on going out to lunch with her, but since I'm stuck here, she brought the fun to us.

I love her so much! She knows just how to scratch underneath a cone and get to the best places.

Just another 5 or 6 days of this. Let's see if I can drive my human nuts. BOL!

A new friend

I have a new friend to play with in the morning at the dog park. Ace, the little husky who won't take no for an answer.

My person is very picky about whom I get to interact with and after watching Ace from the other side of the dog park, she thought he would be safe to play with.

She was right! At first, I was sort of annoyed by his shenanigans. I just wanted to chase my ball. But then he won me with his sunny personality and invitations to chase him.

He can't run super fast -- he has a couple of pins in a hip from being hit by a car before he was adopted by his person -- so he jumps up on the picnic table whenever he wants some space.

I may not jump up on the picnic table, even when off-duty, so I wait for him to stop teasing me and jump back down so that we can wrestle some more.

My person is not doing the best, but we're getting through our days. She's still doing that boring thing where she uses a handful of sticks to tangle yarn together into socks (not for ME thank goodness). We're taking lots of walks, too. She doesn't bring her sticks and yarn on walks, so she pays a lot of attention to me.

It's been a difficult time, but we're here still

My person hasn't felt up to updating my diary and I didn't whine.

We have been busy. We've been on BART and CalTrain to go run errands and visit others, but we've been staying home a lot, too. My person has taken up something that involves two sticks and a bunch of string she manipulates into rows of snarls.

She calls it knitting and I call it boring! The good thing about it is that I usually get a nice bully stick to chew on while she does this.

An update on my person's father. After some scary moments, he made an excellent recovery. Hooray!

My friend Ollie and his people came over to our den the other day, but we didn't get to lie next to each other. The people knitted or worked on the computer for hours. A solo down-stay is hard when my friend is just a few feet away, but I got better at it.

Regardless of the weather, my person takes me to the dog park next door every day first thing in the morning for a long game of fetch. We have glow-in-the-dark balls now, so it is a whole new game.

Tomorrow we take CalTrain to our tdoc appointment and I'm probably going to get a bath before. I've been running through mud this morning. Ugh. I'm going to insist that my person take a bath, too, just to be fair. Then we can both smell like nothing interesting has been going on.

I had to work extra hard last night

My person had a very difficult night. Her father was helicoptered to a hospital last night in Michigan because he is having heart attacks.

She wants to rush to be by his side, but cannot because she is too ill herself. It is too bad, because I am sure I would have a beneficial effect on everyone. I'm sort of magical, you know.

She had many nightmares and I interrupted every single one and warmed away her fears with my sweet silliness.

Now I'm getting a nap before it's time to go play fetch at the dog park next door. We have our first session Rally class this evening, so we both need to be rested.

My first Yoga class

One of our SD friends invited us to go to a yoga class. Neither of our people had been to it, and needed to go together for courage, and of course, us pups went along.

While we were waiting for our friend to arrive, I saw our friend's husband hanging around the entrance and wanted to go say hello, but my person didn't recognize him and didn't let me. When she finally noticed that I recognized him, she recognized him, too! She needs to trust me more about people, I think.

And then our friend came! I was so happy to see my SD pal that I kept trying to lick her snout and sniff her butt, but we were on duty and it was time to go inside.

Off came everyone's shoes. Now, this was a tempting moment for me. Shoes and I have a special relationship. However, I sat as directed and did not retrieve a single shoe.

There were lots and lots of people and chairs being moved and my person was a bit disoriented at first. We snagged a spot near the exit just in case I was a monster (her words, not mine!).

I had my very own little sticky mat that I tried to play with before settling down.

We had to leave the class for a moment in the beginning during silent meditation, because I was restless and every little noise was too much. When we came back, class got started and I settled down between the wall and my person.

How curiously people behave. Standing and stretching up and then over and then up on toes and switching sides and leaning here and there--all in unison. Very fascinating.

I observed my person and everyone else until the end when my person lay flat on her back on the floor. Time to jump into action! I licked her face and nudged her shoulder, but she didn't get up, so I did it some more. Eventually, I heard her saying, "ack! stop trying to rescue me! I'm okay!" People laughed.

Well, fine then. I turned around and began to rescue our SD friend who was next to me. She giggled. Finally, I got the clue and just lay next to my person and watched everyone lay on their backs, motionless. I didn't know humans would do such a thing unless they were in their beds sleeping or needed help.

One woman was making a noise that made me focus on her and want to go rescue her, but my person wouldn't let me.

Suddenly, everyone was getting up and stretching and laughing and coming to pet me and say what a good job I did. My person allowed the petting to help create a positive association with the class.

We were invited back, so I guess I did pretty good for my first time. My person needs activity like this, so I'll make sure she goes back again.

The pdoc and then Playland Not at the Beach on Saturday

Saturday was a busy day. After playing fetch and having breakfast, we jumped into the traveling den to drive West to go see my person's pdoc. My person did a lot of checking of tires and frowning because of a light that was flashing on the dash. After airing up all four tires, the light was still flashing merrily, so she took a chance and we got on the road.

In about a mile, the pretty gold light went out and the ride was much more cheerful from that point.

The pdoc isn't happy with my person's progress. They had a serious talk about avoiding stress and they upped her meds once again. That's okay. I can help her when she's a zombie queen.

He completed more disability paperwork for her because she still can't work and we'll see him again in three weeks.

After a short break for a sniff fest, we jumped back into the traveling den and headed East toward Playland Not at the Beach, a museum of antique arcade cames with a maniacal Laughing Sal.

Our first stop was Ollie's house, where my person was grateful to have a chance to do a load of laundry. I liked the way her clothes were smelling, but she didn't. Perhaps she needs a longer nose to properly enjoy the world as I do.

Ollie and I took a quick walk around the block where I did not bark at two cats (yay me!) and then back into our respective traveling dens to go to Playland!

We met Uncle Brad's friend Brooke in the parking lot. She seemed like a fantastic person for a dog to play with, but I was in my harness and could not visit with her. I did sneak in a sniff when we walked past, though. The weirdest thing was that she did not have a SD... but she had dogs at home, I could tell.

Wow! It was bright and busy and noisy in Playland. Laughing Sal didn't get a second look -- boring! Our people played games and we pups watched. I wanted the skee balls to be mine, so my person did some distraction training with me. They played a bunch of games that we pups couldn't watch, so we napped or just stayed there and enjoyed the chaos.

After lunch at our people's favorite Thai restaurant, we returned to the hugest crowd of children running and having a blast! Ho-hum, I said. My person was a bit overwhelmed by the crowd, so the people played a ball game in a quieter section. Children kept running by and no one stepped on me.

When our people were tallying up their winnings to choose prizes, they didn't notice me becoming more and more focused on the skee ball game. I sat and watched people throw balls until I just couldn't stop a "hey, I wanna play too" bark, which startled everyone for a second.

My person took me into a quieter corner to make sure my tail had not been stepped on or something else. Nope, just me having passed my threshold of calm in the face of skee ball. After a few more minutes of walking around to try to fool me into thinking that we weren't leaving because of my bark, we all got into our cars and drove to a secret place where a bag of yarn was procured for the people.

Then back to Ollie's to pick up our laundry and sift through the magic bag.

Home was a short trip because I slept all the way. This gave me lots of energy to be mischievous all evening. I think I fetched every single thing I could reach to give to my person on the couch. She said thank for each thing I brought to her. I'm a big help!