Last week I gave a presentation to UT's Police Department and naturally Morey came along as well. As soon as Morey got out of my car, he immediately started getting jumpy which is very unusual for him. I looked around, but couldn't see anything that might be distracting him, so I did a few basic commands to get him focused back on me. Once we got in the building, he alternated between pulling me and sniffing the floor; not being a very good example of a well-trained service dog. The officer who was escorting me said "I bet he smells our dogs" (meaning the two canines who work for the department). That made a lot of sense and with that in mind, I increased my reinforcement to Morey in order to keep him focused on me.
Before we went into the meeting room, the officer said, "Just let me make sure the dogs aren't in here". Given how jumpy Morey was by just their smell, this seemed like a good idea and I was relieved to find out that Morey was the only dog attending the meeting. Morey has met Spike before through the window of the patrol car and they have exchanged some friendly woofs. Apparently, though, the other dog on the force, Modgie, is not quite as sociable and we will try to keep our distance if our paths ever cross!
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