Easter Fun

Since my mom and sister were here the week before Easter we went ahead and had our celebration so they could be here for Morey's Easter Egg Hunt.

Morey was less than thrilled when the rabbit ears came out and went on but he quickly realized the benefit of wearing them was a lot of tasty treats!

Last year I was home in Indiana for Easter and we had done an Easter Egg hunt with our dogs. This year we had the egg hunt in Texas and my mom brought eggs that she added some tasty treats to hid in our yard. It took a few tries for Morey to realize this was a game of "find it" but once he caught on he eagerly searched out the eggs and figured out how to open them and lick out the treats!

 Morey watching eagerly as my mom carefully added treats to each Easter Egg. I took Morey inside while she hid the eggs so he wouldn't cheat and see where they were hidden.
 At first Morey would bring the eggs to me like he thought he was supposed to be retrieving them. He soon figured out that he could open them himself and no longer needed human help to get the treats!

 After he had found and opened all the eggs he very politely helped to collect all the "egg shells" and return them to the basket in exchange for more treats.

Morey enjoyed his Easter fun with grandma!

On actual Easter Sunday Morey donned his collar and tie for church but then added the rabbit ears during the kids' Easter Egg hunt. As you might imagine he was quite a hit and ended up being in quite a lot of pictures.


Even though I can't always be with my family on holidays I am glad I always get to celebrate with Morey!

Spring Break

During our visit with my mom and sister over spring break Morey got to do a lot of his favorite things, like play ball, get cuddled and go to the agility field.

Below are some great action shots of Morey and I in action at the agility field

Taking a jump sequence

Having Morey jump out ahead of me

Look at that tight turn!

Teeter Totter

Scaling the Teeter Totter

Dog Walk

Waiting to jump through the tire- Ready-

Set--

Go!

Look at those curves though the weave poles!

           A tired and happy Morey!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

My mom and sister came to visit for Spring break and were here over St. Patrick's Day. Of course that meant we had to dress in green! Morey got all decked out in his sparkly green bow tie which made my sister and I feel a little under dressed just wearing green t-shirts!I think Morey would have preferred to limit his "green" to holding a green tennis ball in his mouth all day!

Spring has Sprung!

Spring has arrived in Texas and that means bluebonnets! It's beautiful in Texas this time of year since everywhere you go are fields and bunches of bluebonnets and other wildflowers adding color and life to the landscape all around you!

Taking pictures in the bluebonnets is definitely a Texas "thing" so here is Morey's 2nd annual bluebonnet picture. There are lots of them growing at our agility field so it was easy to capture a happy picture of Morey in the bluebonnets.

Spring also means time to plant our garden! Morey is actually really helpful with yard work, often carrying tools and materials back and forth between me and my roommate. He has also gotten good at dragging big bags of brush through the yard and to the compost bin. Not a typical service dog task but one that is very helpful! I haven't taught him to dig holes to plant each new little plant but maybe we will work on that for next year!

Reading Body Language

Knowing how to read your dog's body language is an essential skill for a service dog partner. You need to know if your dog is scared, stressed, or excited so you can respond appropriately. Sometimes you have to look for subtle signals and sometimes the signals are pretty obvious- you just have to know what they mean.

Morey and I often walk half a mile to a nearby elementary school where Morey likes to play ball. We use the sidewalk to get there and along our route are several privacy fences that have dogs behind them. We can't see the dogs behind the fences but if they are out in their yards they run over barking as we go by. It can be tough to keep Morey's attention when he is being barked at right next to us by strange dogs.

We go this route often enough that Morey has learned which fences have dogs behind them. As we approach now the hair all along his back will start standing up as we go by. Some days the dogs aren't out but Morey's hair still stands up in anticipation of encountering these dogs behind fences.

Most people think a dog is being aggressive when their hair stands up on their back or neck but it is really more of a sign of arousal. A dog's hair going up could be a sign of aggression but it also could be from excitement or just going on high alert. It's funny to see Morey- usually very calm and laid back- go into such high alert mode. It's also funny to see him rocking a hairstyle similar to a Rhodesian Ridgeback!

This situation is also a good example of classical conditioning- the specific location of that fence has been paired with a barking dog often enough that when Morey sees the fence he responds as if the dog is there- even when it's not!

On the Job Injury

Morey always presses the automatic door buttons to open the door to our office building. In the mornings he does this with incredible enthusiasm and energy and often gets a running start to build speed and energy to be able to put into his "touch" of the button.

One morning he did this as usual but as I looked down at him afterward I noticed he had a shallow cut on his nose. I had just seen him a few seconds before and it wasn't there so I assume he might have sliced his nose on the edge of the automatic door button as he pushed it. It didn't seem to bother him at all but once I got to my office I opened my first aid kit and put some antibiotic ointment on his nose. (It didn't seem like a good idea to put a bandaid on his fur so I stopped with the ointment.)

UT has an Occupational Health office next door to my building and I thought about taking him there for medical attention since it was an "on the job injury". But Morey seemed to be no worse for the wear so he continued on to his day's tasks, which mostly included sleeping under my desk.

Morey's nose has healed but the cut did leave a scar. Every time I see it I am reminded of his dedication to his job and his willingness to continue to work with me despite the occupational hazards he faces every day. Thanks Morey!