Camp Friends

This summer I was invited to help coach a wheelchair rugby camp specifically for women athletes. I was excited about the opportunity to work with other women who play rugby since I am so used to playing with/against men. The camp was held at the University of Houston so Morey and I packed our bags and my rugby chair and we hit the road!

We were staying in the dorms (oh the joys of shared room/bathroom, twin bed, and cement floors!) and sharing rooms with the other athletes. Our rooms were suite style with 2 rooms that shared a bathroom and hall way. As it turns out, Morey and I ended up rooming with a woman who also had a service dog! Nothing like 2 people, 2 large dogs and 2 wheelchairs in one tiny dorm room! Luckily they kept us busy so we weren't in our rooms that much.

 At home I share a queen bed with Morey and still don't feel like I have enough room. At camp, I was sharing a twin bed with him and neither one of us was comfortable! I would have made him sleep on the floor except it was concrete and there actually was very little floor space. Karen was also sharing a bed with Sasha and it was pretty cute to see the two yellow dogs on "their" beds!

Most of our days were spent at the gym and both Morey and Sasha were pretty experienced in laying around while their crazy humans banged into each other! They seemed to enjoy each other's company as napped next to each other on their comfy beds.

At the end of each day we did let Morey and Sasha off duty so they could romp with each other. Since most of the time they were very professional in ignoring each other it was fun to give them a chance to interact and play with each other!

Sasha is four years old and is a graduate of NEADS (http://www.neads.org/). She and her human live on the UConn campus as residential life staff. Sasha is apparently friends with their mascot (a husky) and she was even invited to his birthday party! This made Morey slightly jealous since he has never met Bevo (UT's mascot). 

Given all their similar experiences (service dog career, jobs at universities, rugby playing humans), and common interests (tennis balls, sleeping in beds, treats) Morey and Sasha seemed to hit it off right away. It is difficult for dogs to maintain long distance relationships but hopefully we will be able to reconnect them at a future rugby event!