Conference Confession

This week at work I attended a conference on campus. There were about 200 people there and we were all in a large ballroom set up with round tables for lunch and the keynote address. I pulled up to a spot at the table right next to the legs and so there wasn't much room for Morey to get underneath the table. We were at the front of the room where there weren't going to be many people walking by so I decided to put him in a heel next to me instead of under the table.

Lunch was a buffet so I left Morey at the table while I got my food. Coming back to the table, I had my plate on my lap and my drink between my legs and was concentrating very hard on not spilling either. Unfortunately, I was focusing so hard on what was on my lap that I wasn't focusing on where Morey was. I ran right over his tail, causing him to jump up with a loud yelp. His yelp echoed throughout the ballroom, causing people to turn and look for what had just happened.

I quickly went into the jolly routine to get Morey over his fear, saying "oh dear, did I run over your tail? Poor Morey" over and over again in a happy silly voice. It took a few minutes before I could get him back to his normal happy self and then I rearranged the table settings so I could settle him under the table (something I should have done since the beginning).

He eagerly went under the table into his safe dark den. The following pictures illustrate the only parts of him that were exposed for the remainder of the session.

 

Morey is a little more jumpy around my wheelchair and I have to say it is with good cause. It will take him a while to build up trust that I won't accidentally run over a tail or paw again. I felt bad about running him over and will definitely make more an effort to be aware of where he is in relation to my wheels. However, it is also good to know that he is a resilient dog and that he was able to quickly bounce back into working mode, despite having his tail tweaked.