The Price of Fame

When you have a service dog, it's hard not to be noticed or recognized. It seems like at least once a week, usually when I am on campus, I will have someone say "Oh, I saw you at the gym/library/parking lot the other day". I would be a very bad criminal-people tend to remember when they see a person with a dog someplace where they aren't expecting it. Sometimes it comes from someone I know, and sometimes it's a relative stranger-a student who has seen me in my office (we have over 1,800 students registered with the Services for Students with Disabilities office at UT so although I try, I still don't recognize all of them) or a staff member who attended a presentation I gave. Each time it happens I am reminded that whenever Morey and I go out we are ambassadors for all people with service dogs. No pressure there!

Sometimes these encounters happen in places where you would never expect. When I arrived at the Indianapolis airport at 11pm for my Thanksgiving visit, I was waiting at the curb for my mom to pick me up. All of a sudden a car pulls up in front of me and the person rolls down the window and says "I was at the ICAN golf outing this summer when you spoke. Enjoy your trip in Indiana!" Wow! I hadn't been in Indiana for more than 20 minutes and Morey and I were already recognized. I guess that is the price you pay for being "famous"!
: )

Bark in a Bag

Traveling with a dog never gets boring. Even though I would now consider both Morey and me to be experienced travelers, there are always new elements and adventures being thrown at us. Luckily we are both good at being flexible and rolling with whatever punches come our way!

We went home to Indiana for Thanksgiving and started out the trip by taking the bus to the airport. Morey tucked nicely under the seat and got several compliments from other passengers. Even though he can be a goof ball at home and sometimes even in the office, he is very good at snapping into official service dog mode.

In our flights over the past few months, I have noticed more people flying with little dogs. People will be walking the dogs, carrying them in their arms, or transporting them in soft-sided crates. through the airport. I'm not sure if these dogs are pets, emotional/psychiatric support animals or service dogs. (Under the Air Carrier Access Act, emotional/psychiatric support animals are allowed to fly with their partner, while under the Americans with Disabilities Act these types of animals are not granted public access).

Whatever the case, as Morey and I were making our way to our gate after going through security, we both were startled by several sharp yaps that quickly turned into incessant barking. I usually try to be aware of my surroundings and I hadn't seen a dog anywhere. Morey hadn't either and I could tell by the way his ears were pulled back and how he was glancing around that he was trying to find out where this piercing noise was coming from. Finally, I saw a woman bending down beside a bag on the floor next to her. Inside was an agitated fluffy white dog. The bag looked like a regular duffel bag but as I looked closer I could see that parts of it were mesh instead of solid cloth.

Neither Morey or I were expecting the barking to be coming from a bag. As we kept moving to our gate we could still hear the dog barking behind us. Now we know to look out for dogs in bags!

Caught in the Act

My flight left at 7am on Friday and rather than dropping Morey off at a horribly early hour and then having him stay alone at Stephani's house by himself, she suggested that I bring him to the office like usual and then she would take him home with her at night.

Morey is used to spending all day in my office and I sometimes leave him there alone so I was fine with that idea. I knew he would have lots of visitors throughout the day and would probably get more attention than if I was there!

Now, just to clarify, by himself, Morey does not have any legal rights as a service dog. I am the one who has the right to be accompanied by a service dog. Without me (or a person with a disability), he is just a regular dog and has no public access rights. But, since he was just going to be hanging out in my office all day, Stephani felt comfortable suggesting that option and I liked it as well.

So, at 5am I left Morey in my office. At 9am I got a text that contained the picture included here. This is where my co-worker found Morey when she arrived at the office. Morey has NEVER EVER gotten up on my couch either at home or in my office. I've never even seen him try. I guess he decided that if he had to wake up at 4am and then be left in an office by himself he was going to try to salvage the day by getting a few extra hours of sleep.

When I picked him up from Stephani on Sunday, she said that he had gotten up on her couch as well. She never saw him do it, but somehow there was yellow dog hair all over her red couch...Morey might be sneaky but he isn't sneaky enough to remove the evidence he leaves behind!

Today at work he tried to jump on the couch while I was working at my desk. I gave him the command "off" and he quickly got off. I'm going to have to watch him carefully to make sure that this habit is not one that continues! Sorry Morey, but your couch surfing days are over!

Make New Friends

I have to say, I have been fortunate to have always worked in jobs where I really like my boss and my co-workers. At UT, I work with an awesome group of people. It's amazing how much of a difference that can make in creating an environment where you look forward to going to work everyday (well, as least most days!).

My boss Stephani, offered to watch Morey for me over the weekend. She has a black lab named Lucy (apparently a popular name for female black labs) and we have talked many times about getting them together for a play date at the dog park. But because of schedules, weather, etc. we hadn't gotten the chance to make that happen yet.

I took Morey over to meet Lucy for a "trial run" . Morey was very excited to see her and did a lot of bouncing and running and bowing and prancing, which made Lucy a little overwhelmed. Stephani said that she would be fine once Morey settled down. Lucy likes to play with other dogs once she realizes they aren't going to hurt her. Morey was not acting like his usual calm self (the one that Stephani usually sees at work) but Stephani realized that once he got over his initial excitement they would get along well together.

She watched Morey over the weekend and when I picked him up he had a big "doggie smile" on his face. Stephani said that after 10 minutes he and Lucy had gotten along great and had alternated being playing together and having their alone time. Morey had also gotten to meet the neighbor dog, a St. Bernard.

It made the weekend much more enjoyable for both Morey and me for him to stay in Austin. Although he could have come with me, it would have meant a lot of travel and laying around the gym or hotel, when instead he could be running and romping with Lucy. I'm very glad Morey found a place to stay!

Friends and Enemies

One of the disadvantages of living so far away from my Hoosier family and friends is that I don't have as many options for the rare occasions when I need a Morey-sitter. When I travel for rugby I usually prefer to leave him behind-it's easier and more enjoyable for both of us. Morey usually stays with Norm when I travel for the National team, but Norm is on the Stampede so Morey has no one to stay with when we go tournaments with the Stampede.

I have 2 friends in Austin who had offered to watch Morey, but they were both going to be out of town the same weekend that I needed someone to watch him. Naturally. There is a family from church who love Morey and so I asked them if they would be willing to watch Morey. One of their dogs, Lucy, had already met Morey and they were fine together, but they had another dog who wasn't really friendly with other dogs. We decided to introduce them to see if they would be able to make a truce with each other.

The meeting did not happen under the ideal circumstances. I went over to their house at night which meant that A) the meeting was not on neutral ground and B) they couldn't meet outside first and do some gradual "getting to know you" sniffs. They had put Lucy and Princess outside so Morey could sniff around the house first, but unfortunately they pushed the door open and barged inside. To his credit, Morey did very well. Two strange dogs rushing toward him barking and growling was rather intimidating, but he just backed up and put his ears back.

They managed to put Princess away so Morey could become reacquainted with Lucy. Unfortunately, Morey's excited growling came back out and it took Lucy a while to figure out that he really did want to play. Once they got over their initial introduction, they played and romped for 2 hours. It was fun to watch! They raced around the backyard, played ball, wrestled, chased, and played tug. Morey was exhausted and finally laid down to play tug-out of energy but not wanting to stop playing.

His meeting with Princess did not go as well. I was grateful to have my dog body language experience because I could tell when things were going well and when they were going not well. Princess growled and snapped and was obviously not happy that Morey was in her house. She is eleven and I respected her decision to not accept Morey into her house and family.

Overall, Morey had a great evening playing with his new friend Lucy. Meeting Princess was not quite as enjoyable, but he behaved very appropriately toward her; sending calming signals of yawning and looking away. I was proud of how well he did interacting with her.

Oh yes, one other embarrassing comment on the evening. When Morey first came in their house he went over and peed on a potted plant. I was shocked. Morey has never had an accident inside (or as my family calls them "on purposes") but then again I'm not sure if he has ever been exposed to an indoor plant. In his experience, plants are to pee on and so he must have been thinking that his family was pretty cool to have an "indoor outhouse".

Refresher Course

Last week the weather got down to the 40s here. Quite a difference from the 90 degree weather from a few weeks ago! With this change, it was time for a change in wardrobe as well. I brought out my sweatshirts and jackets that hadn't been used for quite a while and realized that it was time for Morey to have a refresher course in one of his "seasonal tasks".

I sometimes struggle with taking my coat off. To avoid this problem I usually just avoid wearing a coat all together, but this week I wasn't quite ready to face the "frigid" temperatures (how quickly I have turned into a southerner!). So, it was time for Morey to step up to the plate and help tug my coat off.

The command "tug" can be used for several different things including tugging a door/drawer open or socks or coat off. I have Morey tug my patio door closed sometimes, but other than that, I don't use the tug command much. But, he quickly remembered what to do when presented with my coat sleeve, although I had to make sure he was doing a slow controlled tug (I need him to tug my sleeve off, not pull me out of my chair!). He helps first with one sleeve, then the other, and looks quite proud of himself when he's done. Morey likes to work and I am glad I have such a cheerful helper to help me face the challenges of cold weather.

Multi-Tasking

When I get to work in the morning I usually play ball with Morey before we go into the office. There is a nice grassy area (well, now it's mostly dead grass now because of the drought, but you get the idea) next to the parking lot where he can play. If I arrive early enough in the morning, I will let Morey carry his tennis ball up to the office. It's amazing how happy he is when he gets to hold on to his ball for a few more minutes.

One of the everyday tasks Morey does for me is push the automatic door button to get in our building. He enjoys this job a lot and seems to have his feelings hurt if someone else holds the door open for me.

When Morey had his tennis ball in his mouth, he was faced with the dilemma of multi-tasking. Although it was completely possible for him to jump up and touch the button with his nose while he kept the ball in his mouth, Morey couldn't figure out how to make that all work. So, he would jump up on the wall, pause for a minute, reluctantly drop the ball and touch the button as fast as he could, and then jump off the wall and grab his ball again. It took several weeks of doing this before he finally figured out how to open the door with the ball in his mouth. Success!