Independence Day!

My mom and sister drove to Illinois to join us for the weekend. We stayed in a hotel close to the Mississippi River and enjoyed taking walks near the river. Morey wished he could have gone swimming but had to be satisfied with gazing longingly at the water.

There was also a park close to the hotel with lots of green space and a splash pad. We spent a good amount of time in the park, playing ball and just hanging out. Morey couldn't figure out what to do with the splash pad. Although he wanted to play in the water he was also a little scared because it sprayed straight up from the ground at different times.

                                                                

My mom brought Morey a special bow tie to wear on July 4th. He looked quite dashing and got compliments from the housekeeeping staff at the hotel who thought he was pretty cute.

                                                             

Although the town had a fireworks show we decided not to go. Morey isn't terrified of fireworks but he isn't a huge fan of them either. As it turned out we could see some of the fireworks from our hotel so we still felt festive!

Play Ball!

My first trip in July was a road trip to Illinois. My friend wanted to go on a road trip to Illinois to visit his family but didn't want to make that trip alone. His family only lived 5 hours from my family so it worked out well: he could see his family and I could see mine.

The first day we drove to Kansas City which was about a 12 hour drive. It was a nice way to break up the trip and my friend wanted to see a Royals game while we were there. We stayed in a hotel that was right across from the Royals stadium so we could easily push to the game. With his blue vest on Morey looked like a proud Royals fan!

I could tell Morey was a little stressed in the loud and crowded environment. In anticipation of this I had packed some treats and occasionally gave them to Morey throughout the evening. It's amazing what random reinforcement will do to increase attentiveness!

I found this sign and thought it would be very appropriate to take Morey's picture there. Morey certainly is a dog just the way I like him! :)

While getting to the stadium was easy because it was downhill, getting back to the hotel was not as simple. Not only was it uphill it was also dark and crowded with cars who were also leaving. Rather than face all these obstacles we decided to take a cab back to the hotel.

The driver was happy to give us a ride (although technically they can't refuse you because of a service dog that doesn't mean it never happens). He did ask that Morey stay on the floor of his vehicle instead of the seat. Morey is accustomed to riding on car seats so I was a little worried when I asked him to jump. I tried to give him a straight path to jump onto the floor and I was very relieved when he settled right down. I very much appreciate Morey's ability to adapt to new environments!

Orientation

Part of my job during the summer involves tabling at New Student Orientation sessions. Our office participates in a variety of different events designed to introduce students and their families to the various services and resources that are available on campus.

Unfortunately, most of these events take place outside in the heat of the afternoon. Not a good mix with Texas heat. All our staff sign up to cover different shifts and it's not exactly an opportunity you look forward to doing. It usually involves a lot of sweating and trying to engage people in conversation. If you want to get an idea of how must stigma is still attached to disability, set up a table with a prominent sign that says "Services for Students with Disabilities" and see how many people come over to strike up a conversation. The answer will be not many and most of the people who do come over are only interested in our free pens. While attitudes are slowly changing, there is still a long way to go before students are comfortable publicly identifying as having a disability and view it as simply another aspect of diversity.

One advantage I have during my shifts is that I have Morey with me. While people might not come over to talk to me about what our office does they will come over to talk to or about Morey. Unfortunately, I don't think Morey really enjoys these events either because he spent most of his time hiding under the table cloth trying to stay cool. I kind of wished I could join him!

                                                    That's what you call a hot dog!

                                                  Can you find Morey in this picture?

Summer Fun!

July was a busy month! I went on three different trips and was only home in Austin for 14 days during the month. Morey joined me on two of the trips and seemed to enjoy his summer vacations! Although May and June were exceptionally rainy, July was exceptionally dry. I left for Indiana right before the 100 degree weather hit which is just fine with me!

Even though it wasn't 100 it was still plenty hot. I got out Morey's pool and let him "swim" (splash around). He was a little confused because he always hears that everything is bigger in Texas but that is definitely not true of his swimming pool! Maybe next year we can upgrade to a bigger version!

              Being in water is about the only way to enjoy being outside when it is hot!

Skype

I frequently Skype with my family on the weekends. While my family always wants to see Morey he usually doesn't show too much interest in the computer screen. Last week though my family was watching Declan, one of my first service dogs in training, who is now 11 years old. When Morey heard me using my "special" voice with Declan he came right over to see what was going on. Although he doesn't appear to be able to see people on the screen I could tell he recognized Declan as a dog and was very interested in watching him.

I could also tell that Declan recognized my voice and was trying to find me in the computer. It was cute to see him remember me and want to find me but sad because I knew he doesn't understand the concept of video chatting. Declan is a fun dog and although a "virtual visit" isn't nearly as good as seeing him live it was definitely better than nothing! Hopefully Morey and I will have a chance to visit with him next time we are back in Indiana!

Declan

I can hear you but where are you?

Vet Visit

Ever since Morey's "sick day" back in May, he has had other days where he just hasn't seemed right. He will walk with his head really low and pant even when it isn't hot out. He seemed to experience these symptoms more after exercising so I decided to take him to the vet to get checked out.

 The vet office had a sign welcoming all the animals who had appointments that day. Morey always likes the vet until we get into the exam room and then he becomes clingy. He is still cooperative and the vet tech said he is the best dog she had worked with that day.

The vet checked Morey over and asked me lots of questions. She said that she couldn't find anything problematic and thought he might have had a soft tissue injury in his neck that he was aggravating when he exercised. She recommended putting him on exercise restriction for a week or so and see if that helped. She also prescribed him some pain meds if he needed them. She said if he continues to show symptoms they will do x-rays but she wanted to start out conservatively which I appreciated.

Since it has been raining so much it wasn't hard at first to restrict Morey's exercise. After a few days though I could tell he was starting to get antsy. One night he brought me his squeaky toy and started tossing it at me- wanting me to throw it for him. I handed it back to him and he tossed it around, squeaking it ferociously. That seemed to take the edge of his restlessness but I could tell he wanted to do more than just squeak the toy.

We had to miss agility class but luckily I had taped the Purina Incredible Dog Challege, which is Nationals for sports including agility, dock diving, flying disc and Jack Russell Hurdle Racing. Instead of doing agility, Morey enjoyed watching the dogs competing. Hopefully he learned something by watching the champions run through the course!

So far, Morey has felt fine so we have added a few ball tosses back into our routine. It has gotten hot in the past week so he can only chase it a few times anyway before he gets too hot. Even with this activity he is feeling fine so we will slowly increase his activity over the next few weeks and see how he does. Hopefully he is all recovered and ready to go back to his normal activity!

June Adventures

June was a pretty laid back and low key month. I am getting used to life without school although I am finding ways to keep busy! It rained a lot in June so although it kept the temperatures cooler than normal it was too wet to do many outside activities.

I have been doing some consulting work for OneStar Foundation, which is where I did my internship last year. They asked me to manage their Inclusion and Experience survey for all their AmeriCorps and VISTA members in Texas as well as present at the Southwest National Service Conference in Ft. Worth. I really enjoyed both of these tasks and of course Morey came along for the ride!


The conference and hotel was right across from the Ft. Worth Water Gardens. They were fun to explore, even if they weren't very accessible. Morey heard the sound of water as we approached and got excited even before he saw the water. I made sure I held tightly to his harness because he acted like he wanted to get first hand experience with the water garden! There were people climbing on the different levels and it looked like fun. It would have been fun to see what Morey would have done in the water but there was a sign prohibiting dogs. Sorry Morey!

Picture borrowed from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/542261611355863743/

I also took a trip to Oklahoma City for the Endeavor Games. This was the third year I have competed and I always look forward to participating in handcycling, track and paratriathlon. Because all these sports are outdoors and take place over distance it makes it hard to bring Morey along so I decided to leave him home with my roommate. It has been a while since I have left Morey at home and according to my roommate he didn't like it very much. Apparently he wouldn't play ball and was being very mopey and lethargic. I felt bad that Morey missed me so much while I was gone. I guess I need to be better about leaving him at home more often so he gets more used to it. Obviously I want him with me but he needs to be ok with being alone as well. 

                                      We were both happy when we were back together again!