I Feel Pretty and Witty and Gay!

Friday - May 20, 2011

For those of you who are not familiar with West Side Story, just take the title of my blog as perfectly true of me. For those familiar with the song, you know exactly how I feel today! It seems that wherever I went, humans were looking at me and telling me and my partner how beautiful I was, how they wanted to hug me, how gorgeous my fluffiness was, and how well behaved and helpful I was to my partner. This made her very happy and made it easier to talk to all these other humans.

We left the den early to go to the Animal Eye Center for my annual ACVO/Merial eye ball exam. A lady puts drops in my eyes, then I have to sit for awhile before seeing a special doctor. This time there were a lot of doggies crowded in the tiny waiting room. It was chaos! Humans weren't controlling their doggies at all. They were wandering around on flexi leashes and getting tangled up with each other, human legs, chair legs... some were whining and barking and snapping. My partner was able to get us in a corner where we did our best to keep away from everyone. One of the doggies seemed to be quite sick: the little poodle kept coughing and sneezing and swiping at her nose, mouth and eyes. I didn't want to be near her, and when we left, we went out a different door to avoid the area where she had been. 

Because of eye ball emergencies, our doctor couldn't see us for almost an hour. My partner was getting really sick. I couldn't get up with her, although I did try to get on the hard little plastic chair next to her. I kept doing a paws up on her lap and she would hug me. Then she asked me to do an About and she buried herself in me and that helped stop her from getting too sick. The new doctor was very nice. Dr Danielle that we'd seen the last 2 years has moved away, and we miss her. After peering in my eyeballs, she declared that I had some opacity in my right eye. My partner said I was supposed to have 2 very tiny scars in that eye. But the doctor didn't respond, and then she left the room, leaving us confused... We left the clinic and my partner was upset and still confused and starting to get sick again. She took my vest off and we sat in the car together for awhile and that was nice, cause she had treats for me!

After leaving the eyeball clinic, my partner drove us all the way to Yuba City. We stopped at the Cigarette Store for those nasty sticks she smokes. There were a lot of humans in there, some of them sitting at a table and just visiting with each other. They were very curious about me and about Service Dogs. So we stayed awhile and talked about the different types of SDs and my partner ended up giving them my Dakota cards and explained that I was a PSD and what that meant, and what I do. They were totally amazed. One of those humans was a Vietnam Vet, and my partner said "Welcome Home Brother" and he almost cried. I tried to go to him, but my partner stopped me for some reason. Another human really, really wanted to pet me, and kept looming over my partner. I didn't sense any evil from him, but my partner was uncomfortable with the invasion of her space and didn't allow me to Go Greet.

Next she drove to a special machine that usually gives her greenish papers she gives to humans in big dens in exchange for things like our food or things we need. But this time she put just one paper into this machine and no papers came out. I stayed in my usual position, sitting cross-wises in front of her and watching her back. I touched her leg to let her know other people were there to use the machine too. I didn't move until she was done and she had zipped up my vest.

We went right into the big den called Bel Air where my partner gets her food, and always looks for tasty stuff for me too! My partner did not have to tell me the Cart command for the whole time we were in there - I was always in perfect position. I did all my Sit/Stay, Down/Stay, Wait, Back and Fronts excellently. My partner was very, very happy and gave me lots of praise, which made me very happy. 

It seemed that every aisle we went down, someone would say something very nice about me. They would say I was beautiful. They would say I was so fluffy and cuddly looking. They would say I had such good manners. They would say I was so well behaved and who and where had I been trained? They would say they wanted to pet me. My partner handed out a lot of my Dakota cards. "I feel pretty and witty and gay! And I pity any girl that I should meet today..." As a reward, my partner found some lamb ribs and got them for me.

We left the house at 9am and didn't get home till 13:45. We were both pretty tired. Usually when I have been a good doggie, my partner takes off my vest & seat belt right inside the door, tells me in special words that I did very well, then gives me a treat like a Milk Bone. And she does this before putting the food stuffs away or changing into comfy clothes. This time she took my gear off, said the special words, then went to put the food stuffs away. I was very confused. Then I smelled those lamb ribs. My partner opened the package, grabbed a big one, spread my special blanket in the living room which I promptly laid on while she repeated those special words and she handed it to me. Oh my, that lamb rib was ever so tasty! I had such joy chewing on that. So I hope you have a wonderful treat in your life today and if you don't, be sure to keep on keeping on.

Kalifornia Kota