*This post is part of a series originally posted on my former blog, Stinker Babies. I’m reposting here for families who are interested in learning more about the process of being matched with a service dog for their children. This series was written during March of 2013.*

As I write this, I have a beautiful black lab sleeping peacefully at my feet. Despite the way it started, today has been a long but very awesome day.

We didn’t have to be at 4 Paws until 10 a.m. today so I figured, hey, why don’t we sleep in half an hour later and just try to leave by 9:30 a.m. We got down to breakfast right at 9:00 and I was so proud of myself for getting there exactly when we planned. Until we remembered that breakfast service ended at 9:00. Oops.

Today at training, we worked on longer “downs” and “sits” and then added distractions. When a service dog is given a command like “down,” there is an implied “stay” so the dog is expected to lie down until she is released (“free” in our case). Even if someone drops a french fry in her space. I was so incredibly proud of April!  She was a total rock star, even when they were throwing Pupperoni treats right in front of her or bouncing a ball right next to her. We also learned “heel” and auto sit. That means that she walks on the handler’s left and keeps her shoulder right in line with the left leg. When I stop, she automatically sits and waits for the next command.

I was already totally impressed. But then?  After training was over, we took her out to the yard to run around and play before heading to the hotel. She had a playmate in the yard and immediately just took off. This was the first time I’d seen her in her natural “dog playtime” mode. She was like a little fireball of energy. And when we said it was time to go, she walked out of that yard like a champ. All business.

Blew. My. Mind.

We brought her home to the hotel with us and she has been a perfect angel. I know we’re going to have challenging moments with her, but right now I am just enjoying this miracle.

We had a couple of fun stories I wanted to share and then I’m headed to bed!

We were sitting at dinner tonight and were almost finished up when I happened to glance out of the window. I accidentally let out a squeal, grabbed the kids jackets and yanked them outside. It was totally snowing. Okay, it was a “flurry” but it was beautiful!!  When we got back, I checked the forecast. This has totally made my kiddos super excited. Okay, me too. If it’s going to be below freezing, we might as well have some fun with it!  (And all you snowbound friends, please keep your tar and feathers at a minimum.)

So yesterday, when we were introduced to April, they gave us a bag of kibble to use as treats. I was being conservative with it for a while until someone mentioned that the dogs hadn’t eaten breakfast yet in anticipation of lots of treat opportunities. I felt so rotten for not giving her all of her breakfast. This morning was the same story. So I was all proud of myself for taking the initiative and grabbing a bag of kibble for her to eat some breakfast. Until 30 minutes later when they brought out a bag of kibble that had been personally measured for her. Oops. So she’s been kinda gassy today. After an especially potent few minutes, I took her out to go potty. It was my first poop bag experience. I did the best I could. From our potty spot, I could see the dumpsters. I walked over and couldn’t figure out how to open the gate so I took aim and threw the bag as high as I could. The wind caught it and blew it onto the sidewalk. As I walked over to pick it up, I realized the fence was only a front and the entire side of the dumpster was accessible. Oops. So I took another shot with the poop bag and the dang wind caught it again. I am so very glad there were no witnesses to this very smelly, very gross few minutes. Although, April did look pretty disappointed in my throwing skills. The bag did eventually make it into the dumpster, though. No worries.

So I think I’ve earned a nice hot bath and an early bedtime.

Tomorrow, we do our first track!!  If I can still feel my fingers when we get back, I’ll tell you all about the search training!

Good night from Ohio!