Through the Clouds

Most Thursdays I meet a friend for lunch at a local restaurant. Today was no different. Towards the end of our meal, I excused myself to the restroom. While I was there, my friend overheard a patron in the booth behind us comment that he likes dogs, but not in restaurants. This brings today's topic to mind: going to a restaurant for food. Without fail, at some point, someone will make a comment about your service animal being inappropriate in a given location, usually a restaurant. This is showing some ignorance about service animals and access. Service animals are trained to be unobtrusive in restaurant settings. For instance, Hippo was laying on a blanket underneath the table. She wasn't begging, nor did she eliminate on the floor. She simply exhibited good manners. Hippo working on her tan I can't say it often enough, barring sterile environments, your service animal goes everywhere you go. And sometimes people will say ignorant, hurtful things about your dog a...

Today we are going to the Las Vegas Highland Games. My spouse is from Clan MacDonald and this will be the first Games either of us have attended. It is being held in a public park, but there are some issues with our attendance. There are no dogs allowed, excepting for service animals. This brings us to an important part of responsibilities handlers have for public access: going where pets are NOT allowed. I'm planning to give Hippo an extra brushing before we leave. She's still shedding her winter coat, such as it is. Giving her extra brushes is a great bond securing activity, with the added benefit of her not needing to scratch or rub off the fur bits that are exfoliating/shedding at an accelerated rate. Hippo training in the mall Other at-home pre-gaming tasks we'll be doing are our bathroom walkies and packing the Just In Case bag. (JIC bag in all further postings and I may write a post exclusive to that topic at a later date.) Realistically Hippo may need to e...