It has been a great week this week even though I have been on an Army base. "Sorry guys I had to get a jab in." Actually it has been a great week all together. The trip down here had me stressed to the max. My back was locked up so were my shoulders. It has taken me most of the week to relax. Last night Sally, the staff from Paws4people, some of the Soldiers from the Army Wounded Warrior Program here at Ft. Stewart and I went on an expedition to find supper. We drove 30 minutes away from the base to find the restaurant was closed and then drove back to go to a restaurant 5 minutes from the base. A lot of fun!!! I got to know a couple of the Soldiers that rode with me. Of course there were the usual Army/Navy/Marine Corps jokes. It was a good night. We went to a place called Vann's. It was an interesting place. You actually had to drive down an alley to get to it. It is a great "Secret" Place as it was hard to find unless you saw the sign. Stress level was up being out in public but Sally helped me through it. She sat next to my feet and every time the Waitress came up beside me Sally would nudge my foot to let me know some one was there. Sally did a great job!!!!!
This morning we all loaded up and headed to Jesup. A town about 30-45 minutes from the Base where there is a prison that has been training dogs for paws4people. We met the inmates there that have been training Deja, and Pumpkin. Sally and I demo'd the pay attention and alert commands for the inmates. Terry took some of the pressure of of me this time and explained some of my story before Sally got to show off. Deja, and Pumpkin's trainers showed some of the skills that they have been working on with them and also showed some of their favorite pastime games too. After that we went back to base. Sally and I took off for a little bit while Terry, Kyria, and Karen all helped get the new dogs settled in. Later we met up and went out for an early supper. Sally did outstanding as usual. She laid next to me and even though we sat next to an exit she would sit up and nudge my leg every time some one came up towards the door. It was really comforting to have her there and knowing that she was watching out for me. After supper Terry, Kyria, and Karen had to go back to the base and help with the dogs again, so Sally and I went back to the room. I have been debating all week about asking my Dad to come down with my brother for the next training in April. I haven't seen my Dad except on a couple web cam calls, since this whole thing started. I called my brother and asked him if he thought Dad would come down. I spoke to Dad later in the evening and he said he would see what they could work out. Thanks Merna for getting me to think about this again.
Now for the big story. On the trip back Terry is planning on following me and I get to rode part of the way with Sally. After my last trip and the incident at the rest area, We are going to stop at rest areas on the way back and see how Sally does. I have noticed that Sally doesn't care a lot for riding in a car, so I have felt bad every time I loaded, and unloaded her. I talked to Kyria, Karen, and Terry about it. One of the suggestions that was brought up is to have a special treat for her whenever she gets into the car. Well I didn't have anything for her. So after arguing with myself for a little bit I made a phone call to Terry and asked if it would be okay for Sally and I to go to Walmart. This is the first time that I have been to a Walmart by myself for a long long time. Terry said to go for it. If it got to be too much to give them a call. Sally and I loaded up and headed for Walmart. It took me a little bit of standing outside to get the nerve to go inside. Eventually I decided to "Take The Plunge". Sally and I headed into the store. Immediately my back and shoulders tightened up to the max. I wanted to walk back out. I looked down and Sally was looking up at me as if to say "We can do this." So we continued. I know to some of you that will sound really weird. Until you meet Sally you wouldn't understand. We grabbed a cart and headed towards the pet isles. On the way there were several comments from kids that I overheard. "Mommy/Daddy, look at the Doggy. Why does that man have a dog in here. The parents would tell the kids, that is a working dog, we can't pet it. She is working. I was nice to hear, gave me a little comfort. As we walked Sally kept looking up at me as if to say things were okay. More comfort!! As we came up to the pet isles a couple stopped and asked me what Sally was being trained for. I told them she was a Psychiatric Service Dog. As they asked me another couple and another man stopped to listen. Paws4people had given me some business type cards for Sally that explains what it is she does for me, so I gave them out. There was quite a bit of interest in Sally. The nice thing was is that Sally sat down next to me and every so often would nudge me just to let me know she was still there. Even more of a comfort. The people were fascinated that Sally had been trained to "Pay Attention" and "Alert" me to anyone coming up to me that I didn't know about. Both couples and the other man seemed to be really interested in Sally and what she can do. I also mentioned that there were going to be more of these dogs as Ft. Stewart is starting a program to train the dogs for others. They all thought that it was really neat and were looking forward to seeing more of the dogs around. After about 5 minutes of that Sally and I moved on. Taking her down the pet isle was what I can imagine it is to take a kid into a candy store. All kinds of things to sniff and look at for Sally. We found some snacks and moved on. Next we went to sporting goods. For a while I was fishing but I lost some of my tackle and needed to replace it so I can start using it as a release. We found what I needed and started just walking around the store. Every once in a while I would stop in one of the isles and have her "Pay Attention", she did outstanding every time!!!!! Any time someone would enter the isle she would nudge my leg to let me know that some one was there. No one came close enough for her to alert with a bark, but the nudges felt great and allowed me to relax. Real quick I need to say THANK YOU to Sally's trainers!!!! They did such a great job!!!!! Overall we spent around 45 minutes in the store. I feel kind of silly making such a big thing out of going to Walmart, but for me it a step towards...not sure what. But I think it may be a step towards a life.
