Keeper had a big Thursday. We went to my neurologist in the morning. That's a bigger waiting room/lobby than any other doctor I have. Usually it's pretty quiet, this time there were more kids than I've ever seen. Luckily, the runners who didn't seem particularly well behaved either didn't notice her or didn't care.
One tiny toddler with the Pebbles Ponytail on top her head stopped dead in her tracks and stared. Just could not process this huge, huge dog, where dogs usually aren't. I moved Keeper so she wasn't so much in their path, and as they stopped on the other side of our seats to put the girl's coat on, she turned to stare again. Apparently never seen a dog bigger than a Corgi before. Berners are a mite bigger.
Keeper stretched her head and neck out to sniff the air after the girl passed, I think trying to see if it was Mel. Redirected okay.
Didn't know what to do with herself in the hallway as I went to stand on the scale. No holes to hide in, people coming, and I didn't need her right that second. We were going into the room right across the hall, so I sent her there out of the way.
Went into the exam room. She picked a bad spot, so I had her get up and resettle. Didn't move once she had a spot to be in. I think we need to do some "go to mat" work, and give her a "spot" that can travel and mark out a space even if there isn't a chair or a corner to delineate an area for her.
We've got some definite work to do on laying tucked tight to chairs without enough room to hide under, and we probably need to go stand out at the mall and let crowds go by, so she's better with traffic and not trying to watch all the people. It's still new to her.
The staff were fantastic, ignoring her and letting me sort her out. Only had one other patient ask to pet, and they took it well when I told them they couldn't.
That afternoon, we went to my shrink. Keeper's almost over the scary corner there. Instead of needing a treat to coax her up off the floor, and then for every step she takes forward (so she got a dozen or so treats), we're doing two as we walk toward the corner, one in the corner, and then we're good.
Had a lady come down the hall just to ask what Keeper was and what she did. Ankle length coat with a weird pattern that made a bit of a sound, with a bag on her hip, and she never took her hands off her purse strap. Keeper wasn't wholly certain the woman was human, but held her ground because I pet her. When Keeper seemed distracted as I took the cross hallway toward my car and the lady walked off the other way, I let Keeper backtrack. She peeked around the corner, then hid, then peeked again, clearly flummoxed by the woman with no legs, no arms, and with a strange growth on her side. It didn't seem fearful, but much more "What was THAT?!" curious and unable to stop thinking about what she'd seen. Got it together after the second peek- whatever she thought it might be, it wasn't following us- and we headed out to the car in good form.
Sometimes, she's a rockstar. Sometimes, she's got such an obvious puppy brain. :)
Today, the young boys from down the street came to drop off Boy Scout popcorn. I do feel a bit bad for the older boy, their neighbor's dog bit him. Which I kind of knew, and thus, stepped outside the house to talk with them. Well, Twist darted out behind me to meet them, and jumped on him first, poor kid. She just tried to give him a kiss, but that's still rude.
Got her back in the house, got the payment for the popcorn handed off, got to talking, then brought Keeper out. She was cautious, the boys were cautious, but tongue met palm and soon everyone was relaxed and sharing space well. As they went to leave, Keeper hustled to go with them, thinking we were all heading out together. Got her called in and was amused that she liked the boys well enough to even think to go with them. So, a bit more of a goofball and much more twitterpated in her hormonal state.
The dry shampoo is keeping her smelling nicely, and she's not leaving any spots I've seen, so I think the ovary-sparing spay may be a workable option for female service dogs in my future.
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