A Mutt and his pack: 3 outing week (+photos)

I'm giving a workshop on drying flowers for our garden club on the 17th. I wanted more pictures of the process, and to see how various (preferably cheap) flowers dried with the microwave and silica sand method. It was just starting to snow on Wednesday, and while I didn't feel great, I didn't want to wait and see if the roads got worse.

I learned that my brain really does not like grocery stores. It's been three and a half years since the wreck and the concussion, and I've been avoiding going by myself. I thought I was ready to go with just Keeper, but we got there, my brain checked out, and I apparently screwed up by having her with me while I was stressed out, lost, and over my threshold on visual stimuli. Some lady stared and baby-talked to Keeper from the end of the aisle while I tried to grab the right kind of coffee for Dad. It irks me so to have people treat us like a zoo exhibit where they point and stare, or act like they've just seen a unicorn and they can't believe it. I made sure we turned and went the other way without a word, because I couldn't have handled even small talk at that point.

Keeper was trying really hard, but I was confused and confusing, and probably contradicted myself a couple times. I got some interesting responses to hand signals I thought she knew (In part, I later found out, because my "fetch that" pointing finger looks almost identical to Dad's two finger "down" that he used before treats.) She did an interesting combo of down and under when I thought I cued a fetch, so she was trying, I was just useless as a handler or a trainer, and basically fled the area with my two types of flowers, a pound of coffee and a birthday card. I was only there a few minutes, but my brain was very tired.

I did get a laugh at the guy frowning at paw prints in the snow headed toward the store. He looked up, saw Keeper, and his face had an "aha!" expression. I'm amused at the thought of other people being confused by the paw prints in the snow.

Thursday we went to my shrink, and Keeper didn't want to get out of the car, either because we had parked next to another car and she still doesn't really know how much space she needs, or (more likely) because she didn't want to be out with me while I was a mental mess again. Jollied her up in the hallway, had her fetch her leash a couple times, then went in to the lobby and did our usual routine. After months (which is really about 8 repetitions) of working on the scary, darker corner, Keeper offered to head into the gloom without a food bribe. So, two steps back with my grocery store brain-glitching, one step forward on her confidence on things we'd been working on.

Yesterday, I went out to Panera with a friend without her, because I was brain-tired again, and didn't want to set back the advances I'd made when I was mentally sharp.

Today, I needed the physical help more, and my brain was back with me. We headed to a container garden build at the library. Got to deal with being a roving zoo exhibit again as a lady called over her son to point out the "working dog" he couldn't pet. I didn't like it, but it wasn't all bad, because she did it as I was returning books in the slot by the front desk, so three dog-loving librarians got to hear that Keeper is not a therapy dog there for anyone to pet, but a service dog there to help me specifically, and she shouldn't be distracted while she's working.

The build was in the same room as the yoga class, but this time the lights were on, there was no music playing, and there were tables and chairs in the room. Momentary pause, then a doggy

mental shrug, and we went in to sit next to Mom. We listened to the instructions, and Keeper settled under the table. As soon as they were released to go make things, most people bee-lined for the back and where the plants were, so I went to the front and got charcoal and dirt and some rocks into my bowl. By then the back had thinned out, so I went and picked out my plants. Helped Mom a little, helped the guy behind us help his little girl, and kept an eye on Keeper. I had fun building my little planter, and helping Mom, and the guy behind us. I also had enough brain energy to keep Keeper on task, and reward her good tries.

She did break a stay while I was helping Mom, because someone was putting on their coat. I've just started to work on Keeper helping to tug off my jackets, so the flappy sleeve looked like an invite to her. I'm actually a bit pleased that my aloof/ reserved girl is starting to come out of her shell enough to attempt tasks for other people. I was even more pleased that when I recalled her and told her to down again, she did, and held it that time.

As we headed out, I loaded her pack with Mom's notebook (Mom carried my container garden), a calendar for each of us, and some little packs of fertilizer. Rode the elevator up, went to the hold shelf and I collected my items, waited in line, checked out, and then headed out to the car.
I'm not sure we're all the way back to where we were before I mentally fell down on the job, but Keeper's willing to work with me when my brain is working, and seems happy to be out again now that things make sense. I think if I can give her something to do, something that makes sense to her when my brain checks out, she'll be just fine. All I have to do now is figure out what I should have her do when the post-concussion stuff shuts down my brain....

I love the photos of Keeper posed next to the planter, because I had her sit, then pushed the planter closer to her. She's leaning away and looking uncomfortable because she's sure it's a setup in the first one.