All in a day’s work

Whaaat?! Hearing from me again so soon? I told you we had a lot to catch up on. Now that you’ve been brought up to speed about the June office visit and restaurant outing, let’s fast forward to July. Last week, I finally went in to work for the first time with G on my own. I was slightly nervous but knew that there wasn’t too much that could go wrong, especially with all the support I had from my team.

When I arrived, Katrina came to my car to get my computer bag and walker. When she opened the car door, G was incredibly excited to see her, his tail wagging so fervently that his whole body shook with the force. As difficult as it was, she ignored him as she had been instructed to do, allowing him to gain his composure enough to patiently wait at the bottom of the steps while she walked up and I rode the lift. Once I was situated at the top, I called for him. He came bounding up the steps with all the exuberance of a puppy. I’ve got to pause here and just comment that it is impossible to hold back a smile when you see a dog so openly express his excitement and happiness. It’s nothing short of instant therapy.

Once G got up to the top of the stairs, I should have taken his leash and had him sit and calm down. Because I didn’t, he went tearing past me into the studio to greet the rest of the team. I can’t imagine how hard it was for everyone to just ignore him in this state, but they did. Getting snubbed didn’t seem to deter G in the least as he then proceeded to explore his surroundings by sniffing everything he could. I used my “mad mom” voice and called him to me, but it was to no avail. Katrina set my bag down on my desk, got G’s attention, and then took his leash and brought him over to me. Have I mentioned already how blessed I am to have such amazing teammates? Despite momentarily going rogue, G rather quickly settled down once I had a hold of his leash. I brought him over to my desk, where he then nestled into the dog bed that my boss had brought in for him to use. From that point forward, he behaved perfectly for the rest of the day. 

Whenever someone would speak or look in his general direction, his tail would begin wagging, banging against a metal storage unit with a steady beat that sounded like a Japanese taiko drum. We all couldn’t help but chuckle every time it happened, which was often. After a few hours of model service dog behavior, I gave G the “Free” command so he would have the opportunity to greet everyone like he had been dying to do. His reaction was simply priceless.

I can’t speak to other dogs’ needs since I lack experience. But clearly, all my beautiful boy wants out of life is to eat, then eat some more, and to kiss every “hooman” he encounters. There’s simply no better word to describe his temperament other than “sweet.” In a matter of a few hours, he has completely endeared himself to my work team, and I’m convinced I won’t be allowed to return without him.