Put on notice

Well, peeps. The culmination of all the work during the last seven months has finally arrived. This week, G dog and I will be taking our certification test. Connie will come and videotape us doing all the things we are supposed to have mastered together both in and out of the home. The PAWS Client Services department will review the video, and if we are approved, G and I will be certified as an Assistance Dog Team, and ownership of G will be transferred to me. 

In order to start the certification process, I had to officially go a full 30 days where I didn’t reach out to my Field Rep with any questions. It actually hasn’t been that big of a deal since Connie was incredibly thorough throughout the training process. Now, most of my questions these days are really related to dog ownership rather than assistance dog responsibilities. And thanks to the handy dandy internet, I can search for anything from when should you be concerned over a dog throwing up to how to best remove dog puke stains from a carpet.

It’s weird to think that, as of right now, G is technically not really mine. He so has my heart, and I can’t imagine him not being a part of my life. But I think we’d have to screw up pretty bad to pass, and so far, everything has gone pretty well. As far as I’m concerned, he’s aced all the household tasks—picking up various items from the floor when I ask, leaving things on the floor that I tell him to leave alone, grabbing the strap for the dishwasher for me whenever I need him to, getting the phone for me, closing the door from the house into the garage, carrying a little bag for me, and pulling my slippers off my feet.

As far as the out-of-home stuff is concerned, we are not perfect, but I think we do pretty well. You notice I say “we” because I can definitely tell that there are things that I am doing or not doing that could better influence G’s behavior. In general, we still need to work on how distracted he gets when we are outdoors, but it’s rarely something that I can’t snap him out of quickly. We did another practice run in a restaurant this past weekend, and he behaved beautifully inside. So, in general, I feel pretty good about our certification test. I don’t think the organization is demanding perfection. In fact, when you’re dealing with an animal, I’m sure that everyone knows that anything can happen. I’m hopeful that if something doesn’t exactly go as planned, part of what they will review is how well we recover from the situation and get back on track. 

We are very much still a work in progress, but that’s how I’ve always viewed myself anyway. I really don’t want to have to eat my words later, but I truly feel like we’ve got this. Wish us luck!