Anything But Boring: Day 10

Last Updated on: 8th May 2023, 10:51 am

Oof! That was a rough start to the morning. You know, Carin, if you stay up to 11:30 and you then take melatonin, and you want to be up by 6, maybe turn on your alarm. Good idea? Yup! After I was carried away to sleepy ville, the next sound I heard was “Hi there, it’s Nurse Debbie. It’s 7:40.” Holy shit holy shit holy shit! There was no slow, foggy wakeup. I was standing and on the move immediately, trying to figure out how many things I could do simultaneously. By some miracle, I made it to breakfast, shoveled down my toast, chugged my smoothie and was back in my room to do everything else and made it to the lecture room on time.

We had a quick chat about dealing with situations where something is blocking the sidewalk, like a delivery truck or garbage cans or whatever. Then we also talked about how our dogs will respond to cars driving at us, cutting us off, coming up behind us or blocking our passage through the street. Then it was time for the traffic route. Our supervisor did all of those things, and our dogs showed off. The instructor was right there to make sure nothing went wrong. The dog did a perfect job.

Are you sick of hearing me call him beast, pooch, or dog? So am I. And the wait is over. I will reveal his name now. Technically I said it once before, but I was sneaky about it. His name is Domino. I freaking love his name. I was joking that the slogan is “Get the door. It’s Domino’s.” I have to say “Get Domino, it’s the door.” Apparently he was raised in Nevada and has never been known to have destroyed anything in the house. He is used to the office and is gentle around kids and other animals. I think I heard that I could get a phone call tomorrow. I’m excited to meet his raiser. I hope he can make it to graduation.

Then we had a surprise freelance route. For some reason this made me more nervous than the traffic route. I don’t think I made it as far as my classmate, but I managed.

In the afternoon, we took buses and a light rail train. Domino did pretty good. The only thing he did was he did not want to stay seated on the bus. But everything else was fine. I was still faster today but we can’t figure out what my every day pace is. I don’t even notice the changes in pace. They’re a little annoyed with me that this pace wasn’t what we tried to establish on Thursday. I wasn’t trying to mislead them. It’s just that it’s hard to go full out with a dog you don’t know, even when the instructors are right there. I understand why they’re annoyed. They have had a lot of dogs come back because of pace issues so they really want to get it right. But it’s hard, at least for me, to go full on with a dog I haven’t begun to trust. Plus, to be honest, I wasn’t sure what I could handle after not having a dog and also not booting around every day. I’m still figuring it out.

Then we came back and had vet checks. The only issue Domino had was an irritated elbow from the kennels. He’s been a pretty healthy dog. They said he is on the leaner end of things at 56 lbs. I wrote his microchip number down and she says I’ll get the rest of the history in a word doc. I guess they don’t use Avid any more for microchips. It’s some kind of universal microchip now.

Then I came back here and got my year’s supply of flea, tick and heartworm stuff, the bottle of ear stuff, and a doggy tooth brush and paste set. And tags! He has his first bling! I always feel like it’s a special moment when the bling arrives.

Apparently the nurse says my feet look like they’re screaming. They kind of are, so maybe I’ll do a foot soak. I never thought I’d need one, but maybe I do. I think that’s it for tonight.

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3 Comments

  1. If you can, I suggest taking your melatonin an hour or 2 before you plan on falling over. I found it was a lot harder to kick out of it the next morning when it didn’t kick in until well after I wanted to start sleeping.

    I’m glad the beast officially has a name now. I’ve had the damn Van Morrison song in my head since the day you got him. Comes back every time I post one of these for you. I wonder if he’ll be like Shmans and get all excited about music. Soon we’ll have to make him his own category.

    1. I will try to remember to take it earlier. I have to wait for the nurse to drop it off so times are a little screwy Louie. Yeah, freelance is where you pick a destination but the instructor isn’t telling you turn by turn directions and you kind of have to problem solve on your own.

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