Happy New Year!

Well, we are already one week into a brand new year and will be home with Aubrey one month tomorrow.  Kind of hard to believe on a lot of levels.  The past 4 weeks have been a blur to say the very least. We came home Saturday and literally have not stopped since.   For those of you who are wondering why I did not include a final blog entry from our training period it is because I was deathly ill on Friday. I still can't believe it!!   I wound up getting whatever virus my kids had but a gazillion times worse.  So much so, that I didn't even think we'd be able to leave Saturday.  We didn't leave until almost noon, but we were definitely NJ bound on Saturday.  Better them than me though.  I would have been very worried about them had either one of them been that sick.  You'll be happy to hear, though, that by about 5pm Saturday night I felt great and was even able to nail a Peppermint Mocha Frapp from Starbucks.  Hey listen, I hadn't eaten in nearly 36 hours!  My blood sugar was low. 

So about Friday, the last day of training... it was an extremely long day with a lot of waiting.  I don't doubt for one minute that being so sick made it seem that much longer.  But, this was it.  This was the last day you had the comfort of knowing you had a huge support network right in front of you all day everyday.  The other families in our class all passed their Public Access Tests....yea!!  Then, we all had paperwork to sign to make it official.........you were going home with a service dog.  Once everybody made it back from the mall and signed paperwork, there was a cute graduating ceremony.  Jeremy called up each team in front of a paw print clad backdrop and presented the child with a training certificate.  There were lots of cheers and many smiles to light up an already energized room. It was cute.  Afterward, there were some snacks and refreshments served.  Joe took a picture of the cake and that was about as close as I got to the food.  LOL  Zachary did really well and gave hugs and kisses to everyone.  All he was worried about was that Aubrey was coming home with us.  I practically tackled the poor trainers for a picture.  I was fading fast and needed to the photo ops to take place so we could get out of there asap!  :)  Once we got back to the hotel, I pretty much curled up into a ball and prayed I'd fall asleep and feel better.  Much to my dismay, it didn't quite happen that way.  

Aubrey has made a great transition from 4 Paws to her new home.  She ran right into the house when we got home Saturday night and sniffed away.  Her tail never stopped wagging and she even played outside for a few minutes.  She made herself comfortable on her bed and went to sleep.  Just like that.  She and I definitely have a special little bond.  I still think it's because I cared for her those first couple of days that she was so sick and scared. We still have a lot of work to do with Aubrey in terms of obedience and behavior disruption, but it's all a work in progress.  There's no miracle when you walk through your door.  It's the same concept as a baby.  You've gotta figure lots of stuff out and work it out to best meet everybody's needs.  We've definitely been a little laxed with stuff; this was an insane time of year to come home with any dog never mind a service dog.  We absolutely need to take time every single day to work on training and obedience with her.  The most difficult thing for her is to maintain "down" when I walk away from her or go into another room.  The most difficult thing for me to remember is that I put her into a "down" position as silly as that may seem.  I give her the command and sometimes move onto to other things in other rooms.  Next thing I know she's right next to me....in the living room!  Sometimes I just talk to her and pat her before I even realize she broke the command!!  LOL  There's a huge learning curve to all of this for all of us.  All sorts of things you would not otherwise consider need to be considered now that you have a service dog.  It's like coming home with a newborn.

A whole new world.