Time flies...

It is hard to believe that a month has already gone by since Oreo came into our lives.  A month ago today we were in training and anxiously hoping to pass the public access test in order to bring Oreo home with us. A month ago were meeting new people, some who we would become very friendly with even after going home (shout out to Aleasha, Charles, Landon & SD Jendayi) as well as some who would stay in our hearts forever like Delaney, a gorgeous little girl who was so sweet and kind. It is amazing how close you can feel to total strangers when thrown together for a common cause. And it's hard to believe it's been a whole month (almost) since I saw The Christmas Story House and got to cross an item off of my bucket list. Time really does fly.

Oreo has settled in really well. She is such a good girl but at only a year old (her 1st birthday was on February 19th), she still has plenty of puppy left in her. The trainers at 4Paws would laugh at people's expectations of what they thought service dogs were like. Always well behaved and perfect. And luckily, for the most part, that is true. However, as they told us, they are still dogs, puppies no less, and will make mistakes occasionally as well as test the limits with us once they got used to not being "in school" anymore. Oreo has certainly done that but being such a sweet and good girl, especially to Tess, it's hard to get mad with her. We do correct her but are very quick to forgive and forget. Plus, in all honesty, her "mistakes" are quite minimal, especially when compared to any other dog her age.

The Birthday Princess

The best part is watching Tess watch Oreo. She just gets such a kick out of her. It's also funny that whenever Tess is getting attention from anyone, Oreo will run right over and try to "lap" or jump up on the bed and lay on Tess and love on her. I'm not sure if she just doesn't want to be left out of the attention, wants to make sure everyone knows that Tess is hers, or is hoping for a treat. Probably the latter, but we crack up over it.

Wait for me! I love Tess too! See? I love her so much I am crushing her with my love!

We are (or I am, since I am the one home with her) pretty faithful to practicing her obedience commands everyday as well as practicing seizure work. Oreo is VERY treat motivated. Without a treat at the ready she will do the basic obedience commands very quickly, but then act like she doesn't understand what you want her to do with the more involved commands, like lapping, retrieving and bringing Tess her toys that have been dropped, etc, because she wants a treat for doing those. And just when I start to wonder if she has forgotten how to do some of those commands, I'll go get her treat bag and voila! Oreo gets right down to business. She's not confused at all. She's just a girl who knows what she wants. Sounds like another little girl I know. See? She and Tess are a perfect pair!

Oreo has been taught to "hold" Tess's hand with the command "get Tessie"

                           practicing seizure alert work with Oreo

Tomorrow we go to Boston for two days of appointments. Tess is going to be seen in the Aerodigestive Clinic as well as the CP Clinic (Ortho). We'll be talking about lungs and spine issues. I have been waiting to get her into this clinic for a while because her lungs seem quite a bit less healthy since that horrible post-op pneumonia she got last may and I must admit, I am nervous about what they could find with them. Since she's had pneumonia after pneumonia this fall and winter, her pediatrician has put her on a steroid inhaler which has seemed to help to a degree. There's also been talk of putting her on other medications for her lungs as well but her pediatrician really wants Boston's input on that. At this point I'm just praying for good news. Or at least news that we can easily deal with. I'm not going to get too worked up over it yet though. Like Nana Belle always used to say, "What will be, will be".

And thankfully, I am finally starting to learn that that is a pretty good attitude to have a lot of the time.

Nana Belle...horrible pic quality but still....