Harriet, the College Student!

Greetings - but not excitable ones - from Southern California!  I've been a CCI service-dog-in-professional-training for over a week now!

Only two weeks ago I was packing for my people and myself so we could all fly to Oceanside, California.  Unhappily, my paws aren't too good at folding stuff so Mom and Dad were doing the work.  Then the phone rang; it was Auntie Kelly from the CCI office, asking if we could take my buddy Gary along with us.  His ride to Oceanside had fallen through.

So Gary came to my house.  I think I'm not too bad a pup, but Gary gets the awards for the longest legs...

...the longest tongue...

...and the most teeth.  We played and played and played, and I let my PRs finish the packing.

Way too early the next morning we were at the airport, checking - or at least guarding - the bags, and walking around as if we were Security dogs.  We went through Security, too.  I'm an old paw at that, but it was Gary's very first time.

The airplane people were very nice to us.  They let us have a little extra room.  Gary used it.  I did the (preferred) sardine-can routine.

It was a long ride.  Clouds over California look like snow in the fields of Colorado.

 

In Los Angeles, my PRs took us to Customer Service to ask where the next (!) plane was.  They they realized they didn't have time to take us out to Hurry!  We would have missed our next flight while we were going through Security again.  So the Customer Service Lady took us outside.  (There are doors she can use that my people can't.)  Here we are coming back in.  We didn't Hurry but we had a great sniffing time.  Hooray for United Express!

Our second plane was designed for chihuahuas, not Labs and near-Labs!  It was so small inside that I could barely scrunch under the seat...

...and Gary, with his extra-long legs, couldn't do it at all.  So he did this, across two seats.  And they let him.  Hooray for United Express (again!).  

Once we landed in San Diego, Gary and I decorated the back seat of a little rental car with dog hair (just a little) until we arrived at the Training Center in Oceanside.  Gary checked in and stayed to meet his new friends in the kennels.

The next day my folks and I went to a place called Sea World.  Now, I won't say it wasn't an interesting place.  There were some strange things on leashes...

...and birds I certainly never saw in Colorado.





 
But I was getting tired.  I watched five minutes of this:

This lady was the best human in the Pets Rule show.  She has raised a CCI pup!



But pretty soon I was sleeping instead of watching.  I even slept through...

I woke up for this.  It's where people's dogs can Hurry at Sea World.  Great smells!

Wanna see a strange dog?  Take a look...

They bark, but I don't think they'd get through Security at the airport, even with a cape on.

I was... 

...this tired.

The next day we were busy.  We went to the beach.  I had been there for a few minutes the night before, and decided I liked sand...

...but now we walked along the shore.

The water kept sneaking up on me.  Stop that, water! 

I got attention from folks...  but I wasn't the only one!

Then we took a tour of my new school.  Here's where I'll be bathed.  There are steps up as if we were royalty or something. 

And there's my dorm room.  The tags were upside down because we hadn't moved in yet.

That afternoon we went to Legoland.  Legos are those crunchy little brick-shaped toys I'm not supposed to eat.

I even rode in a boat!  Later, at the restaurant at dinnertime, my PRs gave me carrots for a special treat.

At last it was the big day.  We picked up Gary again and had a little fun on the playground down the street.

I may be smaller than he is, but I did better on the equipment.

Then it was time!  We got to wear special capes...

...and we met long-lost relatives.  That's my sister Halo with me!

When the ceremony started, we each got to stand in front of the audience and look smart and gorgeous.  Then we settled down as seventeen (not counting the two who graduated early) dogs graduated and became Service Dogs!  That's what I want to do some day.  Some of them will be facility dogs in hospitals or rehab centers.  The rest of them now work for children or adults - some of the adults have fought for our country - who need their help to be more on their own.

Gary and I tried to take it all in...

...but...  (the picture is fuzzy because that's the way we were feeling)

We went back to the Training Center...

...and my mom sneaked me one more special treat (a little peanut butter!  Isn't that on the menu here?).

Then it was time to go to my room.  I was so eager I didn't give my people a backward glance.  But they didn't mind.  It showed that I was confident.

Now the teachers here are checking me out.  No, really.  They're checking my eyes, my ears, my heart, my hips, and all the rest of me.  They'll find out how I get along with other dogs, both in the kennel and in the classroom.  They'll find out if I'm afraid of anything.  They'll find out if I might be good at this sort of work.  Then we'll start classes.

Uh-oh!  Do I remember how to Sit?  How to Under?  How to Roll with my cape on?  I want to be impressive!