Doctor

Buddy had an unexpected trip to the doctor's office today. There wasn't any issue with his health, he just accompanied Lisa to take her elderly mom. They arrived in Platteville (about 1 hour drive from home) for their appointment at 1:00 which turned out to be a 2:15 appointment, so there was plenty of time to relax in the waiting room. Every nurse and receptionist in the clinic came out to get a look at the dog and a couple greetings. They were amazed at how calm he was, and made the comments we have heard since he was a puppy, he just has the cutest face. A 2-year-old patient named Haley walked right up to Buddy after her grandma made sure it was OK with me. Turns out Haley has a Rottweiler at home, so she was very gentle with Buddy and accepting of his occasional wet nose.

Lisa's elderly mom still has not gotten used to the fact that Buddy comes everywhere with us, so she was a bit leery of Buddy going to the clinic, but he did so well and Mom likes attention, so the fact that Buddy got so much and people were so complimentary, it made it all OK. He always draws a crowd wherever he goes. Lisa fielded lots of questions about the Occupaws program and Buddy's training, people there had never heard of an English Labrador. They all had to say good-bye to Buddy when we left even! Afterward, he returned to the apartment in Cuba City for some play time with Jared and Jalyn. They are both school age and have 2 dogs and a cat at home, so they also were very good with Buddy and vice versa. He is learning more acceptable behavior with kids the more time he spends with them. At 1 point, the kids were rolling a ball to one another on the floor and Buddy REALLY wanted to get in and steal that ball, but he did excellent at listening to Lisa when she put him in a down/stay-though his tail never stopped wagging, so he was still obviously anxious. When Jalyn gave him his own ball to play with, of course, he wanted nothing to do with that (much more fun to steal one from the kids, or at least just await the possibility). Buddy was ready for supper (when isn't he?) and a nap when he got home from his long day.


God ... sat down for a moment when the dog was finished in order to watch it... and to know that it was good, that nothing was lacking, that it could not have been made better. --Rainer Maria Rilke