Last Week of Service Dog Training and First Week Home

My last week of service dog training was fantastic! I got to celebrate my birthday there with my amazing new friends. They sang to me not just once, but twice. Chadds gave me a great birthday present- he finally mastered carrying a plastic bag! That had been a real challenge for him and I was so glad he figured it out. Starting that day I began working with Chadds to get him to identify my phone and pick it up from the floor. He does get dog drool all over it, but it's worth it to know that he can find my phone in an emergency situation. We're now at a point where he can retrieve it from across the house, even if it's on a table!

We had three field trips in the last week of training. First, we went to a mall. Chadds liked sleeping under racks of clothes while I browsed around. Really, he just likes sleeping in general. The next day, we went to a pet store so we could give our dogs a bath. Most labs love the water, but not Chadds. He was not a fan of getting bathed at all. He looked so sad! I got pretty wet, so we'll definitely look for a groomer to bathe him in the future. The final field trip of training was taking the train to Philadelphia and eating at Reading Terminal, a huge food market. Chadds was great on the train and didn't get bothered by any of the loud noises. He also navigated quite well through the city, even though it was hot and there were lots of distractions. I had been to Reading Terminal before, and I knew how hard it was in my wheelchair, let along with a dog. We did great though! Chadds paid for my lunch and calmly walked beside me the whole time. It was such a fun day with lots of delicious food. The day after the Philly trip was the day of certification tests. Chadds and I passed with flying colors! We got the highest score a new team can receive. Then we got to visit my grandma outside of Philadelphia afterwards. Graduation was a bittersweet event because while I knew it marked the beginning of a new adventure, it also meant saying goodbye to the staff and classmates. Chadds got a little graduation cap, but he kept trying to swipe it off. It was such a sweet ceremony and a nice way to end team training.

I've been home for a little over a week now, and Chadds and I are doing great! We take nice walks every day and make sure to get in some cuddle time. So far, Chadds has been to a couple restaurants, my aunt and uncle's house, driver's education class, the grocery store, and my high school. He volunteered with me at the library and an assisted living facility. We saw Wonder Woman yesterday and he slept the whole time! Chadds can now put my dirty clothes into the laundry bin and pull the bin into the laundry room. He can even pull clothes out of the dryer! Yesterday he decided to hop into the dryer- yes, he's small enough that he can fit. He picks up my seatbelt in the car for me before I ask. He's doing so well and I can't wait to make more progress!