Day 15: Our first shopping trip together

Today was mall day! Troy and I spent the majority of the morning and afternoon walking around Oakville Place. The school paid for our lunch which was much appreciated and I had butter chicken poutine from New York Fries (it's been way too long since I've had either of those things). After we quickly ate, the class split up and was given about an hour to shop around. While we were shopping the trainers would spy on us and watch to see how we were doing.

My first stop was David's Tea but after waiting in line for over 5 minutes and still barely moving, I decided to leave. I didn't want to waste all of my time in one store. Also, that location is really small and Troy was just in the way the whole time. The David's Tea in Square One and the location at Yonge-Dundas square are much larger so when I get home, I look forward to going there with Troy instead.

We also went into H&M to just walk around and practice going through tight spaces. H&M is not a very accessible store to begin with so with a service dog it was definitely interesting. Let's just say I'm glad I don't really shop there...

The last store we went into was Bath and Body Works. I wanted to see how Troy would react to: A) a very crowded store full of women gushing over him and B) all of the different scents that sometimes overwhelm me, never mind a dog. We spent about 15 minutes in the store. He was VERY well behaved and the only thing he sniffed were the fuzzy socks with foxes on them. He probably thought they were a toy since they were right at his level and fluffy. As soon as I said "Troy, right" and moved forward a little, he completely ignored the socks and kept walking with me. I thought he would have been sniffing many more things and be slightly nervous or scared in such a crowded store but he wasn't. Bath and Body Works is another store that isn't always the most wheelchair-friendly so I was really proud of how he handled it. Whenever I'm shopping with my boyfriend and want to go in Bath and Body Works he always stays outside since two wheelchairs are nearly impossible to maneuver around the store. So, yay Troy! You did a fantastic job today buddy :)

Once we got back to the school it was around 2:30. We had an appointment for our class to buy items from the gift shop. I bought a snowflake Christmas ornament with the dog guides logo in the middle. I was going to buy a black spring jacket with the logo on it as well but the smallest size was way too big for me.

We practiced a few fetches and an alternative to fetch which used to be referred to as take it/go give but now you just have to say "okay" when you or another person is holding an item out to the dog. Troy did great with this and grabbed every item from the trainer then immediately gave it to me.

After dinner we had a 20 minutes play time. Today we got to play in pairs and he got to play with Frito (the dog who he is always cuddling with in the dining room)! It was so cute to watch them play together. Frito would always steal the toys that Troy had in his mouth and then he would try to take them back from her unsuccessfully. He didn't really care. He was just happy that he had another puppy to play with!

After play time I gave Troy a bit of peanut butter in his Kong and now he's sleeping on his bed beside me like always. I'm not too sure what the plan is for tomorrow but can you believe there are only 3 more days until graduation? Time has gone so quickly these last few weeks.

Here are a few pictures of Troy from today:

Waiting patiently for everyone at the mall and ignoring the kids trying to talk to him :)

Frito and Troy staring into each other's eyes at lunch <3

Waiting to be picked up from the mall



Troy trying to steal the Christmas toy from Frito. Looks like I may have to get him some Christmas toys. He seems to love the santa stuffy and candy cane squeaky toy more than anything else...