Kate and Mulder Sittin' In a Tree

Well as you can see, after a long day of practice at Santa Rosa Plaza, Kate and her boyfriend Mulder were absolutely worn out on the backseat car ride en route to school. The morning started with drills and command practice at ADI. Santa Rosa City Transit proved to be exceptionally supportive of ADI (no doubt thanks to Dr. Bergin) and kindly sent an out of service city bus over allowing us to practice loading and unloading using the ramp without the pressure of actual passengers. I cannot begin to tell you all just how eye opening this experience has been for me as a non-disabled person. From boarding buses to ordering from lunch counters and attempting to enter and exit through non-functional "handicapped accessible doors," the experience has been something that will forever change me and certainly make me appreciate the seemingly simple ability to walk upright with balance and direction.
The afternoon session landed us back at a mall, this time an even bigger and more modern structure. The escalators proved to be a real challenge for some of the younger dogs. Kate, old faithful, had no problems other than nagging me for a treat in celebration of a job well done. At lunchtime the group dispersed to eat individually in the food court and I must say that it was challenging. The distractions for Kate were tough: screaming babies, nuggets of dropped food all over the floor, loud music, and worst of all a picky, indecisive, vegetarian handler who does not do well with fast food! It was not our best experience to date but we certainly persevered!
We wrapped up the day with elevator practice and prep work for a big day to come.
Tomorrow we are meeting downtown for individual bus rides on the city bus, then it will be back to the mall for lunch (we'll be packing our own in the morning this go round) and then we're off to the theater for a viewing of Get Smart; we've got a hot double date with Anna (Santa Fe artist) and her dog Timber! Finally, we will finish the night with a trip to the downtown Farmer's Market, a Santa Rosa Wednesday night Summer tradition including live music, local produce, funky trinket booths, and of course, 11 beautiful goldies and their wheelchair bound handlers. As I have said so many times before, THIS SHOULD BE INTERESTING!
Good Night on the East Coast.
~Sarah