Dairy Queen Outing

Last week's CCI 4H class had an outing to Dairy Queen. Part summer celebration, part parent meeting, the outing was the perfect setting on an overly hot day for our area. It was 90-all week. It was so fun.

The kids were treated to whatever ice cream dessert they wanted, and were instructed to be with their dogs inside, while the parents and leaders took the outside patio to talk about final info for the upcoming County Fair.

The kids took up almost the entire joint and the biggest compliment came from an employee that one of our leaders had organized the event prior (getting the okay for a dozen-plus service puppies in training, and service dogs, to bombard their establishment) came out to the parent meeting to interrupt with, "Hey, can we do this again?! I haven't been so happy on my shift ever before. The kids are great, and the puppies are excellent - and so cute!" 

I think the best part was that the kids had to be in complete control of their dogs, and themselves, with out a parent or leader in site. They self-managed - a group of late teens down to kids not even out of elementary school. They only know each other through the common bond of puppy raising, or being a handler for a service dog. They live all over our area, none attending the same school. But they all get along, respect one another, and have fun.

At one point, Haddie was Under the table with four other puppies in training ranging from a few months old, to veteran ages like herself at 14 months old. My son said that ALL the puppies were asleep, or minding their own business. Those booth tables are not that large to accommodate much space between dogs, but they handled is perfectly. I was so happy to hear the report.

The kids also played a game of mixing up the seating arrangements - and then switch after five minutes to mix it up again. It gave everyone a chance to talk to everyone, and get the puppies to do an Under with different puppies. Brilliant.

And the parents got time outside to get the scoop about Fair, veterans sharing stories to rookies, and getting to know each other even better ... with no puppies or children to watch after!!

But perhaps the BEST part of the evening was when a mom received a phone call from CCI that their puppy had made a match and graduation was only three days away! The mom and family left that meeting so excited to start their drive the next morning in order to attend graduation. It was so fun to see that phone call experience.

What a neat night at a Dairy Queen Outing!!