Beaming on the Inside

I was standing in the Veterinary lobby waiting for my invoice when a man parked in front and unloaded a very tall, lanky lab-mix of a cutie from his car. I knew they were headed in our direction, so I positioned Kolby (who was on leash due to being too big) between me and the counter. Kolby is not fully vaccinated, in fact he is behind schedule as of today - more later - so I did not want to mix this stranger, lanky lab with my sweet 14 week old Rock Star.

The man stumbled in the door after his pulling Kangaroo of a Teen Dog and quickly noticed Kolby in a perfect Sit. His first comment was in disbelief that my dog was sitting still while his dog was bouncing; literally bouncing, and was no longer a full fledged puppy.

Kolby ventured out just a touch to get a better view, but he never lunged forward or solicited any attention. In typical Kolby style he just sat and watched.

It was about the time that I was typing in my pin number to the machine that the man asked to pet Kolby. I admit, certain areas in my life I can not multi-task. One being paying a bill, and watching Kolby with an appropriate greeting, next to a tap dancing dog. But I quickly said okay and focused enough to see Kolby go over to the man to offer up his sweet face for a quick rub. The over joyful dog stayed on the other side of the man.

I gave Kolby the Here command to get him back to my side, and he immediately obeyed (I was beaming on the inside), and he went back to sitting and watching the dog, and watching me, all the while the man was completely amazed that my obviously young puppy had no reaction to his towering jumping-bean.

Kolby was not wearing his vest, and I kept my secret that he was a Service Dog in Training to myself. I figured the man with the bouncing dog had too many other things on his mind to listen to me share about Puppy Raising for CCI. We live in a small enough town, I'm sure he will spot us training at some point between now and August 2014 ... and then my secret will be out and he'll not be as impressed.

But for the meantime, it was fun to beam on the inside while Kolby was a total Rock Star at the Vet.

Kolby was due for his second round of vaccine boosters today, but they have been put on hold for ten days. He was tested positive for Demodex, so he will sporting a nice orange gel at bedtime to clear it up. While my vet was surprised at the combo of Demodex with a 14 week old puppy, she was not concerned. It is an immune issue that will sort itself out with the help of medication. Because of an Awesome group of Puppy Raisers raising this fabulous K-Litter, I quickly learned today that Kolby's sister also tested positive for Demodex today (we take our Booster update schedules seriously, all the pups coincidentally saw their personal vets today). The extra-fun news of the vet visit is that Kolby weighs 26.5 pounds. WooHoo!!!