Lots of Dog Loving Patients = Long Night

After a week off, we were back on the job. I have been a totally terrible mom, the weather has SUCKED and I have been exhausted, so poor Chel has not had her walks like she is used to having. She was quite excited to put on her vest and go to work.

So we got there last night as usual, and while Chelsie was rummaging through the trash and getting her butt scratched, I happened to look in and see nurse Clara sitting in a chair - and very OBVIOUSLY expecting. I said to the nurse coordinator...Um, is Clara expecting - like the answer is totally obvious. Keep in mind we see her on a pretty regular basis, and she is due in 6 weeks - can we say DUH? Clara is a trooper - still on her feet moving everyone around.

As you can tell from the title, there were a lot of dog loving patients last night - we did not even make it down the hall, when this older lady saw us and said, Come in here! They were total dog people, and Chelsie knew it. She jumped right up on her chair - this lady wanted kisses, and mommy is not too crazy about letting her give kisses. I was able to keep the kissing under control, but this lady was loving on her big time. Her roomie had people in with her, so we skipped her, but when we came back down the hall, we got Come back in here, she wants to see the dog, she thought she missed you. We went into another dog lover - she had a picture of her dog in with her, and she teared up. She loved all over Chelsie too - and asked if she could sit on the bed. I normally do not let her do that, but this lady appeared to be mobile enough and was situated on the bed in a manner in which I felt OK about putting her on the bed. It actually worked out very well - Chelsie snuggled right up to her. As if she is SO mistreated at home...

We had yet another interesting encounter last night. We came into a room with a man who clearly had some mobility issues and was deaf. If I had to guess, he likely had cerebral palsy - fists were sort of clenched and it looked like his muscles were pretty tight. Anyway, when we walked in, he was very excited to see the dog - I asked his interpreter if he wanted to touch the dog, he said yes. It was a challenge to figure out the best position to get her in so he could pet her - I decided on the floor was the best option. Unfortunately, he had dropped food, and she was scrounging. I got after her, and this upset the man terribly - and he told me to leave. I quickly assured him she was still a good dog - and put in the chair and hugged her. I asked his interpreter to explain that like a child, when the dog behaved bad, she needed to be corrected - but that she was a good dog. It was better after that, but I clearly upset him when I corrected her.

One of the last rooms we came to was a room where there was a husband and wife who had 2 labs of their own (wife was patient). She marched right up to him and started sniffing - the guy laughed and said he had been wrestling his dogs an hour ago. He started scratching her back end, and she just went nuts - I mean nuts. Picking her feet up, going around in circles and then came over and did her somersault in my lap - all signs of a very happy dog. I managed to get her calmed down, and we talked to them for about 10 minutes. As a lab owner, this guy knew all the right spots. It was a happy 10 minutes for her.

We were there for about an hour and twenty minutes last night - which is a long time. Her attention span is somewhere around an hour, so I knew as soon as we passed that, I was on borrowed time. She did get a little antsy at the end, but all in all, her behavior was pretty good. I can honestly say that she did great last night - so many people wanted to see her and pet her, and even though she got a little antsy, she was a perfect little angel. It was good to be back.

We hope this finds everyone doing well. I can hardly believe next week is turkey day and then Christmas not too far after that. We are going to try and make it to Dodd next Thursday before going to grammie's house. Mom is on vacation next week - much needed. Getting new carpet on Monday - yea! Not especially looking forward to the sheer labor involved in moving everything off the carpet, but the old stuff is so nasty, a little elbow grease won't kill me.

Have a great week!

Nicole and the very spoiled rotten Chelsie Belle