Thursday, January 16, 2014

let's talk .... dogs!!!!


Debbie and I were invited by Suzan and Friday to do a talk on Service dogs at a local Salvation Army meeting. And as it turns out, this was the first of two talks this week!!! (funny how when it "rains it pours"). Friday and Debbie have met before, so after their "hellos" both settled down and did their "service dog" thing. 
While Suzan spoke, Deb and I listened quietly. I had her do an "under" (because it was good practice) and it showed the other people who were there, the good manners of a service dog. Most were so surprised when they learned that Deb is just 10 months!!!
Suzan did a nice talk, she answered questions - asked me to answer a few questions, and then had Friday demo some of the tasks that he can do for her....
It was a nice afternoon out and nice to share this sort of thing with people in our community....
(Deb and Friday sneak in a little goodbye kiss....)
The next day.. Deb and I were off again to do our own talk... we had be invited last fall to do a talk on service dogs at the  Senior College. I had asked a couple of the others in the group to come as well.. but as it turned out, no one else was able to go...
I was told that there would be around 80 people attending this talk (good thing I don't mind speaking in front of crowds!!!) And there were just about 80 people there. The Senior college has all sorts of classes and lectures on all sorts of different things, and people were very interested in the service dog.
The fun part for me, was they invited me to their luncheon first... my that was so good.. and everyone met int he big dining hall. The gentleman that had asked me to speak acted as my host, and when we entered the dining hall (with food all over the tables) more that a few people looked very surprised when "a dog came in the room". 





Deb was perfect!!! She has always been good in restaurants, she stayed right at my side until we were seated.. and then went right under the table and didn't move. I could see people looking and talking about us. 

After the luncheon we went over to the lecture hall, and I felt like everyone wanted to come and talk and say  how impressed they already were. 

I was pretty pleased with my talk... I had drafted it out weeks ago and kept going over it.. I also had three dvd's that I got from NEADS to share... everyone enjoyed those. And I was only a little nervous when I knew I had to fill two hours... but the time zoomed by and the hours were gone before I knew it. So, two service dog talks, a chance to get out on some cold winter days... and more "experience" for Miss Deb...