We Are Unstoppable

On Monday we went to Melbourne’s CBD by train. It was Sparkie’s first train ride and she was such a good little girl!

The following is copied (only slightly edited) from my diary, so forgive the rambling!

“Up at 6:30am, on the road at 7:30. Made it to the train station on time, caught the 9:02 train. Sparkie jumped on like a pro, slept under my seat the whole hour and a half to Melbourne. The CBD is incredible. So many massively tall office buildings. And the people! So many people. First we went to the toilets, and then we had trouble finding any grass for Sparkie to pee on, finally found a gravel patch with some plants poking out and let her use that. The place we were going was on the tenth floor of a VERY flash building, revolving door, heaps of people in each lift. Sparkie handled it all perfectly. She had a bit of a goofy moment at one point, rolling around the floor. And then she fell asleep again. She woke up when my anxiety levels started to rise – she sat up and started nudging me and licking me. Love my little dog! When the session was over I took Sparkie to look out the window, she was fascinated by the tiny people way down there! We rode the lift back down, another eight strangers crowding in, and then outside. Back to the plants. And then back to the toilets at the train station. Went upstairs for a sandwich and a bottle of water, and downstairs to eat it. Sparkie's heelwork was amazing. I gave her a little drink using the empty plastic sandwich packet as a bowl, and also a tiny bit of crust. Before we went back on the train, we gave her another chance to pee but she didn't want to go. Then toilet for us and back on the train. Sparkie stayed awake for a while but eventually fell asleep. When we got back to Seymour I took Sparkie's coat off so she could sniff and be goofy while we waited for the other guys to pick us up. Took nearly an hour because Jessica had turned her phone's volume right down!”

Some short videos:

Sparkie riding on the train. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phaNJbJVD_U

And this is us crossing a road in the CBD on the way back to the station. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4a9sQTYSH8

 

On Friday we’re off for our Public Access Test, Sparkie’s final assessment to see if she’s ready to graduate from “in training” status.

(resting on her mat during a lunch break at Southern Cross Station before we caught the train home)

We are unstoppable
That's who we are, that's who we are
For the impossible
That's who we are, that's who we are

– Unstoppable, TobyMac

Hiatus

I’ve been neglecting this blog again. So many things have been happening. This post doesn’t mention them all.

 

On August 25, we decided to cancel the Superdog shows we had remaining for the rest of the year. Shortly after that we were all sick with the flu, and then we found another diesel leak! We got it fixed, but now the bus has developed a new rattle, which seems to be in the engine.

 

With the pressure off, life seems easier. Mostly. It’s giving me a chance to focus on Sparkie’s service dog training, and we’re on our way to Melbourne for our certification on October 3. Which puts more pressure on me. But whatever.

 

Will we ever do more Superdog shows? I hope so. We might do some small events next winter. I want to keep the places we perform at small and our performances low cost so there’s less pressure to perform perfectly. For now, we’re on hiatus.

 

And here’s a bunch of photos.