Going to need some retraining


Today Hestia and I went to the grocery store. She’s going to need some retraining when this whole virus thing is all over with…

We had to run three errands today, actually. First we stopped by Brad’s aunt’s house to pick up kombucha and chicken with a no-contact delivery. We were able to wave at each other while I was inside the van, though.

Next we headed to Publix. I got a picture of Hestia and me before we went in the store because I didn’t want to take my phone out in the store and contaminate it!

Hestia kept pulling a bit in the store. Mostly she was OK, but occasionally she’d just get it in her head that she wanted to go faster than I was going. Unfortunately it is too hard to train with treats while having gloves on and not wanting to touch things, so I’m just having to use voice cues to remind Hestia how to behave. I wouldn’t say she was awful, but she wasn’t great. I’d give her a B to a B- on her behavior in the store today.

The thing is, though, that she was either in perfect heel without me having to touch the leash (about 80 to 85% of the time) or she was trying to pull. Nothing in between. No getting out of position slightly or anything. Just great or bad!

Anyway, about half the people in the store had masks and most were socially distancing which was nice. There were a few who weren’t, so I shot them mean looks though I’m sure they couldn’t tell since I was wearing a mask. And even in a pandemic, people can’t help staring and commenting on my service dog! At least no one tried to pet her!

They had almost everything we needed. No rubbing alcohol, though. They were also out of the gluten free waffles Brad wanted, so I got another kind that he doesn’t like as much. Oh and they were out of cheap butter, so I’ll get that in two weeks at Lidl.

After Publix, I called the pet store and placed a curbside pickup order for Hestia food and a bag of kibble for Ollie. Since we are now feeding him half raw and half kibble, he needs more kibble. We got Stella’s Essentials Beef and Lentils recipe. I hope he likes it!

I am also including a couple of pictures I took yesterday. Ollie has a cyst on his butt that he wants to lick so he spends a large portion of the time in a cone. He was on the couch next to me, and Hestia wanted to lick his face so she got inside his cone for better access! It is too funny! I got a picture of her deep in there licking him, and then I called her name so she looked at me for a picture. Ollie is just snoozing he he he!

In the pictures I have long brown curly hair and am wearing a grey mask with many colored polka dots. Hestia is a small white and black dog with a smushed nose and googley eyes. Ollie is a silver Standard Poodle. Enjoy!

Veronica wearing a mask in the car with Hestia.
Veronica wearing a mask in the car with Hestia.
Hestia deep inside Ollie's cone licking his ear wax.
Hestia deep inside Ollie’s cone licking his ear wax.
Hestia inside Ollie's cone, looking at me taking the picture.
Hestia inside Ollie’s cone, looking at me taking the picture.

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