Brad is done editing the pictures from the convention about a month ago. You can see all the convention pictures PSDP will post here: https://www.psychdogpartners.org/resources/convention/2024-convention/2024-convention-pictures. Over the next several days, I’ll be posting some of my favorites in my blog. Most of these have not been featured on the PSDP convention photos page, they are extras for my blog and Instagram!
In today’s blog entry, I will be sharing pictures and video from Felix’s public access test (PAT). A PAT isn’t required in the US for a dog to be a service dog, but I personally use them to help me decide when to graduate my dog from service dog in training to full service dog status. If you want to see the PAT I used, here is a link to it: https://www.psychdogpartners.org/resources/public-access/public-access-test
Because I was proctoring the PAT for other teams later on in the day, Katie gave me the PAT in the morning before things started with the convention. Katie met me as we arrived to the hotel, and we started off doing transportation first. I drove us around the parking lot, and Katie sat in back with Felix. He was perfect, she said! Brad got three pictures of me coming out of the van with Felix. I am wearing my lime green Tinkerbell dress, and Felix is in his lavender service dog vest.
Next we did breakfast. Felix had an extra challenge because I was in my wheelchair and it was a buffet. That means I had to hold a full plate of food right in front of his face, and he couldn’t sniff it! He did great at it! Then we went out to the patio and ate breakfast. Katie remarked that it was so pleasant to be out to a meal with Felix because she didn’t have to worry about him at all. He was just great lying on his blanket! After I ate, I picked Felix up and held him while the others finished.
We did bathrooms and elevator next, and I keep Felix on my lap for those things. I don’t like him walking on the floor in bathrooms and picking up germs since he gets in my lap so much. And elevators are just not safe with him on the floor.
Then we walked over to TJ Maxx where the store portion of the test was given. On the walk over, Felix got to relax some and sniff around.
Felix had some trouble passing the first parking lot that we went through. He was pulling and sniffing more than I’d like. So we said we’d re-do parking lots at the end of the test.
We got to the store and went inside. Felix did an OK job inside the store. He was a bit sniffy in the store—more sniffy than usual. And his heel wasn’t great, either. It turns out after the test that when we got outside he pooped, so I think he actually had to poop while we were in the store and that was what caused his sniffiness and pulling.
He also didn’t do great on the leave-it. I put a piece of food on the floor and had him walk over it instead of walking past it at a distance of three feet like the test says to. He ate the treat the first time, so we repeated it and he was perfect the second time.
Brad got lots of good pictures of us in the store!
Afterwards, we went outside and did parking lots again and Felix aced it! Yay! Katie talked with me about how Felix did, and was very honest about how he was more sniffy than she would have liked, but that I was able to redirect him when it occurred so it was acceptable for the test. I included a picture of us talking, and then a couple of pictures from Sunday night of Katie giving Felix and me our certificate and medal for passing the PAT!
Brad also got video of the whole test! While you wait for our next convention post, you can watch it below!