Brogan Starts His New Job

Brogan takes a breather in familiar surroundings

at the Palo Alto IKEA

My foster dog Emma (now Winnie) went happily to her new family this past Sunday, so Brogan's own new life as a Service Dog has begun in earnest. He has been helping me around the house and on hikes and walks for years, but it has only been in the last couple months that I realized that both he and I qualify for him to be a Service Dog in EVERY public location. Thanks to ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) laws in the US, Brogan doesn't really need any more special training, but just as I have always wanted him to be an excellent Rottweiler breed ambassador, I also want him to be an excellent service dog ambassador. And that means learning some extra skills and manners so that we can be the best team we can be.

Our first official outing was to IKEA on Monday. They have a very short escalator that I wanted to try him out on and I knew mid-day Monday would be nice and quiet. Brogan's eyes bugged out a bit at the sight of the evil monster escalator, but he trusted me to lead him onto it and safely off of it. Ok, there was a bit of scrambling of toenails on metal for the first (and second) attempt, but eventually we did better. Not perfect, but better.

The reward was the IKEA showroom itself, full of interesting 'houses' to explore and cushy carpets on which to rest Brogan's tired knee. The employees and other shoppers were great, giving Brogan lots of pets and encouragement. I'm still in the very early stages of learning how to handle the public's interest in Brogan. Many service dogs are 'hands off while working', but a mobility dog is a bit different in that his biggest responsibility is to stand near me (vs keeping me from stepping out into traffic for a seeing eye dog, for example). Brogan is so extremely social that a huge part of his motivation is attention from strangers and at this point I don't want to take that motivation away by asking him to ignore all other humans. As I said, it's a learning process for both of us.

Since our successful IKEA trip we've also been to OfficeMax and Target (really BIG escalators!). I love having him with me. In addition to knowing I won't end up on my posterior after crouching down to get something from a bottom shelf, it's wonderful simply to have him trotting along beside me with that big old Rottie grin on his face. Good boy!