Hopefully, sometime in the next two months, we'll be told that Dave and I will be attending Parent Training this fall at National Service Dogs.
But it's not a guarantee.
This has put us in an interesting quandary for planning for next year. We need to make sure that everything we do takes the dog into account, but can't guarantee whether or not the dog will actually be there. All this without really knowing the kind of impact the dog will have on our day to day life. (We can guess, but, like having kids, it's never quite the same as you think it will be.)
We'd like to take the boys to the Calgary Stampede next year. So we've been starting the preliminary budgets to figure out if the family can afford it and making choices like, do we try to stay with family or go to a hotel? (We're leaning toward a hotel right now since Alex can be hard on a home.) Do we rent a car and fly or do we drive?
If we're flying, does the dog count as a medical companion and need a seat? Or would he or she be put in a carrier? Which hotels accept service animals (they all should, but some will be more accepting than others)?
It puts some extra flux into our plans and as I've said before, I don't do well with uncertainty. Luckily, there's plenty of time for this particular dilemma.
Service dogs are often trained to curl up in the small space at their person's feet on a plane. Some airlines will be helpful in getting the person with the service dog the seat by the emergency exit that has more leg room. Ask about flight training when you go for your own training.
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