Trial Run

What an exciting weekend we've had! Friday afternoon we brought Sunny home to stay the night and then planned to spend all day Saturday with her so she can spend more one on one time with us and we can all get to know each other better.  Sunny needs to do this so she can start seeing us as part of her "pack" and learn to trust us more.

Friday evening was definitely different...for all of us.  Sunny spent a lot of time exploring and sniffing around the house, getting to know her surroundings.  The boys were super excited to have her with us.  We spent some time outside playing and relaxing.

We decided to take a walk to the park to let the boys run off some energy.  We took a longer route to the park so we could practice walking with her. 

Walking to the park

She did wonderfully as did Charlie (and Dad).  It's fun to see that she looks to the side every so often to see how Charlie is doing.  She wears her vest whenever we go out so she knows she's working and has a job to do (and others won't see her as just a family pet and approach her).  And she takes it seriously.  You can see a slight shift with her when you put the vest on as she goes into working mode.  

Waiting for the boys at the park

Night time was interesting.  We knew not to expect her to sleep with Charlie the entire night, and she didn't.  She's not used to us, our house or our routine so of course she needs to have an adjustment period.  She laid in his bed for short amounts of time during bedtime but eventually slept most of the night in the living room on her dog bed. 

We knew we would have all day Saturday with her but didn't have much planned.  We were running really low on several staple food items so decided we were comfortable enough to try a Costco run with her.  We had a short list and knew it wouldn't be a long trip.  Plus, Tyler and I were both there for reinforcement if something didn't go well.  But it did!!  We got what we needed and we even stayed after shopping so the boys could have a quick lunch.  Sunny did marvelously and so did the boys.  No meltdowns from Charlie while shopping, he was so much more regulated!  We even had a couple people stop and ask us about her being a service dog asking us how long we've had her (umm....today's the first day, HA!) or overheard some mamas telling their kids that they couldn't touch the dog because she was working (wonderful!  Thank you!).

Cruising Costco

After Costco we hung around at home.  Laid around, played outside, went for walks, played fetch and just spent time together.  We knew Mike would be around to pick Sunny up in the evening but things were going so well we asked to keep her for another night.  We usually go to church on Saturday's to avoid the Sunday crowd so we thought we'd give it a try.  We need to try it at some point, might as well be now!!  It couldn't have gone any better.  I'll admit...I felt a little strange walking a dog into church but everyone that came in contact with us embraced the change.  

Transitioning Charlie to his Sunday School room is usually a challenge.  It takes a lot of time, a lot of coaxing and sometimes a few shed tears.  But this weekend Charlie walked into the room with Sunny, introduced her to all his teachers and told them how much he loves Sunny.  Since Charlie is unable to handle Sunny on his own right now, we will take Sunny to service with us.  And we talked with Charlie about this before we left.  We reminded him that Sunny would come pick him up in a little bit after church before we left his room.  He accepted that pretty well and gave her a hug goodbye for the short time they'd be apart.  WOW.  Big difference.  Huge difference!

During the service Sunny did great.  She walked into the isle we were sitting in and sat down right away.  After a couple minutes she made herself comfortable, laid down on the floor and fell asleep.  

Night 2- Saturday Night:  When we got home from church it was time to get ready for bed.  We knew it would take Charlie awhile to settle down and be ready to go to sleep, it always does.  Tyler helped Easton and Christian get into bed while Charlie and I read some books in the living room (Sunny relaxed on the kitchen floor).

When Charlie was ready to lay down we brought Sunny in his room with us.  She jumped up on the bed and settled in right next to Charlie.  However, whenever Tyler or I left the room, Sunny wanted to leave with us.  Since Charlie wanted her in there I decided to stay with them until they fell asleep.  I snuck out once they did and Sunny stayed in there for a short time.  She did eventually come out and sleep on her dog bed again.  Around 4am Charlie woke up with a bad dream.  Tyler took Sunny back in there to help soothe Charlie.  They both fell back asleep with one another!  Again, I don't expect things to be perfect the first time she's with us.  It's a learning experience for all of us.  But you could tell she really did help him through the night.

Sunday has been a lazy day at our house.  We don't have many of these so it's a welcomed change for us.  Sunny enjoyed a marrow bone on the deck while I enjoyed my coffee out there.  The boys eventually joined us on the deck to eat their breakfast as well.  

Bonding

We've enjoyed relaxing today, getting caught up on housework, budgeting, playing outside, going for walks and just being together today.  And Sunny was all a part of it.  You can definitely tell she's become more comfortable with us in just a couple of days.  We've been able to practice some commands and things she will do to help Charlie calm down.  

Important work being done here!

It hasn't been just Charlie bonding with Sunny, we've all had time to do some snuggles and bonding with her all weekend.  The boys are learning some of the commands we use with her and have had plenty of opportunity to give out some treats (everyone's favorite thing to do).  At one point today the boys were playing in the front yard.  Sunny was in the house with Tyler and I.  I went out to check on the boys and see what they were doing.  I was followed closely by Sunny who was wondering what I was doing.  I let her come out front with me (without a leash- as she doesn't go far without you).  We could see the boys a few driveways down playing with remote control cars on the sidewalk.  Sunny spotted the boys and began walking towards them on her own.  I followed behind her- kind of amazed that she had that interest.  We got to the boys and she checked in with each of them.  She approached each one individually, sniffed them or licked them and then went on to the next boy.  She wanted to see what they were up to and see that they were ok!  I think we may be part of her pack now!

Christian giving belly rubs

Just getting to know one another

The original plan was to get Sunny around the beginning of October.  We all want to see Sunny be able to start school with Charlie which is August 31.  Plus things are going really well training wise so the goal is to have her full time by the end of August!  We'll hopefully have an update on how things are going to work with Charlie bringing Sunny to school with him after next week (we meet with the school again Aug. 2).

We know she's an amazing dog, but we've really been able to see that by spending the last 2 days with her.  She's truly a blessing to us and we think she'll fit in perfectly with our family.