Street legal

Last Friday, Steve took Beverly in for her final set of puppy shots. She weighed just over 30 pounds, and she didn’t make a peep when the needle went in. The biggest cause for rejoicing, however, is that now that’s she’s been fully immunized, it’s finally legal for us to take her out in public. 

Our puppy-raiser ID cards arrived in the mail the other day — proof that Beverly is a true service dog in training and not some imposter. (I can’t remember the last time anyone ever asked for our credentials. But if they ever do, we’re ready.)

In the past few weeks, we’ve cheated a little, taking Beverly out for short walks in our neighborhood (where we assume that the incidence of unimmunized dogs is low.) But we’ve conscientiously refrained from having her accompany us into any stores or restaurants or movie theaters or the like.

That chapter of her service dog training has now begun, however. Saturday night my nephew Lee DeWyze (who won American Idol in its 9th season) was performing at a small music club in Normal Heights as part of a West Coast tour showcasing his latest album. We knew the club to be dog-friendly, so even though the quarters would be tight, we decided to take Beverly along (in part because Lee is a huge dog-lover.)

It couldn’t have gone better.  Outside, Beverly was the model of puppy calm and composure.

Once inside, she curled up on the beautiful quilted “landing pad” that was a gift from her human great-grandmother and went right to sleep. She barely moved for the next three hours.

Steve and I have decided to take our time about introducing her to grocery-shopping. One or the other of us usually does a big shop every Saturday, and those outings can be exhausting (for humans and puppies).

So we plan to build up to it with her slowly. But we’re ready to go out to the movies as soon as there’s something that calls to us to be seen on the Big Screen. Whenever that is, we’re confident Beverly can handle it.