December was an extra exciting month for me because my human and I went to the desert in Southern California for almost two weeks and it was amazing. I also got to go on an airplane! Twice! I had been to YVR once already on a special field trip, so the airport in Vancouver was at least familiar, but still very exciting. When we boarded the plane, I discovered that there was another pup on the flight – a fully certified seeing eye dog for a passenger who was visually impaired. My human was worried that she might distract me, but I totally played it cool. At the end of the flight, the guide dog even tried to say “hi” to me, but I was an extra good boy and stayed down at my human’s feet.
California was so great because it was sunny on all but one day that we were there! I was actually born in California (near San Francisco, but still…) so it was a bit of a “back to my roots” for me. We stayed at a house that belonged to my human’s brother and I had so much space there compared to the small condo my human lives in. My “uncle” really liked having me around too, so I had a new human friend to play with whenever he didn’t have to work. But the really best part was that right next door to his house there’s a park where all the neighbourhood dogs play. So I definitely had the best vacation ever!
But don’t worry, my human gave me plenty of opportunities to practice my service dog skills while we were away too. We went to a bunch of really big stores (everything is so much bigger down there) and I made sure to be on my best behaviour whenever we were out. Apparently I got a lot of compliments when we were out and about.
Submitted By: Tessa Matsuzaki
