Saturday, June 5, 2010

Trip to Calaway Park

Once a year a local amusement park, in cooperation with The Cerebral Palsy Association, opens its doors for free for families with special needs.  So last night Matthew, Dawsyn and Milkyway along with Mom and our special helper, Emily, headed off to the world of whirling, spinning and coastering!

Milkyway was a real hit!  Every child in the place wanted to pet him and many of the adults wanted to ask questions ... more about his breed than his job!  Who knew that a labradoodle would attract so much attention?  I've gotta admit, he is cute!

In the process we met a number of families waiting 
 (and  waiting and waiting and waiting)
for dogs from Dogs with Wings...I had to zip my lip and keep my opinions to myself.  Then we met one family getting a dog from 4 Paws!  YAY 4 Paws!!!!  They were still doing their fundraising but they were so excited to hear about our experience in training.  I loved telling them about how wonderful (and tiring) the experience was!!  I got a little carried away and got to remembering our time with our dear 4 Paws families and gotta admit, got a little misty missing you all!!

In fact, just being in an environment where there were so many families with special needs, I found myself looking around for other dogs and friends!  I get a glimpse of someone and think, "Oh, there's Sean" (I never did see anyone as tiny and cute as Bethany) or a boy that reminded me of Hudson.  I've got to admit, it all made me a little lonesome for y'all (SEE, now I'm talking like Lisa)!  

Milkyway found the whole experience just a little overwhelming.  I guess, since we've settled back into our regular routine, the biggest trip he's been on has been to the local Walmart so an amusement park was a bit of a shock!  The poor little guy did not know what to think about his girl going off with Emily and whirling and spinning on all those rides.  While we waited, I'd find a place to sit down and try to get him into a "down" but he was so antsy trying to keep his eye on Dawsyn that he kept jumping up and looking in the direction she went.   Some of the rides created their own weather systems blowing wind right at us.  Whenever Dawsyn would fly by, Milky would get a face full of "Dawsyn smell" and it almost drove him CRAZY!  I actually had difficulty handling him sometimes because he was so desperate to get to her.  He even tried to jump over the fence into the bumper cars!!   The noises of the machinery really made him jumpy as well.  

At one point, Dawsyn and Emily were making a speedy trip to the washroom and Milkyway was NOT impressed at the slow pace he and I were following at.  He finally had enough and just BOLTED.   NOTE TO MOM:  When Milky decides he needs to follow his girl, hold on for the ride!!  I didn't lose my grip on the leash but did have to run like the wind to keep up with him.  I actually had to take him into the washroom so he could tell where she was before he would settle down to wait for her outside!  

Four hours of wandering around an amusement park with an excited girl and a jumpy dog left me exhausted.  I slept very well last night!

3 comments:

The Blog Fodder said...

Sounds like a fun day. Did "Dawsyn and Dog" sleep well too?

Dawsyn's Mom said...

Both slept well on Friday night but even better on Saturday night! 13.5 hours for Dawsyn with no seizures. It was a GOOD night!!

The Blog Fodder said...

That is great.