Our first week...

How is Wyatt doing with Blaze??? I get this question a lot this past week. 

Wyatt knows Blaze is his dog! He smiles at Blaze when he passes him in the house, when he is greeting him at school, etc. He makes great eye contact with Blaze and giggles at Blaze's actions (Blaze can be a pretty funny dog). I have been introducing Blaze to Wyatt's every day world (and getting Wyatt use to Blaze in his every day world), bringing him to therapy here and there, putting them in Wyatt's room together, having Blaze in bathroom during bath time, playing outside together, etc. I've brought Blaze to Wyatt's social group a couple of times last week. Wyatt turns around at least every 5 minutes to be sure Blaze is still laying behind him.

I am thankful that Wyatt already seems excited about Blaze. I look forward to their bond growing stronger. We have tethered Wyatt to Blaze while going to and from therapy, at target and grocery, etc. Wyatt seems very comfortable with the tethering. In his six years of life, this is the first time he has walked through stores without holding mom and/or dad's hand. Such an independence opportunity for Wyatt. 

Many people ask, when will they bond. Depends on the child and dog. It could take a few months up to several months. Wyatt is a kiddo that takes awhile to warm up to new things. One year for Christmas he got a swing set for outside, it took him two weeks to play on it. 

Some things I have learned the first week:

• Having a service dog draws more attention to your family. Everyone looks, some people smile and some people gawk as if they never have seen a service dog.
• It's only been a week, but I feel like people are a little more patient with us. 
• Every morning when we take River to summer camp, the guy working the front desk makes a point to say hi and bye to Wyatt (and waits for Wyatt to respond). One day after dropping River off, Wyatt and I were leaving and a few ladies were oohing and aahing over Blaze. The front desk guy said, "forget the dog, I think that kid is pretty awesome". 
• Wyatt had a tantrum after leaving River at summer camp (don't think he was sad to leave his brother, more that it was unfair brother was at place with a swimming pool). People waited kindly for me to get him together and out the door.  Also Blaze did amazing. It's like he knows, he stood patiently looking at me with his sweet eyes like "you got this mom".
• A lady at the grocery story, in line in front of us, offered me her $10 dollar off coupon...kind gesture.
• Everyone is excited to tell you about their pet dogs and cats when they see you with a service dog. I am pretty sure every target and grocery trip we took (four total last week - crazy, right), someone had a story to tell me.
• Wyatt is enjoying the independence being tethered while shopping. I took both boys and Blaze to grocery Saturday morning to grab a few things. While we were checking out I was giving Blaze command to come "here" and lay "down". Once he was settled, I looked up to see Wyatt has grabbed and opened bubble gum. Rookie mistake on my part. 
• It's an opportunity to spread autism awareness. When people ask about Blaze, I have the opportunity to tell them the things Blaze does and will do for Wyatt. 
• Integrity of my pack is more important than opinion of others! I've been running 2 miles with Blaze in the evenings. He, much like me, loves to socialize. When he sees another dog he gets a bit excited, I give him the "leave it" command so we can continue our run, not distracted. A few times I have had to give a firm "No". I've gotten some looks, which is hard for me to not stop and say, "he is my son's service dog. Once he gets away with jumping around for another dog, I won't be able to break it later on when he is working with my son. I know I sound firm but that's how I get him to know I mean business." Instead I remind myself that integrity of my pack is more important than opinion of others.
• Our bond (Blaze and mine) is getting stronger. I practice commands with him daily and surprised how much better I am getting. He is 100% trained, he knows the commands, it's me getting the tone, body language correct. Here is he practicing the "lay on" command. This command would provide deep pressure for Wyatt. Unfortunately we didn't have any humans around while practicing, but Monkey Joe did great.Also I got him to do it the first time! At Team Training it took me at least 400 times. 
  

We will continue to bring Blaze more and more into Wyatt's world. One day he will attend therapy and school with Wyatt (without me). I know that day will be awesome for both of them!