Conquering Chocolate World: It’s All About the Burgers

Dop Dop met the singing cows.

That’s right. THE singing cows—Gabby, Harmony, and Olympia, the singing cows of Hershey’s Chocolate World.

Doppler turns one year old on December 21, which means that he has his one-year evaluation next week. He’ll spend a few days at the kennel with Susquehanna Service Dogs’ professional trainers so they can determine if he has the potential to become a service dog.

I have to admit, I’m a little bit nervous. I think Dop Dop is a great dog, but he does have his quirks. Take stairs, for instance. He still tends to hesitate when faced with a new set of stairs.

Anyway, I learned at the last puppy lecture that Chocolate World is one of the places the dogs could go during their one-year evals. And since I’m all about setting my dog up for success, I decided that Doppler was going to visit Chocolate World before his eval.

Now, in order to get on the ride, I knew Doppler would have to go down a set of brand new stairs. (See why I would be a little nervous about his eval?) So I decided to tip the scales in my favor and stuffed my treat pouch with two McDonald’s hamburgers, one hotdog, about half a cup of goldfish, and as much kibble as would fit.

It worked!

We got to Chocolate World and trotted over to the tour ride. Knowing that the stairs were coming up, I let almost everyone pass us so that we wouldn’t hold anyone up if Doppler decided the stairs were horrible, terrible, no good, very bad things. I shouldn’t have worried, though, because Doppler was a pro. He didn’t even hesitate going down the stairs! He even stopped and looked at me for his treat every time I clicked. Completely blew my mind.

But once we made it down the stairs, Dop Dop had another obstacle to overcome. In order to get on the ride, he had to step from a stationary floor to a section of floor that rotated. Would he do it?

Sure! No problem! Why was I even worried?

He did hesitate before getting in the car of the ride. I had to lure him with some hotdog, but once he was in, he sat down and absorbed it all—sights, sounds, smells, and singing cows.

I was so proud and let him know it! He got lots of treats and praise.

Now, his loose leash walking left a little to be desired, and he was a little hesitant on the ramps leading up to the stairs. Oh, and his happy tail knocked a few small things of the shelf when we did some greetings. (But he stayed focused on me!)

All in all, I call this a HUGE win for Doppler, and I’m not nearly as nervous about his evals as I was. I know he won’t be perfect, and I know I’ll probably get a nice list of things to work on with him, but at least now I’m not worried that he’s going to fail because he turned into a scaredy-cat and refused to do the stairs.

After eating two hamburgers, one giant hotdog, and half a cup of goldfish, though, I think I might need to loosen the ol’ harness tomorrow. Poor Dop might not get as much breakfast as he’s used to.

First Day, First Outing

Zonked after a long day

Well, it’s official. I signed all the paperwork today. I’m officially Doppler’s puppy raiser! It still boggles my mind that I’m raising a puppy.

Doppler started working right after I picked him up at the kennel. By “work” I mean “take a really long nap,” of course. We went back to the office and he sprawled out in Fire’s crate for a two and a half hour nap. He sang himself to sleep. It’s so hard to ignore him when he’s whining so pathetically. I’ll try to get a video of it, because he really does sound pathetic. In fact, he kept whining even as he played with his new squeaky alligator. Weird little beast. 

The little stinker is cute even when he just wakes up.

But overall, I’d say he did very well at the office. He walks very nicely on a loose leash, although he tends to list to the right and bump into my leg. When we’re walking up stairs, I have to be very careful not to step on him, especially since he somehow manages to flop up the stairs.

Once I left work, I thought why not take Doppler on his first outing? First day, first outing. Get a few of the firsts out of the way right off the bat. We stopped at Giant on the way home. My whole goal was to get some puppy-sized chew toys for his sharp little puppy teeth. I’m also hoping that by putting a fun chew toy in his crate in the car, he won’t whine and howl the whole car ride.

Our Giant outing was going great. He walked on a loose leash through the parking lot and just sat there while an employee pushed a noisy train of carts toward the store. We took a quick potty break before going inside and then he walked nicely through the door—and immediately started sniffing around like he was going to pee again. So after being in the store for a grand total of 15 seconds, I scooped him up and carried him outside. He face-planted in the snow when I plopped him down, and sure enough, he did need to potty.

Take two: We walked back into Giant, and this time we were able to spend more than 15 seconds there. We stayed right inside the door for a few minutes just to get our bearings. Doppler thought that it was time to play and he tried to romp around me. Eventually, he settled down and focused on me again, and we headed for the dog aisle, “oooo, puppy!” in our wake.

Doppler sat nicely while I picked out some chew toys, and then we walked to the self-checkout, where we waited in line. When the woman in front realized that there was a puppy behind her, I decided Doppler could work on greetings. I shoved treats in his mouth to keep him focused on me while the woman petted his back. She stayed calm and listened to my instructions about petting him, and he stayed focused on me. It was everything I could have hoped for in a first greeting. Until Doppler and I have been working together for a few weeks, I think I will just be smiling politely and telling all of the “Oooooo, puppy, come ‘ere pup! Let me pet you, puppy!” people that Doppler is working and can’t be petted.

Overall, our first outing was a success. Even better, Doppler now has lots of chew toys to chomp instead of my pants and shoes. Of course, Fire stole the bacon-flavored one immediately and wouldn’t let Doppler have it until it was thoroughly chewed up. I can’t blame Fire for stealing it, though. After all, it’s bacon-flavored.

Here's Doppler with one of the non-bacon-flavored toys. He still thinks it's pretty awesome, despite it's lack of bacon.

Doppler finally got to chew the bacon-flavored toy.