We finally found a dog friendly church that makes me feel relaxed about working with Riley. I used to be so uptight that she would make a mistake she would start alerting the second we walked in to church . We have been going to this church for a while and Riley is now so relaxed she will lay down on her side and flake out during the sermon. When we went to church this morning I was not feeling good and several times last night Riley kept getting on the bed to snuggle with me because I was in so much pain. Every time I drifted off she would get down and when the pain woke me up she would get back into bed with me.When we walked into church this morning I was standing up and singing Riley alerted and I ignored her but then she sat back on her haunches wrapped her to big furry paws around my arm and pulled me to a sit. This is an urgent alert by her that I might get dizzy and fall. I sat down for a few minutes than stood up for a song and this time she let me but when the sermon started she alerted again and that’s when those weird pains in my head started again she climbed into my lap and hugged me for a while and they start to go away. When she got down she insisted in laying in front of me where she could see my face. Later in the sermon I felt comfortable enough to answered an alter call. Which means they invite anyone to come up to the front of the church to be prayed over and anointed with oil (me not the dog) I was feeling comfortable enough to go to the front with Riley and while they were praying over me Riley decide to go behind me and climb up on the pew and sit with her back against mine looking out over the congregation while I was facing forward. I could not move because we were praying in a circle and holding hands. To be fair to Riley we have been working on block and cover. And cover is when Riley walks behind me and sits behind my legs so no one can get near my body. Normally when we do this there is space behind my legs to come behind me but this time the back of my legs were against the pew so Riley thought in her own mind that she should just get up and walk along the pew until she could sit right behind me. Now she is supposed to wait until I give her the command but there was a lot of people up at the front with me and I guess Riley felt compelled to protect my back because she knew I was sore But I would have prefered her not to use the front pew as a seat. When the pastor finished praising God everyone said Amen and Riley gave her best happy bark and the whole congregation cracked up. Later they all praised her for saying Amen at the end of the service. It’s so nice to be at a church that just laughs and take it in stride when your service dog makes a big mistake lol. Thank goodness there was no one sitting in the front pew lol.
mechristandchronicdisease 