(October 11th, 2018: While the salient points are accurate, I had a bit of "fun" writing this up ... ;-) So Bliss recently had her last round of major shots ... so she is "cleared" to go places ... and it was a BIG day for her! Kyle left for Fairview High School a little after 7:00AM this morning. I left for Fairview High School at 7:45AM for the 8:30 "Coffee with the Principle" ... WITH Bliss! ;-) We parked, got her to pee (no poop), and got her "dressed" up ... including the "Guide Dogs for the Blind - Puppy in Training" vest. See attached picture of her that I took on the overcast morning (Flatirons in the background) as we walked up to Fairview - she was ALL BUSINESS and she trotted up the sidewalk, so it was tough to take a picture! ;-) At the entrance, several people are there ... plus Laura with Ritter, her Guide Dog for the Blind who about to graduate, so very big Black Lab. FYI that Laura's son Griffin plays baseball with Kyle, so it is "her fault" we have a puppy ... as we have seen her go through several dogs. KRIS: Laura is the "Cookie Lady" you met at the Puppy meeting. Bliss (as typical) is VERY excited to see the people and jumping up a bit (we are working on this) when Laura whispers to me "she is peeing on the carpet" - D'OH! I grab her and run outside ... but she has nothing left to go ... this was an "excitement" pee ... so not much. Fortunately, the woman at the entrance has a six month old puppy ... so she seemed cool with it ... although from past experience, she is a real stickler for the rules. BTW, besides Ritter, I have NEVER seen a dog inside Fairview High School - more on that in a bit. I come back inside and work on calming down Bliss - basically feeding her Kibble. She's still pretty excited ... and they have some new security measures in places, so I finally ask Laura if she can just sign me in ... and just catch up to me as I'll get Bliss outa there and start walking down the inside ramps to the library ... which she does quite well - back to ALL BUSINESS! In the conference room, there are about 30 people (typical 10:1 female:male ratio) and I'm there before 8:30 ... so lots of ohhh-ahhs. Kyle's career Counselor (who we had met for the first time the previous night at parent/teacher conference) comes down to say hi since she "heard there was a puppy!" I work to calm Bliss down - more Kibble (you'll hear that a lot!) So Bliss is doing quite well as the meeting progresses ... just lying on the carpet under my chair. I'm periodically giving her Kibble and have some biting toys for her to gnaw on. Our plan was for Kyle to come in at 9:30 to take her - it's a "block day", so he has the morning open. About 9:00, Bliss gets a bit more active - sitting up and even standing a bit - sniffing the carpet. I increase the rate of Kibble to get her to lay down, but she's interested in exploring ... or as I realize at about 9:10 ... MAYBE SHE HAS TO POOP!!!! Her general behavior - getting up, walking around, sniffing the carpet - is what she does when she POOP! She had pooped around 6:00AM ... but #2 poop is often in the morning ... plus she is consuming Kibble. I'm not sure how the new security arrangements work ... plus it's a long walk to get to the doors with access (most everything else is locked down) ... and I REALLY do NOT want to make a bad first impression. I.e. you brought your puppy to school and you had to leave because they had to POOP ... or WORSE, they actually POOPED on the brand-new carpet (lots of construction going on!). Talk about a CRAPPY first impression!!! What do I do? If in doubt, feed 'em Kibble!!! So I increase the rate of that to get her to lay down - can't poop in that position. I text Kyle saying come right after his class ends at 9:30. I watch the minutes SLOWLY tick away on the clock. I had totally loaded up the Kibble Bag ... but what if I run out?!? Plus being an "old man", my back is starting to hurt from an almost constant hunched over position of feeding her Kibble when she lays down. Kyle comes in the room at 9:30 and walks across the back to where I am on the other side. Principle keeps talking but most people look over - HEY, who can resist a cute puppy! So I can't exactly say "take her out NOW Kyle because she has to POOP!" ... so I hand him misc. stuff plus the all-important kibble bag and whisper something about you know what to do. Meeting continues to ~10:15 as I wonder if Kyle made it out ... or if Bliss dropped some LOGS on the new carpet! ;-) As the meeting ends, I text Kyle saying wrapping up - where are you? No response. I try again - nothing. Maybe he is in the Administration office waiting for the Principle to return and explain why this puppy (that should not have been in the school) pooped on the brand new carpet - CRAP!!!! I walk out of the conference room into the main library ... and one of the Mom's I know says I saw Kyle over there. I find him at the table with his friends - playing Settlers of Catan! Bliss is underneath is chair ... just hanging out and being GREAT! It's "safe" to ask Kyle - did you get Bliss out in time or did she poop on the new carpet? Turns out neither. On the way out, some high school girls were "ohhhh-ahhhh'ing" ... so got Bliss excited and she dribbled again on the carpet ... but then Kyle got her outside for a pee, but no poop ... but the #2 Number Two was building (especially after all that Kibble) as you'll soon hear ... ;-) As I leave and return my badge, front desk lady asks "where's your puppy" I reply that my son Kyle has her in the library. She says students aren't allowed to have dogs in the school. Fortunately, I had remembered Kyle telling me that he had talked to the Head Librarian "Ms. Rose" who was very supportive and has even offered to let Kyle put a crate there. So I said it was approved by Ms. Ross ... and front desk lady says "Oh, she is in charge of the library, so then it is OK" - never underestimate name dropping ... ;-) Since Kyle says he is cool with Bliss, I stick to the original plan to have an early lunch with a friend at a nearby place. LOL that we are chatting about Puppies and he asks if they "Career Change" (i.e. FLUNK) because of the puppy or the raiser. I said I'm sure more the later, but some puppies are just tough (we've been told Bliss is tough). But fortunately we don't have Hewitt (nick-named TANK) who is a month older than Bliss and is a REAL handful - climbs out of X-pens and various stuff. Hewitt's raiser is a woman named Cathy who has done several dozen dogs ... but even with her expert raising, Kyle and I suspect Hewitt may be "Career Changed" Literally right then, Cathy walks into the Southern Sun Cafe with Hewitt! Small world - I stop by to say "hi" as we leave. I text Kyle at Noon saying I'm heading back. She says Bliss is sleeping, so I say just text me when she wakes up. I get no reply. I send a status text 20 minutes later - no reply. Then finally Kyle says she is up because he had to take her to his Business Class. I say lets get her home NOW - we have a GOOD day so don't push it as we want to end it SUCCESSFULLY! Kyle meets me outside of school and I start Bliss walking to the car - she's doing GREAT ... until she comes to a complete stop on the sidewalk - POOP TIME!!!! Rookie mistake on me not asking her to "do her business" when I got her ... so can NOT reward her for pooping, even though on the hard surface. We get home, take her outside to pee, give her some water, and she is OUT for 3+ hours! Meanwhile, I re-fill the Kibble Bag as it is almost empty! ;-) BIG DAY FOR THE LITTLE GIRL!!!! alek