Some new first’s for Joe!

Sorry for the lack of blogging, it was a little crazy at our house making sure everything was ready for my sister’s wedding which was last Saturday.

Joe was an awesome bridesmaid helper! He tolerated days of shopping for a dress, shoes and everything else that we went along shopping for. He was a perfect little gentleman on every shopping trip and every minute of shopping. 

Last Friday Joe got to experience several new firsts. He went to his first wedding rehearsal (thanks to Matt for holding him during the rehearsal). He apparently thought the rehearsal was a little on the boring side and went to sleep. His next first was a rehearsal dinner. He did a perfect under down and went to sleep. He did wake up to watch the flower girls, their brother and the ring bearer running around and playing, but he didn’t even try to get up.  He did want to go play with groom and the best man when they were playing with a ball of wrapping paper. Joe only really gets excited when he sees some of his favorite people and Michael is one of them. I guess Joe should be happy now that he is his uncle! 

Being a  good boy at the rehearsal dinner

After all the rehearsal stuff, Joe got to spend the night in a hotel for the first time. However it was not just any hotel it was the Great Wolf Lodge! They get an A+++++ for their service dog etiquette and friendliness! No one said anything to Joe or about Joe the entire time we were there, the employees just smiled at him as they walked by. The lodge is huge and it was sold out the night we were there so Joe got A LOT of people distractions, including a lot of kid distractions. Normally with that many people there are at least a few people who scream or try to pet Joe, but no one did either one!

Riding in the elevator

Joe got a lot of new exposures including a talking tree, fake animals moving and fake people moving and talking(during one of the shows in the lobby). They also have an interactive game for the kids called magiquest where they get a wand and can go around looking for stuff. They can wave their wand and make stuff make noise and light up. Joe and I were standing by a stature of a bear head and a little boy came by and waved his wand and made the bear make noise and eyes turn bright blue. Joe handled it very well! Joe also got a lot of elevator and stair practice since we were on the top floor. The only thing that Joe was interested in was bears that were carved out of wood. Joe got to hang out with some of my family from out of town, but it wasn’t too long before he was passed out. Joe also got to sleep without a crate or tie-down for the first time. We were in a suite so there were two bedrooms and then a living room. Joe went right to sleep beside the bed (after he fixed his blanket just right)

“Hello! Do I know you?”

The next morning (Saturday) Joe and I walked down with my sisters and my mom to get some breakfast. Joe found several ‘friends’ alone the way. We then went on a long walk to make sure he was tired for the wedding. 





“I thought my feet were big!”

Once we got back it was almost time for us to head to the church. Joe hung out with my dad for an hour or so and then some more of his favorite people arrived to watch him during the wedding! (Another big thank you to Mike and Dianne for being on Joe duty!). They said that the only time he stood up was when my sister was coming down the aisle, but besides that he just laid there like  a good boy. They took him to the reception and he did a perfect under down and didn’t move (not even when I came up). I had to wake him up to go and get some pictures taken.  He did even better than I had hoped during the wedding! The poor guy was exhausted by the time we packed everything up, but was still the good little boy that I love! 

*Sorry for the lack of wedding pictures, I totally forgot to go grab my camera after the wedding! Bad puppy raiser mom! Thankfully the professional photographer got a few pictures of Joe!

Saturday night Joe went to his last symphony, but I will post about that later!