Trip to Daytona Beach as a service dog

Our annual family vacation was at Daytona Beach this year.  My Dad gets us all places to stay using his time share points.  Its wonderful.  We usually number in the 20s and everyone has a great time.

I decided to bring Senator with us.  A week is just too long to interrupt his training.  So, we drove down with him in the back seat of our little car.  He did just great.  He was excited for awhile and then just slept for the rest of the trip.  It was quite hot.  I had to relent and turn on the AC so he wouldn't suffer the heat.

I had been worried about the check in.  I called twice to let them know that I would be bringing my service dog, and both times they said that it would be fine as long as I had the proper paperwork.  I didn't know what they meant by that so posted the question on the diabetes alert dog forum.  The answer was that there is no such paperwork and that shows how little they know.  I brought a copy of the Florida law on service dogs, but I never needed it.  They didn't ask me any questions at all and had arranged to have me on a lower floor as I had requested.  That worked out well because the elevators were usually very busy and crowded.  We could take the stairs if we felt like it.  The rest of the family was on the 18th floor which would have made that very difficult.

He behaved very well.  It was different having to have his vest on so much of the time, but he was good about that.  People that we met were very interested to hear what he could do.  I met a few diabetics who were excited about the prospect of a DAD.  Mostly, we had people approach us who were missing their own dogs.  A few even had me look at pictures on their cell phones.  And he received countless hugs from kids.  It was fun.

Really, his only weak point were the birds.  Seagulls mostly.  He wanted to chase them.  And they were everywhere and used to people.  I think that if I had had more time, I could have got him used to them, but it was a challenge.  Fortunately, he could walk right by people and toys with no problem or attempt at interaction.  We enjoyed our walks and I let him experiment with the waves somewhat.  At first he was afraid and backed away.  Then he got used to them and waded out farther.  A few broke on him which sent him back toward shore.  But, he liked the water and I think it cooled him off too.

We continued to practice our alerts.  Everyone was anxious to see how he did them and he put on a good show.  He had a few natural ones on me too.  All in all, it was a good experience. I was curious to see what it would be like to have to have him behave as a service dog so much of the day.  I did have to miss out on a few things to be with him, but there were more times that I was glad he was there.