Escape!

This week, I'm down in Florida visiting my parents for Christmas (Please stop cursing me. I do, in fact, know how cold it is in Chicago right now!) We went out to dinner tonight and took one of the dogs with us. For those of you who don't know, my mother is a Canine Companions for Independence (CCI) Puppy Raiser and Mentor. She trains puppies for persons who are wheelchair bound.

On this particular evening we took Yana with us. She was supposed to be under the table while we were eating. As I was dining on my salad, I looked down and realized, Yana was gone!!

CRAP!! THERE'S A CCI PUPPY LOOSE IN OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE!!

I looked behind the booth-- no dog. I panicked and had to find her, so I began crawling through the restaurant looking for the dog, whispering her name. I didn't want to alert the other customers (I mean, maybe they wouldn't notice a random woman crawling on the floor.) I found her under the bench of a booth two tables away scrounging for crumbs.

This unfortunately is where the people at the booth noticed me crawling on the floor. I quickly apologized (still on all fours) and told them that I had lost my dog. The woman asked if it was a toy dog. I replied, "No, it's a service dog." (Isn't that obvious?!!? Why else would I be crawling about in a restaurant?)

I called for Yana and she scooted out from under the woman's legs. The woman looked so bewildered to have a dog come from below her seat. I quickly apologized and crawled back to my booth with the dog in tow to find both of my parents laughing hysterically at the whole scene.

Well, at least someone found the puppy!