Mariko's First Conference

I had the opportunity to attend a two day conference, with a third day added on for a pre-conference workshop. The conference was held at the Canyons Resort in Park City Utah, which is about 115 miles south of Logan. When I registered for the conference and hotel, I checked on the possibility of taking Mariko with me. The hotel had no objection and conference organizers were great with it as well.

Wednesday morning, June 13, I loaded the car with my suitcase, Mariko's "diaper" bag and her new condo (portable kennel) and we prepared for the 2+ hour drive. She slept the entire way and I enjoyed the tunes on XM radio :-)

When we arrived at the hotel, the beautiful young Japanese woman that was checking us in, asked what my dog's name was. When I told her "Mariko" her eyes widened, she smiled and said, "that is MY middle name, and MY mother's name." She couldn't believe I was there with a beautiful dog names Mariko :-) Needless to say, she remembered both our names for the entire conference, and we were treated quite nicely :-).

When we got to our room, the first thing I did was set up Mariko's kennel so she could settle in while I unpacked. She didn't even wait for me to take her vest and collar off. As soon as the kennel was set up, she was in and settled.

Settling right in at the hotel.

I was scheduled for an afternoon pre-conference workshop, but lunch was provided first. Mariko and I grabbed my box lunch and headed out to enjoy the beautiful Park City mountain area scenery.

She was immediately on her best behavior (well, maybe a little silly to start with) and already starting to be the hit of the conference.

Attending a preconference workshop.

I'm really happy the woman that was sitting next to me was a dog lover :-) I sat in a corner, but the workshop was packed so we had to get a little comfy with our neighbors.

Thursday morning I woke up a little early to take her out to toilet (I was worried about getting from the hotel room to the outside without incident). She went down the hallway with me, out  the door, across a scary grate, down the stairs and across the walkway to an out of the way place to take care of business. Whew, what was I worried about :-)

We went back in and fed her, then headed out for a 45 minute walk (I wanted her tired for the conference). After the walk I went in to get ready, while she slept :-) 

Waiting for me to get ready Thursday morning.

At about 3 p.m. Thursday afternoon I quickly realized that maybe I didn't need to walk her after all. Between everyone wanting to find out about her, and then changing rooms for different break out sessions about every 30 minutes, she was pretty worn out. I took her up to the room so she could have some down time and I went back downstairs for the remaining conference sessions.

One tired puppy.

Thursday evening there was an outdoor dinner with a band, games, drawing, we could even ride the Gondola up the mountain (well, those who do the whole way up in the air, could ride the Gondola, but I'm not one of them). Mariko was great during dinner, she stayed under the table, didn't bother anyone or forage for food. After dinner we went out to enjoy the band and talk with other conference attendees.

While I was visiting and getting to know people, Mariko decided the wet grass was too inviting not to role in :-( If you look closely, you will see how dirty she actually got during her little "roll" in the wet grass.

Mariko listening to the band showing off her dirty side :-0

She was an amazing puppy for being young and experiencing her first big adventure. I was VERY proud of her and she was the hit of the conference. I think she is in at least 25% of the attendees pictures. We were also able to talk a lot about Canine Companions for Independence, how wonderful and life changing the organization is, and what the four areas of specialization the professional training prepares the dogs for. I was even fortunate enough, while out toileting Mariko one afternoon, to meet another puppy raiser from Salt Lake who was up for the day to do some mountain biking.

This week made me realize how having a "companion" by your side is an invitation for people to approach and talk with you. Can you imagine how wonderful that is for a person that has felt "different" because of their disability, to experience was I was able to experience this last week? Mariko will be AWESOME when she grows up and graduates!