Tuck

One of the things Murphy needs to learn is to "tuck". She must learn to lie down in a small, out of the way place. Yesterday at Church and three string cheese sticks later, she finally tucked and fell asleep under the pew just as all the kneeling, sitting, kneeling, standing began for which Catholics are famous.

Then, it was time for Communion. My husband asked what we were going to do about the people who would need to get past her to go to Communion? Before noticing this, he was going to stay with her while I went up. Now, I was going to have to get her up and out of the pew. And then, they left! I looked and they were gone. I know them casually, and remembered that their custom was to leave early. Problem solved for now.

There are loads of little things that don't occur to you with a dog in public until you are there. We normally sit in a location that is more visible to the congregation, but also away from other people. Honestly, we usually do this to avoid shaking hands with people that are coughing and sneezing into those hands right before shaking ours, but the spot was so visible if Murphy wasn't on her best behavior. (Did you know that churches are one of the few places that can refuse to let you bring in a service dog? Hence, the desire to be under the radar and very well behaved.) I guess it is back to the more visible, but out of the way, place to sit.