Woodruff, the Legal Lab

Woodruff has been hanging out at our firm for a month.  His ability to assist in our legal research is still very limited, but he’s learned some other stuff, so we’re proud of him.  Woodruff learned to tackle our stairs to the attorneys’ offices.  It required dozens of treats to entice him to do that.

Woody has gone to class at PAWS, where he required a few dozen more treats.  He learned that his name is Woodruff which is very important for a service dog.  He is also learning to walk at a perfect position so that he someday can walk next to a wheelchair or a client.  And, we’re working on “trade” – which comes in handy when he’s naughty.  A trade is when Woodruff gives up something naughty like a shoe and gets a treat or a better toy instead. 

The highlight at class was seeing his brother Chili again.  Woody and Chili completely ignored that they had to be working and just played for a while.

Each day Woodruff takes a walk through the neighborhood.  He’s no longer scared of the firetrucks and ambulances (there are lots of those because the Mercy Health complex is close by), and he’s working hard to learn what it means to wear a PAWS cape:  ignore all the people that want to pet him and say ‘hi’.

This past week, we had our first big responsible outing:  a trip to Costco.  Woodruff walked perfectly next to the cart and ignored most people.  It may have been beginner’s luck, but we’ll take it.  Our next big adventure is a trip to the court building to navigate security and see if the court clerks can ignore this cute fluffball!

Until next month!