Wooster's Newest Scottie Dog: Pebbles Goes To The Zoo!!!

So today was probably one of Pebbles's biggest adventures yet--a road trip to the Cleveland Zoo! When we first got there, we were immediately greeted by Guest Services at the zoo because they give a representative to walk around the zoo with those who have a service dog. Our guide was so amazing! She loved Pebbles and was able to answer all of the questions we had. It was like having our own personal tour of the whole zoo, which was pretty awesome. We were a bit skeptical when we first found out that someone from the zoo had to walk around with the service dog, but we couldn't have had a better guide to show us everything.

We started off with the African elephants, which probably ended up being one of the coolest animals to watch Pebbles see for the first time. She didn't quite understand the giant beast in front of her, but she was so interested in figuring it out. It was a great start, but Pebbles didn't love all the other animals quite as much as the elephants. She seemed to have a real problem with leopards, cheetahs, wolves, and above all else, monkeys. With the monkeys especially, regardless of how small and non-threatening they seem to humans, Pebbles pretty much hated them. Ironically, they all seemed totally fascinated by her. Every monkey that we passed would stop right in front of the glass to try to figure out why some random animal got to walk around outside with all the people while they were enclosed behind glass. One group of small primates even gathered up all together and followed us as we walked along the glass panel of their enclosure. There were probably at least 10 of them all pressed up against the glass trying to get a look at Pebbles.

But, not all of the animals other than the elephants at the zoo were bad for Pebbles. She didn't seem to have any sort of issues with the tiger, lion, polar bear, and she really enjoyed the fish too. Not only did Pebbles get a lot of interaction time with other animals, but she saw tons of children at the zoo too, which is always good for her, especially considering her tendency to be nervous around them. Overall, she was great with all the kids she saw at the zoo, and although she was still definitely displaying some nervousness, she let them pet her and say hi. All the kids really liked her too...except for the one little girl who burst into tears at the mere sight of her. Fortunately her little brother calmly explained to us that his sister is afraid of dogs.

We had a great time at the zoo, but that's not all we did this week! Pebbles also went to the conference finals for track this weekend to help support the fighting Scots! She made quite a few heads turn from the parents, fans, and athletes from other schools who didn't know anything about our program on campus. It's been a really busy week for the pup, and there's just a few more days left until she goes back to Cincinnati with Maddie from spring break! We hope that we can have more fun adventures like this with Pebz in the future!

Now check out all of our cool pictures from the zoo and more!

Pebbles loves to share her toys....sometimes....

That line across her face isn't from the flash...that would be a line of dust from sniffing under the couch. Her nose just doesn't let anything stand in it's way.