Traveling with Duchess

           Sometimes I forget how smart Duchess is even though I see what she can do on a daily basis. I was starting to pack for my vacation and was putting my clothes in the suitcase. The doorbell rang and I went and answered the door and I come back. While I was answering the door Duchess had been putting her toys in the suitcase in preparation for the the trip. She had also put her dog boots that our in a little back in the suitcase. I am amazed at how smart she is. I have flown with Duchess numerous times and she loves flying. I am not as big of a fan as she is. I hate dealing with the TSA like most people do. I know that if Duchess sets off the metal detector they can search her and honestly I don't want them touching my dog ever. I am very protective of her. I know the TSA are not able to send me through the body scanner because I have Duchess and my insulin pump. So the nice part is that I avoid the whole body scanner issue as well. I know they test my hands for explosives every time because of my pump but other than that most of the time I can get through security just fine.

            I have had some friends who have diabetic alert dogs that their collars set off the metal detector and they were really rough on her service animals. I depend upon her and traumatic experiences can affect if you dog will alert or not. I try to take very precaution to avoid people petting Duchess because she has an off switch of sorts. I know last time when I was going through security Duchess is left is a down stay behind me as I go through the metal detector first. That way if I set the detector off they only search me and not Duchess. I was going through the detector and the person behind me start to head over to pet Duchess and that did not go over very well. Duchess knows that people are not supposed to pet her and she was laying down but scooting over to avoid the person trying to per her. I was really pissed off they are messing with my dog while I am trying to get through the screening process. This time I will tell the person behind me not to pet my service dog before I start the process. Then once I am through the detector I call Duchess to me so she passes through the detector. I have to take off all her gear collar, leashes to avoid setting the detectors off. Most of the time the process is not too bad except for the face people get impatient with me because I take longer because of my service dog but I move as fast as I can. I am not looking forward to the airport part of my vacation but the good part is both my flights are direct and so no layovers. I am hoping for a smooth transition through security tomorrow.