Second City Round 2

Last week my family, Serena and I went down to Chicago for dinner at the Athenian Room and to go to Second City.  This time we sat outside at The Athenian Room which was awesome because there was plenty of room for Serena to spread out!  She even had a chance to read the menu:

 Unfortunately I wouldn't let Serena order anything but the waitress was super awesome and brought her a pan filled with water which Serena immediately splashed in!  It was so nice of them.

We got to the city much later than we wanted due to traffic so we got to Second City 10 min before it started.  You don't have assigned seats at Second City, it is first come first serve so I was nervous about finding a place for Serena.  The head manager was very sweet and gave us an option of two spots, next to the music instruments or way in the back corner.  The music instruments seats were better seats and last time Serena didn't care about the instruments so that is where we chose.  The manager told me that next time I can just call and say I have a service dog and they will reserve seats for us.  Crazy cool!  

They warned me that they would be using drums but I didn't realize they meant huge tribal drums that the musician would bang on for a long long time.  Serena lost it.  She was okay for the first few bangs but then it got very very very loud and Serena freaked.  I couldn't blame her and tried to put her between my feet and comfort her but it was too loud and it just kept going so I had to remove her from the situation.  I took her to the back of the theater and she was shaking and trembling like crazy.  I had to wrap my body around her and rub her and just sit there.  Eventually she calmed down and I was able to sit in a seat back there with her laying next to me.  Every time the tribal drums happened she would try to run but by the end of the whole thing she would just sit up and watch.  Very good for her! 

The third act was improve so I asked the manager if they had drums and she said no so I went back to my original seat.  The musician came up to me and apologized like crazy for freaking Serena out.  I told him it wasn't his fault and not to worry.  He still felt really bad and asked if he could say hi to Serena.  I said yes and he sat on the floor and talked to her and rubbed her all over.  She loved it!  It was also really good because she was able to realize that the guy making all the noise before was really just a person.

She didn't want to sit next to me for the improve because she kept thinking the drums were going to happen again.  I kept putting her back where I told her to stay next to me.  Eventually she lay down and relaxed.  Overall it was a good experience and I am really happy she was able to overcome her fear.  Next time I will most definitely call ahead!

Serena forgiving me for the loud drums:

I love my puppy :-)