Seriously. It's never boring in psychiatry.

Had a long day. Arduous. Bleh. But then...my last patient of the day comes in, right? And she's blind. Cool. Had her guide dog with her. Sweet, sweet big 90-lb-ish German Shepherd whom we'll call Misty. So I get in the room, and the patient says, do you mind if I let her out of her harness while she's "off duty"? I said, of course not. So we talk, and Misty sniffs, is appropriately respectful when things get heavy, and then gets sort of playful towards the end. And my attending and I are getting ready to walk out the door, and....I see that look on her face.

I know this look.

I say, "Misty...where do you think you're going?"

But by then? Misty? Down the hall. Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

A very comical chase ensues. Fortunately, we were running late, so most of the clinic had cleared out. And she just galloped and pranced and ran down the hallways, this way and that, with me trailing behind her and several other docs trying to head her off in various directions. I got a hold of her like four times, but she's solid, and powerful, and has four-wheel-drive, and so she just mowed me over. Finally, one of my fellow dog people caught her and I got a hold of her collar. We took her back to the room and let me tell you, the moment that harness went on, she was allll business.

I don't really think it's a lapse in training. I think she knew she was with kind souls who would permit her a bit of fun and enjoy it as much as she did.

It kind a looked like this...(Sorry I couldn't find the classic Benny Hill on YouTube...this isn't a bad recreation, though. Just imagine it in a psych clinic instead of a high school...)