Therapy observation

Today I followed a group of four therapy dogs (and their very attentive handlers) from Caring Canines as they visited a group of elderly residents at a nursing home. First the dogs took care of their business, then did a 10 minute meet-and-greet where they gleefully barked, sniffed and generally said "hi" to each other. Quickly they were down to business. As a working pack, they went to a meeting room where about 15 elders waited to see them. After brief introductions by the handlers and a few tricks by some of the dogs, the dogs all went around the room and visited with each of the residents. Many of the residents knew the dogs, as they visit about monthly at this site. Small dogs sat in laps, large dogs on the floor. Elders patted the dogs and talked with the handlers and each other about the dogs, dogs they once had, and all sorts of topics. The visit was about 45 minutes of very focused attention by all on the dogs. It was obviously an event the elders had looked forward to.

I am hoping that Skippy and I can participate in a therapy dog group some day. I think Skip will need to work on being calm with all that attention. He'll have to resist the urge to jump up and grab all the snuggles he can get. Half of this will be my direction, half is him being more used to similar situations. Skip and I are now signed up for an evaluation, which will probably be in December or January.