My experience with a therapy dog
We have the... pleasure... of dog sitting Eva the Cairn Terrier while her owner is in sunny Florida for the holiday. Eva is a certified therapy dog, so I thought on Christmas Eve it would be fun to bring her to the nursing home I used to work at.
She loved those people, gave TONS of kisses, let people pet her, sit very still on wheel chaired laps and generally brought a lot of cheer.
It was also a great learning experience for me handling someone else's therapy dog and try to be consistent on commands. This was her first official nursing home visit. We did pretty well together
[excuse my appearance in the photos below, I haven't been feeling my best lately]
All dressed up, walked and ready to go:
working on comes, stays and getting pet:
Eva, queen of the kisses. This lovely woman kept saying "she kissed me, you see that? she loves me, oh I love ya, I love ya!"
Its a blurry pic but she isn't at all affected by wheel chairs or canes or things falling or loud noises. Its impressive to me with aloof shibas!
She was a good girl
My sincere hope is that someday we can certify Tsuki as a therapy dog, we just got to get her over her apprehension to things falling and plastic bags crinkling. I think in a year or so with some conditioning, she'll at least be ready for the classes. It was a lot of fun bringing and watching Eva with the people, I think Tsuki would be a burst of energetic cheer as a therapy dog, too.
She loved those people, gave TONS of kisses, let people pet her, sit very still on wheel chaired laps and generally brought a lot of cheer.
It was also a great learning experience for me handling someone else's therapy dog and try to be consistent on commands. This was her first official nursing home visit. We did pretty well together
[excuse my appearance in the photos below, I haven't been feeling my best lately]
All dressed up, walked and ready to go:
working on comes, stays and getting pet:
Eva, queen of the kisses. This lovely woman kept saying "she kissed me, you see that? she loves me, oh I love ya, I love ya!"
Its a blurry pic but she isn't at all affected by wheel chairs or canes or things falling or loud noises. Its impressive to me with aloof shibas!
She was a good girl
My sincere hope is that someday we can certify Tsuki as a therapy dog, we just got to get her over her apprehension to things falling and plastic bags crinkling. I think in a year or so with some conditioning, she'll at least be ready for the classes. It was a lot of fun bringing and watching Eva with the people, I think Tsuki would be a burst of energetic cheer as a therapy dog, too.
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