Officially a Therapy Dog!

This past Tuesday, my mom and I took our test through Delta Society .... we were being evaluated/tested as a Pet Partner Team. After 8 weeks of going to therapy dog class at The Canine Coach, simultaneously taking other obedience classes with Danielle of The Canine Coach, I was ready!! Besides, I have already been volunteering with at-risk youth at The Lab and many have told my mom that i'm a natural at this therapy dog stuff ... that's what Humans call this work I do naturally. Hey .... if it makes them happy to call it something and if I have to pass some test to prove to them that I can do it, well ... that's fine. Don't tell my mom, but I think it was more about making sure she could hold her end of the bargain :) She tells everyone she's so proud of me. Well, you know what ... I'm really proud of her too. Our therapy dog class was at 8 pm and there were times she was really tired and didn't feel so good, but she packed up my bag, put on my leash, and we would head out to class no matter what. What a trooper!

So ... on Tuesday, along with two of my classmates (Trugen and Skye) we got tested and we all passed! I was pretty pooped after the test so I just crashed while my mom had to do some paperwork and watch a video on this really cool dog Sasha who is doing incredible work as a therapy dog. Sasha was featured on Fox9 News ... maybe some day I'll also get to be featured on TV.

Now that i'm officially a registered therapy dog (well ... after my mom completes and sends in all the paperwork!) I need to get my mom to work on my resume and my business cards. I've met other therapy dogs in my volunteer work and they all have business cards. I should have one too! It will be a tough decision for me to decide which one of model poses to use :) Or maybe I should have my mom take more photos of me :)

I slept so hard Tuesday night and the next morning our backyard was covered with snow. My mom let me out to do my business .... I used to love the snow but now I just quickly do my business and ask to be let back into the house. I want to make sure mom knows that I have no desire to be an outside dog again. A little over a year ago I was having to fend for myself up at the Red Lake reservation and it was no fun having to scrounge for food, protect myself and sleep outside in the frigid cold. Yes, I much prefer my mom's red couch to sleep on!! [Thanks again to Karen of Red Lake Rosie's Rescue for rescuing me and my pups!]

Stayed tuned my friends .. now that my mom and I are a Pet Partner team we are going to be doing even more volunteer work! I think my mom is also checking into us volunteering as a pet therapy team at a hospice. There's apparently a big need for pet therapy teams so I think it's time for us to jump right in!!

To my friends ..... I highly encourage you to convince your Humans to take you through therapy dog training and to become registered. Not only is it fun, but it's rewarding and healing for the people we work with, for the canine (okay, that's me!), for my Human and is a great bonding experience for us. Sounds like a WIN/WIN/WIN all around!! :)