Sometimes You Just Need A Paw

 I've mentioned before that we do nursing home visits with the dogs.  These happen on Thursday nights, and a lot of times it's hard to get motivated to turn around and go after a long day at work.  Sometimes we indulge ourselves and stay home, but we try not to miss going.  Of course, this week was even tougher when Blueberry limped into the kitchen while Bunny and I were packing up and wagged her tail in that hopeful way that she does when she wants to go somewhere with us.  I told her it was going to take a bit more rest and that she needed to go lay down and keep Lilac company. 

When I started visiting nursing homes with Treat, I'm sure that she wasn't perfect, but it's hard to remember that.  There was gentle coaching and training that happened, and she had a natural aptitude for visiting.  She was tolerant enough to let a little old blind lady poke at her face and fuss with her collar.  Going up to people to say hi became natural for her and there was never any medical equipment or condition that ever deterred her.  I admit that when I started visiting with Bunny after Treat had passed, it was hard for me not to resent starting over a little bit and also not to just miss her perfection after working and working with Bunny to try to get her to do what I wanted.

That's not to say that Bunny doesn't do well, though.  She does and the people there are always thrilled to see her.  I guess part of it is just that insecure part of me inside that everyone has who worries that everyone else's dog is doing so much better at visiting than my own.  It's still hard for me not to think of her as the inexperienced youngster of the group.  There are some dogs in our group who have been visiting longer than Bunny has been alive.  I can't expect her to behave as if she has more experience than her short life has been blessed with.  I suppose it's the same thing I did as a kid, too, only acting up and embarrassing my parents when there were other people to witness the event.  Sorry Mom and Dad!   It was Julie who made me do it.

Most of the visits we make are unremarkable and not really worth talking a lot about.  They're just ordinary visits that allow me to share my dog with others, tell stories and forget about the cares of my day, and be transported through many elderly people's words back to times of dogs who lived long ago.  Recently, we added a new Thursday visit to our roster at a new facility that quite honestly is so nice that I wish I could live there.   It's a very new, modern facility, but it feels so homey and comfortable.  The residents all have rooms, but there are different little lounges throughout the place and it's a very common sight to see groups of people gathered in nooks and alcoves chatting away.  The nursing staff is sweet and compassionate, too. 

While we were visiting this week, Bunny and I had walked down a hallway and around a small loop in the building.  I almost didn't go, but Bunny seemed eager to stretch her legs and I wanted to work on keeping her attention on me, so we set off to see if anyone wanted to chat.  In the far back hallway, we met a woman who said that there was a lady who was laying down and she needed to get some help for her.  I wasn't quite sure what she was talking about, but in order to try to keep her calm, I agreed that I'd see what I could do.  We went around a corner and found a woman lying on the floor in the middle of the hallway.  Definitely not good! 

I walked around her and leaned down to ask if she was okay.  She smiled and said something about needing to get back up, and I could see her wheelchair a bit behind her.  I remembered seeing her in the chair earlier.  I told her that her friend had gone to get help and that I'd just stay there with her until help got there.  I sat in the floor beside her and Bunny laid down.  She wanted to hold someone's hand, and darned if Bunny didn't offer her paw while I held the other hand.  I was pretty surprised, but Bunny laid there quietly, leaning down to sniff the lady from time to time and distract her while we waited for the nurse's aide to find the head nurse to help get the woman moved a little to see if she was alright.  Several of the people in our group walked by and commented on her sweet behavior. 

I honestly can say that I have been proud of Bunny over a lot of things, but this one was one that I will remember as one of her sweetest moments.  With all the ugliness that we see in the world from people, sometimes it's nice just to have a paw to hold on to.  I'll always believe that the world would be a better place if we all took a moment to behave more like our dogs!

We're participating in this Saturday's Pet Blog Hop, hosting by Life With Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers and Confessions of the Plume.  If you'd like to participate, please follow the rules and follow your three hosts, add your blog to the Linky and copy and paste the html code into your html editor.  Thanks again to our hosts for putting on the hop!

The Tangled Web

I've mentioned before that I have hopes of taking the therapy dog test with Bunny in the near future.  However, lately, the closer we get, the further away we seem to be.  I'm starting to get a rather jaded view of the whole therapy dog process.

When I had Treat certified, we went through TDI.  However, I became disillusioned with some of their practices and regulations.  One of the programs we really wanted to participate in was the READ program, and I have seen first hand how wonderful that program is.  The problem was that TDI refused to let you participate in READ and refused to cover you if you did participate.

I made up my mind that this time we were going to test with Delta Society.  They were supportive of the READ program and the more I researched them, the more I liked the idea of their test and evaluation process.  However, lately I've heard some things about them that really turn me off. 

It seems that Delta Society is now refusing to let anyone who feeds their dog a raw diet participate as a therapy dog.  Not only that, but if there's any other dog who eats a raw diet in the house, the therapy dog is still banned.  It seems highly suspicious that two of the people on Delta's board who are behind this new decision both work for Purina. 

I don't feed raw, but I'm not signing up with an organization that thinks they can dictate to me how to care for my dog.  It seems that more and more, these organizations are forgetting that the people who go into nursing homes, assisted living facilities, hospitals, schools and libraries are volunteers.  We gave up on the dream of visiting local hospitals already.  It's not free to volunteer, especially with therapy dogs.  I've always taken my dogs through obedience training before taking the test, which isn't cheap, but is money well spent.  Then, there are the fees to take the therapy test and to maintain your membership.  There's also the price of gas to get to the places where you visit.

I'm also left wondering how they plan to enforce a regulation like no raw feeding.  Where's the line?  What if a dog catches a rabbit or squirrel in the back yard (besides a dog who thinks he's king of the world)?  What about giving your dog a bone to chew on at times?  How are they going to check to see what the dog is eating or has been exposed to?  It brings up a lot of questions for me, and for many others, I'm sure.

So, for now, we're back to the drawing board.  I have seen the power of bringing therapy dogs in to visit people and in the READ program.  I know that it's very worthwhile.  The places where we currently visit don't require us to have certification, but I think it's important to have as insurance, particularly in the lawsuit-happy society that we currently live in.  I just know that we have to find an organization that's a good fit for us.  I'm curious to know how many of our readers are currently working as therapy dogs in some capacity, and what organization, if any, you work through. 

Greyhound Public Relations

Saturday morning found us getting up bright and early to go and help with the first of two volunteer projects that we had for the day.  Both of them involved the dogs and it made for a busy day for us and them. 

Our first stop was at the Wellness Fair for the therapy dog group that we volunteer with.  It got interesting before we even got inside.  Right away, the girls knew there was something interesting up ahead.

Not only was there something interesting to see, there were already people waiting to ask us questions about the dogs.  There were some kids outside who were fascinated with Bunny and Blueberry.  Not to mention some adults.  Mr. Taleteller was kind enough to take Blueberry and say that he needed to get her inside, leaving Bunny and me to fend for ourselves.

Inside there were lots of booths with all kinds of different health related services and products.  The Paw to Paw booth is always busy.  We met lots of our therapy dog friends and even a therapy cat showed up.  Flat Nigel also made an appearance, but I'm not sure what kind of therapy he'd do if he came to the nursing home with us.

I always feel a little guilty when we go to this annual event.  People are always crazy about the greyhounds and ask us a lot of questions.  The crowd the forms around them is like people meeting rock stars at times.  Sometimes I feel like we're taking away from the attention the group needs to get for volunteers to go to the nursing homes.  We get asked all the time when we're out with the girls about where people can adopt greyhounds, and I'm happy to help greyhounds get homes.  I just don't want to overshadow the reason we're there.

After we'd spent some time at the Wellness Fair it was time to pack up and move on.  We grabbed a quick lunch and drove home to drop Blueberry off.  Then we headed to the 4H office to help with our introduction to the new kids who are signing up for dog obedience, which Mr. Taleteller and I help volunteer with.  Bunny has been through obedience and usually does pretty well with it.  Our friend has a German Shepard she's done a lot of obedience with as well, but he's getting older and he was at the Wellness Fair with us in the morning, too. 

Of course, when we arrived, Bunny looked at the long flight of stairs that led up to the room where we were meeting and put on the brakes.  No way was she climbing those stairs.  So, we went to plan B.  That was taking the elevator.  I should mention that this elevator makes the OJ Simpson car chase look like the Indy 500.  I began to fear that by the time we got to the top that the meeting would be over, but we made it.

Bunny did pretty well considering that she'd been the center of a mob scene for several hours in the morning and hasn't practiced her obedience much through the winter.  She did charm the crowd yet again, which I suspect is the most important part of going in her eyes.  I saw that she tried to teach Flat Nigel a thing or two, but he wasn't paying attention.  We brought home one very tired, but happy, puppy. 

Howl O Ween Treats

Bunny here, taking over the keyboard this time, since I am a coauthor on this blog. Mom and Dad started talking about our nursing home visit last night and saying that we had to get ready for the nursing home visit tonight. My ears perked up a bit. Going to the nursing home means that people there will want to pet me. Sometimes they even feed me stuff. It's always great fun! Mom said she needed a model for the ghost costumes they were making, so I jumped off the couch and offered my services. I didn't ask what this job entailed, but as it turns out, it involved me standing up a lot while Dad cut up a sheet a lot. When they started gushing about how cute I was, I knew that I'd hit pay dirt. Then it came time for Blueberry's costume. She was supposed to be a ghost like me. Dad called her and she ran in the dog crate. Dad picked up the scraps of sheet he'd cut off and said that Blueberry could be a mummy. It was getting late, so Mom agreed to it, even though she wasn't crazy about the idea.

As it got closer to time to go, Mom started thinking about how long it was going to take to wrap Blueberry up in those strips and get them to stay in place without slipping off, so she decided to get one of the costumes that Treat wore a while ago and let Blueberry wear that. "She's persnickety about what she'll wear on her head," I heard Mom say. They decided to test it out on Blueberry real fast. Blueberry started shaking her head around. Mom asked me if I wanted to try it. Of course I did! Once Mom put the mask on my head, I didn't see what the fuss was all about. I went back to eating dinner and Mom and Dad both laughed and commented on how cute I am. I wagged my tail. They decided that I would get to wear the dragon costume and Blueberry could be the ghost. I just knew nobody was going to be able to resist me in that costume. We got in the van and Mom reminded us that it was Halloween at the nursing home, but not to be begging for treats. She said it wasn't really Halloween yet and I'd have to wait a few weeks for the real thing to get here. I laid down and waited for us to get there.

When we arrived, we got out of the van and went to the grassy spot out front where we take a little powder break, if you know what I mean. Only this time, I realized I'd hit the jackpot! There in front of me was a Halloween treat, just waiting to be plucked. A plump little rabbit was sitting, practically under my nose. Well, I did what any self respecting hound would do -- I went for it. That darned leash really cramped my style. I was left with some tail fuzz between my teeth, but no rabbit meat. We headed into the first building, I put on my dragon mask and went to work. Everybody went crazy over me and I forgot about the cottontail outside.

Soon it was time to leave and go over to the other side. Darned if that rabbit didn't hop right under my nose and nearly knock Mom down. It was an insult and I'd have had him if Mom hadn't pulled us back the other way so fast. That darned leash foiled my plans again. Anyhow, we went into the other building and I went to work, oozing cuteness and working the crowd. When Blueberry saw how much attention I was getting, she finally decided to put her costume on, too. Well, part of it anyhow. I think I looked cuter in it, but she had to have something. People thought she was pretty cute, too, but most of them were admiring me. It was a great time and I can't wait to go back. There was lots of petting and if I play my cards right, that rabbit will lose the next round. I hope everybody has a safe and happy Halloween!