Therapy Dog in the House!!!

ShweeeEEEEeee! Kayloo passed her Therapy Dog Test!!!!

(If you're reading for the first time, I wax on about this crazy test here and here).

Look at Miss Kayloo, lookin' all dignified and important in her snappy 'kerchief! Who knew they would give her her own parking spot?

And now I need to level with you: HOLY CRAP I AM SO GLAD THAT IS OVER.

I know this wasn't ABOUT me, but HOLY smokes, I was nervous. Okay, it was kind of about me because if she had failed it wouldn't have been HER fault. It would have been MY fault for being a spazz and stressing her out (Patch O' Pits and Barbara have very good points in the Comments section on this post).

It was quite a day. The test started at 10:30am and the dogs and I were up and at the park by 7:45am. The plan was to give Kayloo enough time to nap before heading out to the test. But, for the first time in her life Kayloo DID NOT NAP. Hu? Next to chewing on Mickey's ears and eating, sleeping is pretty much Kayloo's favourite past time. But no. Apparently not on Test Day.

As a direct result of the marathon morning, while we were impatiently quietly waiting for one of our test sets, Kayloo woefully crooned this "yeeow-eeow-eeeow" noise. Translation= Deep slumber about to commence in 5, 4, 3, 2....

I started to write this very blog post you're reading now in my head: Well, we gave it our best shot folks, but the evaluator said she wouldn't evaluate a dog that was UNCONSCIOUS.

I managed to coax Kayloo onto her feet and off we trotted across the sunlit auditorium to prove she wasn't going to turn into a Red Zone Psycho Beast in the presence of another dog. She managed to get through the exercise fine, but after we sashayed across the floor she dramatically slumped into a sit, huffed a big sigh of exhaustion, and continued to theatrically flop out into a full-on snooze-sprawl with an unmistakable Wake-Me-When-Dinner's-Ready look of contentment.

Much to the entertainment of the other Therapy Dog Wannabees in the room. OH SURE NOW SHE WANTS TO SLEEP.

Maybe we got extra points for entertainment value?

In any case, SHE MADE IT! Zooming wheelchairs didn't faze her, 1/2 dozen excited hands patting her made her beam and her easy going temperment shined through. I AM SO EXCITED TO GET STARTED!

I'm not going to lie, I was bragging at the dog park this morning:

Me: Yeah, my dog is a Therapy Dog. Pre-tty big deal.

Them: Oh yeah.

Me: Big test, BIG TEST. Big, big, big.

Them: Hmmm...

Me: Gave her her own parking spot...

Thank you guys for being so encouraging! I've really been looking forward to sharing this exciting news with you and I will definitely keep you posted on all the shenanigens she is sure to get up to "on the job."

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