8AM on a Saturday (!!!) Morning

Early morning walk before Kayloo's (successful! BOO YA!) Therapy Dog test.

8am on a Saturday morning is damn early, people. Damn early.

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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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1/2 Week to the Therapy Dog Test!

Okay guys! Kayloo's Therapy Dog test is this weekend. We are DOWN TO THE FINAL STRETCH!

We just got back from a wonderful walk. An AMAZING walk. Dare I say a THERAPY DOG TEST ACING WALK!!!

No, I don't dare say that... I'm a wimp... I take it back... Quick somebody throw some salt over your shoulder or give me a rabbit's foot OR SOMETHING (actually, don't with the rabbit's foot, I think that is probably horribly cruel and as you can clearly see I can't afford to carry around ANY bad karma with me at this particular juncture thankyouverymuch).

I've been checking out the Canine Good Citizen requirements and I think we're mostly okay on most of the tests:

• Test 1: Accepting a friendly stranger- I think we'll be okay here because Kayloo thinks almost everyone is her new best friend. It's a little of: HI! Oh my god, I love you! I'm so lucky to meet you... and OH! You too! Come a little closer so we can attach at the hip. It says however that she isn't allowed to "break position." If the "position" happens to be threading her tongue up into the evaluators nose, we should be fine.
• Test 2: Sitting politely for petting- I'm concerned about the "polite" part, but she will be all over someone oozing attention all over her.
• Test 3: Appearance and grooming- Kayloo's hot. Check. Check. Check.
• Test 4: Out for a walk- She is doing much MUCH better, but she is not perfect. She'll be in a completely new place so she will be very curious.
• Test 5: Walking through a crowd- She's usually pretty great about this, unless one of the people in the crowd has a skateboard. If someone has a skateboard she may stop and tilt her head this way and that way and thiswayandthatwayand... forever and ever until the evaluator falls asleep and/or kicks us out.
• Test 6: Sit down on command and staying in place- We should be good here.
• Test 7: Coming when called- No problem (unless some sly dog has a steak behind his back. Then we're toast).
• Test 8: Reaction to another dog- Kayloo will be fairly interested in the other dog. The plan is to have her good and played out before the test, but it is very unlikely she would walk away from an opportunity for a good hearty "get all up in your grill" bum sniff.
• Test 9: Reaction to distraction- There will be lots of head tilting.
• Test 10: Supervised separation- Apparently we won't be tested on this, but if we were Kayloo would be like, "Hey, where did that blonde- HEY NEW PERSON I LOVE YOU, WHO ARE YOU?!!!"

Kayloo will do just fine. If not, we can always take the test again, right? RIGHT?! Just kidding, I'm actually not freaking out that much. The only way Kayloo can do well is if I am nice and chill so please send lots and lots o' chill vibes our way in the days leading up to having a total kanipshin doing our very best.

Thank you, much!

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