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."

If you liked this post and you would like to share it, that would be super! Thank you so much!

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!

If you liked this post and you would like to share it, that would be super! Thank you so much!

Happy Thumping Tail Test

So, I've been going back and forth and back and forth on whether I want to tell you this next bit of news or not. It's not a HUGE big deal I guess, but it involves taking a test. A TEST! Ack! It involves ACTUALLY BEING TESTED, which means I could potentially FAIL this test, which means I am telling you about this being tested thing before I have gone and ACED said test, which means I could totally be setting myself up to look like a great big loser! Omigodcanshehackit?!!!

My A-type personality side is freaking out a little bit here. Okay, here goes:

In a week and a half Kayloo and I are taking the Therapy Dog certification test so she can wear a fancy little kerchief and share her happy thumping tail with anyone who will take her (this test is for extended care facilities). A week and a half. 12 days to be exact. 12 DAYS, PEOPLE!!!

Ho. Lee. Crap.

12 days from now some people are going to be telling me to do stuff and I'm going to be telling Kayloo to do stuff, and if she doesn't do it I WILL HAVE FAILED IN MY DUTY AS A THERAPY DOG TRAINER HANDLER PERSON.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Let's take a couple steps back before I give myself a hernia. First, why do I want to get my crazy pooch certified as a therapy dog? There are three main reasons:

I think she would be suited to it: She is an incredibly loving little mutt. When you hug her she is happy to stand there while you smother her, and she'll stay put for however long you need. Even if it's a ridiculously long time. If you're near her but not quite close enough to touch, she'll slither and nudge and scooch on over until she cozying up to you someway or another, maybe with her soft little muzzle or her entire gigantic black and white cow head.

It would be good for her: I think dogs are happiest when they have a job to do and I think Kayloo would do GREAT employed as a soft and slobbery love monkey. She would get a bunch of additional training and she would get a HUGE mental work out wtih all the meeting and sniffing and patting from dozens of new people.

Getting out into the community: We all know dogs are a huge stress reliever and I would love to be able to share Kayloo's goofy wonderfulness with others. The fact that she is a pitbull cross and a rescue dog is an important consideration for me also as I think it is important to show people how wonderful and non-scary pitbulls and rescue dogs can be.

Did I mention it's in 12 days?!

They won't tell you everything she will be tested on (I have no idea why, like you're going to cheat or something? Can dogs cheat? NO THEY CAN'T), but as far as I can tell she is going to have to be able to do everything required on the AKC's Canine Good Citizen test.

That's all for now. I'm sure I'll stress more in the coming days. Have to do a bit of training with Miss Thang (GET OVER HERE SOLDIER, DROP AND GIVE ME 20!!!). And then we're going to snuggle because it is very important she gets that part right.

If you liked this post and you would like to share it, that would be super! Thank you so much!