Loki's second observation taught me a thing or two.

Hello all,

Loki had his second observation today and it went really well! There were so many nice people that we got to meet and it really made me even more excited for him to be doing work as a Therapy Dog. We went to a nursing home that was part assisted living and part Alzheimer's assisted living. We did our usually mini-walk around the grounds first, I use this time to get Loki used to walking with me and this isn't "a run or the dog walk type thing" and met the observers inside.

There were two dogs leaving (which Loki did great interacting with!), they had been the earlier observation and then there was one who was at our time spot and it was a parti-colored Standard F1 Goldendoodle who's parents were from Champion lines with amazing temperments- why on earth do I know this? Because the lady would not stop talking about it! We were only in a group for maybe 10 minutes before we each split up and went with our own observers and I can't even remember how many times I heard about "AKC papers", "champion lines", "parents temperaments", "the best of the best"... blah blah blah! I don't even know her dogs name or gender because she could not stop bragging about her breeder and breeder's dogs! I really wanted to say "these people here don't care" but I didn't because who knows, maybe someone there really wants to hear all that.

I get it we are all proud of our dogs, and in fact we repeat the same information about our dogs because they are our babies and we want to show them off. I probably repeat that Loki is my momma's boy and Moose is my co-pilot to every person I meet with them. Trust me, I am not bashing on anyone who is proud of their dog or even their dogs genetics because I think as dog owners we all brag about our dogs in different ways.

My point? I feel that there is a time and place for everything. When you are volunteering automatically you are not the most important thing because volunteering is about doing things for others. I would guess that people you meet on these visits want to hear your dogs name, what they like, were can they be pet, and they want you to ask questions about them! You are visiting them... with all of the people we visited we asked them if they had had dogs before or they would just tell us or we let the senior lead the conversation.

I know I'm new at this but I think I learned an important lesson today, it's not about me at all, and its not even about Loki, it's about how Loki can help the people he's visiting. I suppose I already knew that but I think seeing it played out in front of me were there was someone who so clearly was doing this to show off her prized dog and not to help others (maybe she did have good intentions and they were just being presented wrong, I suppose it's wrong for me to assume that) seemed to really hit it home. Side note, they are requesting that she repeat that observation and work on "interacting more" with the residents which I thought seemed very fair because as the testers reminded a group of us on test day, we are tested as much as the dog because the handler and the dog need to function as a team, not a one man show.

I wanted to share this for those who are interested (and may be reading this) but also to type this out while it was fresh in my brain as a reminder to myself to keep the correct attitude through out this process. Ok enough of that- on to the fun stuff!

Here's my momma's boy before we went in! We can't take pictures during the visit unless we have written permission so there aren't any pictures from that. Today we color coordinated my head band to his bandanna and without planning on it we sort of matched the flowers/landscaping.

We met several very nice people including one nice man who had saved 2 goldfish crackers from his lunch so he could give them to "the dog that was coming to visit him". Apparently he has had dogs his whole life and the care givers there had told him there would be some visiting today. Loki who has never had people food in his life sniffed it very gently and then looked at me for permission and I wanted to say "no thank you" but this man was so happy and his eyes were watering with joy so I told Loki he it was "ok". Maybe this will come back to bite me in the butt but I figured for two small plain goldfish crackers and the joy it brought this man it was ok. Had it been something dangerous to Loki or had it been taken from the table no I wouldn't have but the man had these two crackers wrapped up very carefully set on his coffee table right by his door. :)

We met several other people that kept asking what kind of dog he was and one lady decided that Bernedoodle was a dumb name and he looks like a Snickerdoodle which is a better name. So we went with it. Someone else also said he looks like Snuffy or a Muppet and this made my day because I have always thought doodles that are shaggy look that way! Another lady decided he could have been a dog from the movies which made me smile because I think on more than one occasion I have heard some one post on here that their dog looks like a Walt Disney Dog.

One lady had been crying and when we walked by went to put her arms around Loki and hug him and he just sat there with a "sure ok, I hope you feel better" look to him. I know dogs in general hate hugs but I swear this dog doesn't because as long as people move slowly and gently Loki will lean into their shoulder and he almost leans all of his body weight onto the person. He does this with me all the time and I swear it's one of the best feelings ever to be "hugged" by your best friend. I hope the people that "hugged" him today felt that way too.

There was another lady that we had met on the way in that wanted us to stop by and visit her husband. At the time I wasn't sure how the observation was to be run but I told her we would certainly mention that and try to stop by. We did, and they were both so happy when he showed up at their door.

Overall such a great time! He has one more to go and then we get to start making our own visits to a hospital! Here's another picture on our way out of the building.

Have a great weekend guys!

Cheers- Jess, Loki, Moose

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