Jock the Therapy Dog!

Hi everyone! I'm here! I'm here! I haven't gone away forever. I have been busy doing some important community service with handsome Jock, our Pembroke Welsh Corgi. We are now a therapy animal team. Yep, Jock is a therapy dog!

In the autumn of 2016, Jock and I started our special journey. I actually had to start it on my own - I signed up with Pet Partners, a national organization that registers therapy animal teams and provides therapy animal handlers with learning opportunities via classes like "Infection Prevention and Control: Therapy Animal Visitation in Healthcare Settings" or working with specific sets of folks, such as veterans, or patients with dementia or Alzheimer's. 

I first had to take an animal handler course. Since there wasn't an in-person workshop available near me, I had the opportunity to take the online class. The class objective is to teach a (potential) therapy animal volunteer how to work with his or her animal in a variety of settings, as well as teaching the volunteer the basic ground rules of being a therapy animal team. The class also teaches the difference among: therapy animals, service animals, and emotional support animals. (You can read the full explanations here, on Pet Partners' "Terminology" page.)

Basically (to quote Pet Partners' "Terminology" page), therapy animals (like Jock) provide affection and comfort to various members of the public, typically in facility settings such as hospitals, retirement homes, and schools. These pets have a special aptitude for interacting with members of the public and enjoy doing so. Therapy animal owners volunteer their time to visit with their animal in the community.

Service animals (or assistance animals) on the other hand, are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. So a guide dog would fall into this category. These animals are allowed by law to go wherever their humans are allowed (restaurants, airlines, etc).

Emotional support animals, are also known as "comfort animals" and provide emotional or therapeutic support to their individual humans. (They don't have the same rights to go anywhere service animals go.) These animals are often dogs, but can be other animals, as well.

Speaking of other animals, did you know that Pet Partners registers nine species of animals as "therapy animals"?! Not only do they register dogs, they also register rabbits, certain breeds of birds (like parrots), horses, llamas, alpacas, rats, cats, and guinea pigs! Cool, huh?

Anyway, after I took the online class and passed the exam, I had to schedule an in-person evaluation for myself and Jock. We did that on November 20, 2016.

We had to follow the rules for a therapy animal visit (for canines), so within 24 hours of the evaluation, I had to ensure that Jock was bathed. I also had to be sure his nails were trimmed to an appropriate length, and didn't have any sharp spots.

He had to have his collar and leash that he'd be wearing on visits (just a standard nylon collar and leash - no training collars). He'd passed his AKC Canine Good Citizen test a couple years earlier, so this evaluation wasn't really "new" because the evaluation tested for similar things.

The evaluator had us perform various exercises, such as:

• walking a pattern (to ensure Jock would "heel" appropriately and with good manners and not pull on the leash), 
• sit (or down) and stay, 
• not get upset at a sudden loud noise (a heavy (or metal) object was dropped a few feet behind him, and they watched to see his reaction - he could startle, but if he got scared or aggravated, that wouldn't be a positive thing), 
• walking past a "neutral" dog (a calm one that couldn't care less that another dog was in the room with it), 
• being brushed and handled by a person unfamiliar to him, 
• his reaction to meeting someone in a wheelchair or walker . . . 

 and some other things.

Well, we passed! And within a few weeks, after ensuring Pet Partners had Jock's health form filled out by his veterinarian (detailing that he is in good health and is up-to-date on his vaccinations), we had our ID badge that I need to wear on all visits.  Therapy teams, by the way,  need to be re-evaluated every two years to ensure we remain equal to (or exceeding) necessary therapy animal standards.

So, what have we done as a therapy animal team so far? Well, our first therapy dog outing was to the University of Iowa School of Law (in Iowa City, IA) during finals week in December 2016, to provide stress relief for the University's law students. Jock really enjoyed having all these students coming up to him and petting him. And they were so grateful to have a few minutes with a cute dog.

There was one student in particular who was SO THANKFUL we were there. She couldn't stop telling me how much she appreciated having a therapy dog there, even if she could only spend five minutes with Jock. That right there made me so happy I decided to become a therapy dog team with Jock!

We have also started going to an assisted living facility near our home, to visit with a couple residents whose families requested a therapy dog visit. When Jock and I go there, we make sure to visit these two residents, but we also visit with other residents who happen to be in the day room/living room during our visits.

We need to wear special name badges at the assisted living facility. Jock gets his own badge, and his title is "Friendly Visitor." Awwwww! Here is his ID's photo (awwww!):

At the assisted living facility, there are two residents in particular who now seem to recognize us; their faces light up with joy when they see us. It is truly a special thing. The lady gets so happy and is so excited when I take Jock over to her to pet him. The other resident, while he seems to have no interest in petting Jock, seems to get a lot of joy simply by watching other residents (this "senior" lady in particular) fawn over Jock.

I'm hoping in the future (within the next couple months) to start volunteering occasionally at the nearby hospital - hopefully in the pediatric section. And, as a veteran myself, maybe Jock and I can start working with veterans in the future.

Oh, and if you want to learn more about Pet Partners, please check out the Pet Partners website.

Let it Snow!

Well, the Midwest is getting snow (and winds, lots of high winds!) again this weekend. It started raining here yesterday afternoon and into the evening. By around 7 PM, it had started changing over to snow as the temperature dropped. And it has been snowing ever since, even still, at 3:30 PM. I think new snow is still falling but it's sometimes hard to tell with the heavy winds blowing and causing lots of drifts.

There has been heavy snowfall around my neighborhood. A couple cars have already gotten stuck on our street before snow plows started clearing our neighborhood roads.

In the meantime, Liv and Jock have been enjoying the snow (but not for too long because the wind chill's right around zero).

Jock really seems to enjoy playing in the snow. Here are plenty of Pembroke-Welsh-Corgi-in-the-snow pics, most are kinda blurry because he was having so much fun zipping around quickly.

Bookin' it through the snow!

Over the drift

Peek a boo, Jock!

Running along the fence line

I included this pic, even though Jock's a blur, because of how quickly he ran to me and turned around for another lap in the snow!

Jock's Snowy Morning

Alright, so many of you are probably aware that the Midwest got hit by a snowstorm yesterday and  it lasted through the overnight hours. We ended up getting approximately 6.2" in my neighborhood.

Plus, we're going back into the deep freeze this week. When I headed out with Liv to take her to school this morning (after a 2 hour delayed start), the temp was -5°F with a wind chill of around -19°F. Let me tell you, she was bundled up. Long underwear, clothes, snow pants, snow boots, neck gaiter, winter coat, mittens, hat. She said her snow gear is SO WARM (thankfully!!) and the walk to school - 0.26 one way/door-to-door (we're literally right across the street) - is short.

We're supposed to be above 0°F for a high temp (though in the single digits, around 8°F). Tonight, though, it's supposed to be -11°F; who knows how cold the wind chill will get. Tomorrow? A high of -5°F and tomorrow's low expected to drop to -18°F. No wonder we've got a wind chill warning, huh?!

It really could be worse, though! Liv and I are reading The Long Winter, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. In this book, Laura describes blizzard after blizzard the Ingalls family endures in their house in the Dakota Territory during the winter of 1880-1881. She often mentions the bitter cold they were enduring this particular winter, and how, when she was in bed, she would look up at the ceiling and see how frost coated the ceiling board nails thickly in white. (They could also see their breath upstairs in their bedroom!!) 

And at one point, she mentions that, when Pa went down the street one day (they lived in town at this point) to find out the news from other townsfolk, he'd mentioned, upon his return home, that it was around 40° below!! 

A high of 8°F doesn't seem so bad, especially when the sun is making a weak (but hopefully not brief) appearance.

Anyway, I did entitle this post "Jock's Snowy Day." Yes, my original intent was to share a few pictures of Jock's enjoyment of the snowy back yard. He was born in August 2014, so last year was obviously his first winter. He LOVED it. He loved rolling in the snow, running around in the snow, eating, it, sticking his snout into snow drifts and rooting around . . . I was hoping that this winter, he'd be just as enamored of the white stuff as he was last year. 

Yep. He sure is. 

 

These were taken this morning, during Liv's two hour delay. She watched a bit from the window while I went out to take a few pics of Jock. I didn't get any of him while he was rooting around (SO FUNNY!) because he'd hear my camera's buzz while I focused on him, and he'd immediately whip his head around and look at me. But you can see the snowy effect of his rooting!

We didn't stay out long because of the wind chills, and the fact that his veterinary hospital posted about only taking dogs out for elimination purposes only while we're in this deep freeze. But I figured a few minutes here and there would be okay.

And then Liv had to go to school. I usually take her to the corner, and then the crossing guard takes over, but since we were a few minutes early, the crossing guard wasn't there, yet. So I walked her across the street onto school property, and she trotted off from there. 

When I got back into the house, I found Jock. Since both Liv and Andrew had two weeks off (one from school and the other from work, obviously), he grew accustomed to having all three of us around. But Andrew left for work after snow blowing the driveway and sidewalks, and then Liv was off. So he found his spot at the window by the front door (with his chew toy and the towel I use to dry him off after coming in from the snow) and began pining away for his two missing humans. 

Poor Jock. Hopefully he'll get used to the regular routine soon. (He's no longer at the window, but under my desk right now as I type.)

Memory Lane Friday - No Theme

This week is another "No Theme" week. So I'm going to write about something I was talking to Livie about earlier this week.

My family has had Pembroke Welsh Corgis since the early '90s. They are great little dogs with big personalities.

Our first Corgi, Foxy (registered name Oakhome Foxy Fancy), was a great girl. She was SO smart, and everyone said she was such a pretty Corgi.

Oakhome Foxy Fancy, circa mid-'90s.

She did AWESOME in obedience classes with me, even earning her AKC Canine Good Citizen award the first time out, even before completing her first basic obedience class. The Canine Good Citizen test, by the way, is to reward dogs and their humans for the dogs' good manners.

Anyway, she had a good, long life with our family, passing away in mid-2006, when Livie was a baby. Needless to say, Livie never met her.

Since she was my favorite dog, Andrew bought me a stuffed animal Corgi that looked just like Foxy. Now that Livie's a little girl and loves playing with stuffed animals, she found my stuffed animal "Foxy" and has claimed it as hers.

Earlier this week as Livie was playing with "Foxy," she was asking me questions about the real Foxy.

So I told her a time from back in the early '90s, when my brothers and I had a funny incident happen with Foxy.

We were at my parents' lake house in Lake Ozark, MO. It was the end of our trip, and we were heading back. My brothers decided to ride back with me and Foxy in my car, leaving my parents to head home alone.

It was approximately a 6 hour drive from the lake house to my parents' house (their regular residence, that is). At some point, about halfway home and around midday, we decided to stop at a McDonald's to use the restrooms and get something to eat.

Well, since Foxy couldn't come in with us, we had to leave her in the car. Right?

As we got out of the car,  I told my brothers to use the men's room as I used the ladies' room and we'd meet at the counter to order our lunches (I was going to buy all our food). I'd also order a plain hamburger for Foxy so she could eat the patty, per my mother's instructions, as well as a cup of water, no ice, since she needed something to drink, too. (This only happened on infrequent road trips, by the way.)

I asked my brothers to crack open the windows, so Foxy could get some fresh air. We'd only be gone, what, 10 minutes or so (just to go to the bathroom and get our food), so I wasn't too worried about her.

However, Foxy didn't understand the plan. As the three of us walked away from the car, she jumped up into the back window, looking like she thought we'd never return . . . or maybe, "How dare you leave me alone?!"

For some reason, we found that image to be hilarious, and we couldn't stop laughing about it. I think it was one of those you had to be there moments, but let me tell you, if I remind my youngest brother Alex, he and I still get a laugh out of it.

Anyway, we got back to the car a few minutes later, and there was Foxy, SO excited to see us. We just had to laugh.

So, here's the rest of the story . . . my brothers began to eat their lunches alfresco, right there at the car (we'd parked kinda at the edge of the parking lot, in as shady a spot as possible). 

I let Foxy out on her leash so we could go to her "bathroom" (a grassy place near the parking lot). Then we went back to the car so I could feed her her hamburger patty, laying it on the burger wrapper on the ground so she could eat it while I ate my own lunch.

Then we got in the car and headed the rest of the way home.

It was a fun, cute incident.

Foxy, circa 1996.

Please come back next week when the theme is "It Happened in Class."

Memory Lane Friday is hosted by Two Bears Farm and the Three Cubs. Please click on the button below to read her post, as well as this week's other entries.

End of Summer

Labor Day Weekend 2010 has come and gone, which means that summer is wrapping up. Thankfully, that also means that my favorite season, autumn, is on its way.

Anyway, we happened to spend the holiday weekend at the Macadamia Ranch this year.

Here are a few photos from our weekend . . .

Here's snapshot of what Iowa's farmlands look like at the end of summer. I took this photo and the next one on our way from Cedar Rapids to the Des Moines area.

This is somewhere on I-80, between Des Moines and I-380, heading west.

Bales and fields . . .

Again, this is somewhere on I-80, heading west. While I always feel like I'm in the middle of nowhere, I enjoy seeing the rolling hills, the greenery, and seeing Iowa's crops during their various stages of growing.

Liv and Abuelita are greeting "Baby Heart." She has just arrived with Liv's "Uncle Joe" and "Tia Pia."

Liv dubbed her young cousin "Baby Heart" about a year ago. 

Oma is taking a break from reading to enjoy watching two of her young great-grandchildren.

Liv, "Baby Heart" (the cousins) and Abuelita have big smiles. That must mean they're having fun, right?

Oma, Abuelita, and Liv

"Baby Heart" is being held by her daddy (my brother Joe), and Oma.

Oma's in what I call one of her "Easter egg blouses."



Liv's playing the piano for Daddy and Baby Heart.

Joe says, "Stay thirsty, my friends." I told Joe to pose and repeat the Dos Equis commercial's quote. That's why he's smiling so big.

Liv's laughing in the background about something totally different.



Nonno's asleep, despite all the commotion at the Macadamia Ranch.

Andrew asked me to take a photo of him while he had both dogs next to him.

The Pembroke Welsh Corgi is Caesar, and the Border Terrier is Jester.

More photos coming later . . .

A Walk in the Park

Yesterday was such a nice spring-like day (after the fog cleared up), that Livie and I ended up going to the park after school; we needed to enjoy the weather and soak up some Vitamin D.

We started off collecting twigs and small sticks. Livie enjoyed throwing them as far as she could into the stream as we stood on a small bridge.

Then we spent time racing each other down the path. I usually let her beat me; if I purposely tied her, she would insist on a do-over. And one time, she was ahead of me as we ran - she stopped suddenly, and it was all I could do to keep from running her over. She laughed at my acrobatics, as I did what I could to avoid running into her.

At one point, we came across a man and his two Pembroke Welsh Corgis. I saw them first, but didn't say anything, just waiting to see if Livie would notice them. She did, crying out, "Corgis!! Corgis!!" and jumping up and down wildly. We asked if we could pet them, and were given permission. Livie was very gentle with them, and the the three of them were just too cute together. Alas, I didn't get a photo of them. But take my word for it, they were cute - two corgis wiggling around licking Livie's hands.

Anyway, here are the photos, my whole purpose in posting today:

Well, it finally happened.

Last year, Livie was obsessed with getting a fish as a pet. I'm not sure where she got the idea, but every day for about a week, about a million times (or so it seemed), she'd ask us to get her a fish. Conversing with us about fish. Begging. Pleading. Sometimes having what seemed like a nuclear meltdown.

So one day last spring, Daddy, Livie and I went to the pet store and let her pick out a betta fish. We then picked out a bowl, a special sponge to clean the bowl every week, a fish net (to scoop out the fish so we could put it in a little cup of water while we cleaned its bowl), some aquarium "gravel" - the bright blue kind, and a fake plant for the fish to hide in, as well as betta-appropriate food. Oh, and the stuff we needed to treat tap water and turn it into a fish-friendly environment for our new pet.

And then we headed home, with Livie talking non-stop about what she'd name her fish. Nonni, Nala, Nonni, Nala, Nonni, and finally deciding on Nala (yes, she was also on a "The Lion King" kick).

She was so excited when we got home and got her fish bowl all set up with the bright blue gravel and the fake plant. Even MORE excited when we finally transferred "Nala" to her new home.

So we fully enjoyed having a "pet," though I had to remind Livie that we couldn't pet or play with the fish like we could with a dog like Caesar (her Abuelita's Pembroke Welsh Corgi). She thought it was a blast when it was time to feed "Nala," I would put the appropriate amount of food in her hand and then she'd lightly drop it in the bowl. Livie thought it was just too cool when "Nala" came up to eat.

Well, let me just clarify one thing. SHE fully enjoyed her "pet" . . . now, while I enjoyed having "Nala" in the house, and LOVED that Livie loved her "pet," I certainly wasn't a fan of cleaning its bowl every week and ensuring its water was treated with the betta water treatment stuff. I thought the weekly bowl-cleaning ritual was kinda gross and slimy.

Every weekend as I cleaned that bowl, I'd think about how much I missed having a mammal as a pet, whether it was a cat (I'm actually allergic to them, so I'll never again have a feline pet), a dog (the best kind of pet), or a horse of our own at a local stable. For some reason, it always seemed easier to care for and clean up after a mammal. Plus, it was much less gross. At least in MY opinion. But, alas, a mammalian pet will be for sometime in the future.

Anyway, not only did Livie love "Nala," her Abuelita did as well. She thought it was such a pretty little fish, and loved the color of the gravel and the way the green plant contrasted against the blue gravel. Abuelita made sure to "oooh" and "aaah" over the fish every time she came to visit!

So . . . you've probably noticed that I've been referring to "Nala" in the past tense. And there is a reason for that - the obvious reason.

Yesterday afternoon, I noticed that our aqua-dwelling creature was not moving, kinda listing to one side underneath a leaf of that fake green plant. I made a mental note to check on the fish again in a few minutes, hoping it was just hiding out.

Well, about an hour later as I got Livie's bath ready, I saw that the fish was still in the same position. And I knew "Nala" was deceased. And now the time has come; I'm facing the need to tell Livie that our pet has died.

When I found a moment when Livie was distracted with her stuffed animals, I asked quietly asked Andrew to take the bowl down to the laundry room once Livie was asleep - I didn't want her seeing us taking the bowl away so I could deal with disposing of our deceased fish.

She didn't notice that the bowl was missing from her bathroom this morning as I was helping her wash up and get ready for pre-kindergarten. And I was momentarily relieved. I wanted a little time to figure out exactly how I'd tell her. Plus, since it's Monday morning and she's off to Pre-K, I wasn't really wanting to start her day off that way.

We also have Livie's 4-year-old well child checkup at the pediatrician's office this afternoon. I figured that since we weren't heading back to "school" today, and we'd be getting home early, I'll tell her then. That way, we'll be home and I'll have her favorite toys, books, and DVDs to assist me in comforting her.

So that's what finally happened.