Our first Therapy Dog visit

So in order to get serious about therapy work, you need to have ten hours of supervised therapy work with other teams who know what they are doing.  This will help you learn all the rules, both written and unwritten, but it will also help you understand that your cute little dog needs lots of obedience training.

I got an invite to a reading program at an elementary school in Shelby County, and as it seemed pretty low key, I thought it would be a good start for Ivan.  We were asked to get there 15 minutes early so that the dogs could "meet and greet."  If you have ever visited a dog park you will understand that this means "sniff butts and other smelly parts so we understand who is in our pack."  Lesson learned?  Get your dog, service or family, out into the world and introduce them to as many other dogs as possible.  Working dogs need to be CALM when they are working.  Your working dog needs to be able to concentrate on the task at hand without trying to flirt, play, chat or wrestle with all the other dogs at the event.  Ivan thought the meet and greet part of the event was the best fun he had had in ages.  We clearly needed to get out more.

The school was doing a program for parents of 2nd graders that evening, with the parents off in the library learning about what it means to be a 2nd grader and the kids were being edutained at various stations throughout the huge entry area.  Reading to the dogs was one of the stations.  The kids got to choose a book and then choose which dog they wanted to read to.  Ivan was pretty small compared to most of the other dogs there so we tried to find a spot on the floor where we would be seen.  I laid out Ivan's "go place" mat and settled in.

We had five different kids come up over the next hour.  Ivan greeted each with dignity and joy.  Then the kids opened their books and started to read.  They were focused and serious and just about as cute as a kid reading can be.  Ivan was stunned.  They were ignoring him!  This was extremely confusing for Ivan, as he is usually the main event.  He sat looking on sadly as each child read their book to us.  Lesson learned:  Puppy needs to be ignored more often.

I really like the idea of these types of reading programs.  The kids happily read aloud to the dogs, who just as happily listen to whatever the kids have to say.  It is very non-threatening and you can very subtly help the kids with pronunciation and understanding content in a very conversational matter.  Lots of fun.  However, I needed to learn to leave Ivan alone once the kids sat down and my "take-away" was that I micro-manage my dog.  

So first time out of the gate?  Successful event with a list of things to work on at home.