How to put a smile on Ziggy's face?
Take him somewhere he'll be petted!
This summer we found a new love for Ziggy. Meeting and greeting new people!
The Child was in a summer program at our local elementary school. Our house is just a few houses away from the school's sports field, so we walked to and from school each day. In the evening the kids were playing outside, so we often took a dog with us on the walk.
Whenever we showed up with one of the dogs, the kids would come over to say hello. When we took Maggie, she tolerated a few gentle pats. When we took Rip, he leapt up and gave the kids with one of his "spearing" licks on the face. When we took Ziggy he was in heaven. He loved the hugging, he loved the petting, he loved it all. He was sweet, polite, and tolerant. Ziggy was even enthusiastic about the whole thing!
When I got home from work, changed my clothes, and headed to the front door Ziggy would get very excited (yes, Ziggy got excited about something). When we headed out the door the ever-polite, non-leash pulling Ziggy would start wagging his tail, and go as fast as I would allow over the school. So sweet!! He developed a bit of a fan club (2 little girls and one of the kids' counselors LOVED him) over the course of the summer.
This makes us think that maybe Ziggy wants to be a therapy dog. Last night our kennel club did a demo at an assisted living facility, and The Husband took Ziggy to help. Apparently Ziggy had a great time. He got to do some basic obedience as part of the demo, then got to meet each of the residents. Happy dog!
Now the trick is finding enough time in our crazy lives to get Ziggy to be an "official" therapy dog....
It's funny how some dogs are just naturally in their element when surrounded by a swarm of kids. Lizzie is like that...she went to Charlie's 1st grade class for "show and tell" and was oh so happy. I think she'd make a fabulous therapy dog if, yeah, we ever found time to do it LOL. Heck I think I'm doing good, I actually looked up agility training places for Nash today!
ReplyDeleteTherapy work is very rewarding. The Dink adored the residents of the Alzheimer's wing -- she would have liked to live there, while Kip was into the guys at the VA's psych ward. They both brought pleasure to lots of people.
ReplyDeleteObedience and agility are all well and good, but therapy is real work - providing real value to the community.
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