I tell this story because it is funny but also to remind people- your dog doesn't have to be perfect to be a therapy dog. Ivan LOVES people but also loves being silly at home. He plays hard and is pretty crazy. I have read comments on some Facebook pages about therapy dogs where people worry that their dog isn't going to cut it because they aren't perfectly behaved. Does your dog love people? Do people love your dog? You have a good chance of it working out- obviously there is a lot more to it but don't count your dog out if they aren't perfectly behaved.
So, we arrived at the school and we didn't even make it past the office. Ivan was being loved on from the minute he walked in the door. He did great. Did he sit the whole time? No, but he didn't jump and most of the time he did his little army crawl towards people. When we got to the classroom, I talked a lot about the dos/don'ts with Ivan-don't feed him, stay calm, only I can hold the leash etc. We shared a book about how to greet dogs and then the students got to come up 2 at a time and pet Ivan. Talk about DOG HEAVEN! He rolled over on his back for every one of them to get a tummy rub or crawled to them for them to pet him. He did fantastic! He was exhausted after and just slept the rest of the day.
We hope to continue visits and work with the counselor at the school to work him into her lessons. I found a great website with lesson plans that work well for some of the things the counselor talks about. Check it out http://allieproject.org/lesson-plans/Stay tuned for more upcoming visits.
