Previously, on Clickin' the Pug (waaaayyyyyyy back in January 2007), Frankie had graduated from beginning obedience and we were heading on to the intermediate class....and then...hey, where'd they go? Did they dissapear? Die? Get eaten by bigfoot?
Seriously, though, it's been a long, long time since I've blogged. Almost 2 years, holy cow! A whole lot has happened since January 2007. I'll fill you in...
Frankie and I did go to intermediate obedience....and after that, we completed the advanced class which included the Canine Good Citizen test. She passed, of course! We also took a beginning Rally-O class, which was VERY fun. Frankie enjoyed it, too.
I contacted DoveLewis, which is an emergency animal hospital here in the Portland area that has an animal assisted therapy program, and asked about their qualifications for Animal Assisted Therapy Dogs. We got a packet of information and it sat on the shelf for most of this last summer. Finally, I got off my butt and e-mailed the program coordinator. We went in for an interview with her at the end of September, I completed the handlers portion of the course, and we passed the TDI Therapy Dog Test on November 1st of this year. Yay!! So not only will we be registered as a TDI Pet Partner (as soon as I send the paperwork in), we'll also be certified with DoveLewis.
We haven't started doing any visits as of yet. There are a LOT of hoops to jump through. Of course, there's all the requirements that DoveLewis has, and also requirements for the facility you'll be visiting. In our case, that's the OHSU (Oregon Health and Science University) Hospital, and eventually Doernbecher Children's Hospital, which is on the same campus. I get to shadow a Therapy Team that is already in place next Thursday (without Frankie, of course), then we get shadowed as we do our first visit.
Here's a link to a Youtube video of what DoveLewis does here in the Portland community. There's a great segment on Animal Assisted Therapy towards the end. Did you know that there's actually a llama that is in the Therapy program? I think that's really cool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-F_Phm9JQc
Tomorrow night Frankie and I have our first opportunity to volunteer for DoveLewis. We'll be at the Barnes & Noble at Washington Square helping at the gift wrapping table. No, Frankie will not be participating in the wrapping. I don't think any amount of clicker training makes up for the absence of opposable thumbs! So anyway, if you happen to live in this area, stop by and say hi!
I'm going to make an honest effort to keep blogging (crossing my fingers!!) so hopefully it won't be too long before you hear from me next.
Oh...and I'll update my blog picture. Frankie has lost 4 pounds!
Until next time,
Ellen and Frankie
