We got the certification paperwork! Now we can go to Carrie Tingley Hospital for Children and the VA hospital, too.

Mom said that we would make an excellent Delta Society Pet Therapy dog team. She bought books by Cesar Milan and the Monks of New Skete and started training me. It was hard work learning to heel and come when called. But I tried really hard.

We went to see Kerrie of the Warm Hearts Network for a pretest. Kerrie said the only thing she could not test us for was having us walk by another dog & handler without any reaction from me. She said we did very well and could take the real test.

In May of 2009 we went off for our test. Mom was nervous. I was excited by all of the dog smells. I wanted to play with all of the other dogs. I got really excited when we went into the testing room. I went around the room and sniffed out all traces of the other dogs and discovered treats on all of the volunteers. Then I tried to climb under the room divider to the testing room adjacent to mine. Mom was frustrated. Finally, we were ready to test.

We did so well on the sit, stay, walk & leave it tests and especially well on the interacting with strangers, sick people and disabled people tests. I really love people, so that part of the test was easy. Then they brought another dog into the room. I was so excited to see her and went up to tell her all about my test. Mom pulled me back and I went up to the other dog. Everyone looked very sad. They told us we failed the test because I went up to the other dog. Mom was very disappointed.

When we got home, I promised mom that I would practice hard and would do better next time. We worked and worked at it until the next test in October of 2009. Mark and his dogs helped us out as did Kristin and my foster brother & sisters. Mom promised that if we passed, then we could go to Three Dog Bakery with my friends to celebrate. I was much calmer for the next test, but was unhappy that mom put the Halti collar on me. That thing puts pressure on my nose when I pull and I don’t like it much. Plus, it is embarrassing to wear it. We took the test and I was well behaved. I was very tempted, but did not go up to the other dog when that part of the test came up. We passed!

Kristin and Kicks passed, too! Mom called Sebrena, and told her to bring her daughter Briana and my dog buddy Pepper to meet us at Three Dog Bakery. Yummy! I got to pick out my own desserts. I chose a scrumptious pumpkin cake and a peanut butter cake. She let me have some of each and we took the rest home. We all had a grand time celebrating on the bakery patio.

It took awhile for mom to get the money to take me in for a comprehensive physical with Dr. Maguire at the Aztec Animal Clinic. I impressed the doctor with my buff physique and happy personality. She said that I was in such good shape that the was giving my stars on my report! And she gave me treats, too! Mom had to wait for all of the blood and fecal test to come back before she could send off the application to the Delta Society.

Dr. Maguire called back after a few days to tell my mom that I had giardia. We all thought that this was very odd as I had no symptoms. I would have to go on medication and get retested in a month. It was yucky medicine but I took it because I wanted to become a Pet Therapy dog and help people out in hospitals and nursing homes.

After a month, I got re-tested for giardia. It came back positive. Mom had to buy the same icky medicine for me, plus a new, very expensive medicine to try to wipe it out of my system. And we had to wait another month to be re-tested.

Dr. Maguire called my mom and said that we finally passed. She also said that she wrote a letter to send off to Delta Society explaining the delay in sending off the application.

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