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I think this would be Izzy's response if she knew what I did. So I submitted my application to Alliance of Therapy Dogs (ATD) an hour after my last observed visit. I checked and double-checked my packet and then scanned it. I looked at it before attaching and then emailed it. I knew due to staff turnover and an increase in applicants as another major certifying agency has folded, it would be 5 to 7 weeks. I have been patiently waiting. Today I got an email from ATD. I was so

It's been busy here. I am so behind in posts so this one will cover a lot :) The biggest news is that Izzy passed all 3 of her observed visits and I have submitted her application to Alliance of Therapy Dogs (ATD)! They have gone through a lot of staff changes and are playing catch up so I'm trying to be patient as we wait (could be 5 to 7 weeks). Izzy made two new friends in the last month. Sam is looking for a home and is with Golden Bond Retriever Rescue. His foster sister

There are some commands that the importance of your dog knowing them is obvious. A strong recall comes to mind. Yesterday, I had a real life situation that demonstrates the importance of the "Wait" command. For Izzy, wait means to stay where she is when I say wait until I release her. It was a beautiful, cool morning. Izzy had her second observed visit later that morning and I decided to get her out for an early morning walk. As we started out at our usual walking spot, I was

Today's post has nothing about Izzy or Therapy Dogs but it is about a cat who was an unofficial therapy cat. This is long (but not near as long as it could be). I think it is worth a read though. I got a call today from my brother’s ex-girlfriend (who I really had hoped would be my sister-in-law, but it didn’t work out). She let me know that Smokey, a little cat she had given a home to after my brother, Dar, died, was critically ill and she had an appointment to have her euth

Afternoon pool time. This will be a short post as I'm exhausted. Dave left on the weekend for a wildfire conflagration. He is over in Central Oregon protecting people's houses from the Rowe Creek Complex Fire. So, Izzy and I are on our own. There's a lot to do with Izzy, the cats and our property, especially in the Summer, with two people. With just me, I feel like I am busy from sunup to sundown. Izzy is getting more time on her own. While she'd prefer to be with me, she is

Not the best photo but the best I could do holding her leash and trying to be quiet. Izzy did great on her first official therapy visit! We met Tanja, who is a tester/observer for Alliance of Therapy Dogs and a member of FETCH Therapy Dogs, and her dog Rocco in the front lobby. I could tell Izzy wondered why she and Rocco weren't going to play but she got past that fairly quickly. We took the dogs to two nurses' stations and into several patient rooms. She also got to meet a

Had to get some action shots of Izzy at the beach. She was so excited and rarely stopped moving.

Had so much fun photographing Izzy at the coast. This first set are stills taken at morning golden light. The light was just perfect. Izzy letting us know it was early for all the photographs. We got more sun as we got to the beach. The beach is definitely this girl's happy place!

Izzy's new favorite place. We just got back from a 5-day camping trip at Harbor Vista in Florence. We all had an amazing time and Izzy found her happy place. We weren't in a site that would work with Izzy's x-pen, so we used her overhead pully. She adjusted quickly. She learned what fire was and respected it. The only problem was that she thought her job was to prune and excavate the site. We ended up using her x-pen to block the places she wanted to prune. By day 3, she had

We did it!! We had our Therapy Dog Certification Handling Assessment this morning. I was so nervous but tried not to send that energy down the leash. I think I have just been working so hard towards this and am so eager to start therapy work again, I got myself worked up. Even if she hadn't passed, she would have had 2 more tries. We did it though! Neither of us was perfect but it's not so much about perfection as being able to work together as a team. She wanted to play with

Izzy decided this week she didn't want to get into the van to go on her play adventure with Lucky Dog. This was something they had to work on with her when she started and they got her past it. She decided this week, she wasn't comfortable getting in the crate again. We tried Tuesday and Friday so we've decided to give her a couple of weeks off and see if that helps. With that change, it was great to have our new mini pack walk and a play date with Juno this week, to give Izz

Mini pack walk with Erin and Maeve and Wendy and Elisha. It's been a busy week and we have exciting news! Izzy is scheduled for her Therapy Dog Certification Test on July 19! I really didn't think we would be testing when she was this young, but I think she is ready. We can retake it and it will give us good feedback so it will be helpful even if she doesn't pass. I am nervous though! The timing is really something and makes me think Emmi is guiding us. We are doing the test

This may not look like much but it is actually amazing. I am holding a leash with some slack and my coffee cup on our walk and I was able to take a picture. Izzy graduated from Dog 4. Our last class was held in a park. There were lots of distractions including other dogs, bikes, and children. Izzy did great and was able to walk on a fairly loose leash and follow commands even with all the activity. A few days later, I was walking Izzy and realized how far we have come. I was

Izzy LOVED camping. Just got back from an amazing camping trip at the Metolius River. This was Izzy's second camping trip. She went on one last summer. I really think that early experience made this trip go smoother. This girl loves camping! We took a long hike every morning along the river and then a shorter hike in the evening. She was a bit hesitant as a puppy in water, but she has definitely decided water is the best thing ever now. So much so, that is is difficult to get

Playing with a wide-angle lens in the field. Izzy is one year old today! This girl has totally changed our life in so many ways and was just what we needed! We love her so much! I can't believe she is already a year old. This year went so fast and wow, we have done a lot! Putting the video together really brought home to me how much she has grown and how much we have done. Today she got to unwrap her present, go for a walk, and then Iylah came over and they had a great play s

Izzy watching her favorite TV show: Lucky Dog. Izzy is making incredible progress! I am now positive that I have a therapy dog. She is doing great with meeting people. No jumping. Mostly waits for me to tell her it's OK to say "Hi". She loves to see people and loves the attention. She had a recheck with her vet and look at her settling and patiently waiting. You can also tell the vet clinic is one of her happy places. Taking her in for lots of visits when she was a puppy sure

Keeping with our flower theme, Izzy in the daisies. A busy week with Izzy. She had her advanced training class on Wednesday. We worked a lot on loose leash walking and being calm around the other dogs around the other people and dogs and paying attention to us. Izzy did great! A playdate with her bff, Juno on Wednesday afternoon. She loves her playdates and seems to know when someone is coming to visit. Thursday, we had a professional photographer out, Salty Pet Portraits. Gr

Izzy and I before the walk. Izzy has to think today was the best day ever. I know I think it was amazing. We got to the event early. She first got to see her friends from Training Spot (our team for the event). After that, we started walking by the vendor booths. All of a sudden, I heard "Izzy". We both looked up and it was LuckyDog Day and Night Care's booth. I wondered what does a dog think. Going someplace and running into all these people from different parts of her life?

Emmi When I took Izzy over to the booth F.E.T.C.H. Therapy Dogs had at Bark in the Park, one of the people I had worked with at the Airport shared a story with me. A woman had come by not long before we got there. She wanted to let the teams there know about a therapy dog who had touched her life at the Airport. She said her plane had been delayed 5 hours and she was just having a really hard time when she was approached by a handler with a golden retriever. She said that gol

A friend of mine had a photo session with her dogs and shared the photos with me. They were taken in a field among Camas flowers and were beautiful. Every day I admire some of the fields in our area that have Camas and wondered if anyone would let me do a photoshoot on their property. So, I posted in our neighborhood Facebook group and two neighbors responded and offered me their fields for a photoshoot. I love where we live. So many good people out here! Saturday morning the