First Official Therapy Visit!
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 patient and more staff in the hallways. Izzy wanted to jump on the bed of the first patient we visited but listened when I told her not to. She did really well interacting with each person she met and amazed me by how calm she was for a teenager. She never tried to jump on anyone but did "paw" someone. She uses her paws a lot and likes to hug your leg with her paw. That's not a good idea though on visits. She stopped right away and didn't try again I learned a lot observing her today. She "shakes it off" after most interactions just like Emmi did. I started to notice more yawning and panting after about 45 minutes and I think those were some signs she was getting tired. She is not fond of being pet on her hind end and loves neck and ear scratches. All of this will help us with future visits. She was exhausted afterwards. It is amazing how much therapy visits tire them. It's hard work.
She brought smiles to every patient and staff person she visited. After she visited with one nurse, I heard him tell another nurse, the computer was now working and that "everything is just better after the therapy dogs visit".
One visit down, two to go...
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