We've Been Busy

Wow. It's been awhile since I posted.

Got Cooper's AKC certificate in the mail the other day and his photo in the mail yesterday, so that was a reminder that I haven't posted on here that he got his CD last month.

Here are the photos of our three qualifying legs.

Above: March - 1st leg, 3rd place - Shocked!

Above: March - 2nd leg, 4th place. - Didn't want to wait for the judge.

Two legs and just need one more leg, but no local trials for awhile. There was an outdoor trial in April but I wanted to wait for an indoor trial, and then I totally forgot to mail my entry for the trial in May....Had something to do with being busy with a new grandson born on April 30th.

Above: June - 3rd leg, no placement, but not sad at all. It was a large entry and we Q'd!!

This was a goal that I had for 2010, so I'm very happy. We worked hard and we did it.

So our next project is working on our therapy dog certification. We did our first observation in early July, but I'm so busy at work at the moment it will probably be mid-August before we can do our second observation. We have to have three observations total.

Here's a few pictures from our first observation.

The last time I went to a nursing home with him was in May, and we went with our friend Elaine and her dalmation, and Cooper wanted to play with Tripper. I had trouble getting him to focus. So I wasn't sure where we headed this time since another dog and handler were along for their observation as well, but I didn't let Cooper get to know the other dog until after the therapy visit.

When we went in May, I had posted about it on my Facebook page, and a gal in my kennel club emailed me and said she was a therapy dog evaluator if I wanted to make him a certified therapy dog (TDI). So in order to do that she has to go with us three times and observe us.

I've heard people talk about how rewarding it is doing therapy dog work, but you just can't imagine until you do it yourself. I was very touched and pleasantly surprised how Cooper reacted to the people in this assisted living home on this day. You can tell in the pictures that he really enjoyed it. I was afraid he would get bored, but he wasn't, he loved the attention.

The little, old lady in these pictures LOVED him. When they move to this assisted living home, they cannot have dogs. She was a true dog lover. There were 3 family pictures in her room with dogs in them. One from when she was a little girl with her dog, one of her and her husband and their dog, and then a painting of her husband and their dog. She was so happy that we can by her room, and I can't wait til we can go back. There were a couple of other ladies that just loved him as well, and this home is only 5 minutes from my house.

Above: Cooper and I and the other therapy dog/handler with the manager of the assisted living home.

So, that's what we've been up to. I hope you all are enjoying your summer as well.

Til next time,

Cya!