Our Third Therapy Visit

Red and I went back to the healthcare center for another visit this afternoon. I have started making our appointments for later in the afternoon so this gives me ample time to run him in the morning and work off excess energy.

Before we left, I realized the cats had jimmied the screen door open somehow (it is a gorgeous day today and I had the sliding glass door open), and both of them were outside! Titus was sitting on the deck, even though the door off the deck was wide open and he could've gone out in the yard, and Cloud was wandering around in the garage. Red was standing there on the deck looking from one cat to the other, as if he was keeping a close eye on them. He seemed to know they weren't supposed to be out there and was trying to keep them close. I called the cats and they came running back in and then Red looked relieved. What a good boy, looking out for his kitty brothers =)

Anyway, so we left to go on our visit. The flat nylon martingale collar is a godsend! So much more control than on his regular flat collar. And I used the shorter leather leash again today. I didn't bring in my purse or anything to carry this time. I put his TDI card in my pocket, along with my car keys and our visit log. Then I had both hands free to control Red. I took him over to the trees to potty first, then went inside to the front desk. I asked if they wanted to page the lady that I usually deal with, but they said to go ahead and start our visit.

I started walking around - still not really knowing where I was going because the facility is large and confusing to navigate. I saw several officers in uniforms there and wondered if something bad had happened. Then the lady that I usually see for our visits came up to me and said they were having their random inspection. I immediately offered to leave if it was a bad time - I didn't want them to have anything to worry about with the inspection. She assured me it was fine and just wanted me to be aware of it. She assigned another lady, Sylvia, to walk around with me, who was very nice and cheerful. Many of the staff members were so happy to see Red, and came up to us to play with him. They all thanked us for coming and doing this. =)

Sylvia took us to the dining room where about 10 residents were watching a movie and having a snack of cheese puffs, graham crackers, and juice. We went along to each person, and instead of asking "Do you want to pet the dog?", I asked "Do you like dogs?" and I got a lot more people who seemed to open up and want to pet him. Before when I asked people if they wanted to pet him, a fair number automatically said no without really thinking about it. But by changing the question around, I got a lot better response. I learned this from the book "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others" by Kathy Diamond Davis. The author is a member of the therapy dog yahoo group that I am also a member of, and I am really enjoying the book so far. So more people seemed interested in petting him and a couple of them kept trying to feed him cheese puffs and graham crackers, which is off-limits. It was hard to tell people to stop offering him food - especially when Red was so willing to to accept it! Thank god for the "leave it" command!

So after making the rounds in the dining room, we went down the halls to visit individual rooms. We saw the gentlemen who really liked Red last time. His name is Franklin and he was thrilled to see us back. He remembered that we were there last week dressed up in costumes =) He petted Red and tried to offer him the rest of his barbacue chicken lunch! I spent a lot of time with Franklin because he really seemed to enjoy Red. He wheeled himself out into the hallway so he could have more room with him. The staff encourage residents to come out of their rooms and get out and about, so it was nice that Franklin came out and was moving around. He wheeled himself down to the end of the hall where there are glass doors looking out into a courtyard. Franklin sat there in his wheelchair gazing outside and Red stood there quite still on his right side, looking out into the courtyard too. I wish I would've had my camera with me - seeing their dark outlines against the bright sunlight, both just sitting there and looking outside - it would've been a great photo =)

Sylvia seemed to want to move along, so we said goodbye to Franklin and I told him we'd see him next time we came to visit. He seemed really cheered by our visit. We went to another room, to visit a woman named Marsha who used to have Shih tzus. She absolutely loved seeing Red and asked lots of questions about his age and breed. She seemed genuinely happy to see him. We chatted for a little while, then moved on to the next room to a gentlemen in a bed who also used to have Shih Tzus. He couldn't move much, so I took Red up to his bed and Red licked his hands. He laughed a bit and then touched as much of Red as he could reach. Another gentlemen in another room who was wearing a Red Wings sweatshirt wanted to see him too. Turns out his son keeps Great Danes and he used to have a couple Great Danes of his own. We chatted a bit about that, and about hockey since I am a Red Wings fan as well. =)

Many of the rooms were either empty as their occupants were off to physical therapy or other places, and the rest were napping and we didn't want to disturb them. I really enjoyed this visit, and Red is becoming better at knowing what he is supposed to be doing. We were there for about 45 minutes this time. Sylvia thanked us over and over for taking the time to come, and invited us back whenever we could come. She signed off on our visit log, then we were done! Went back out to the car and Red got a jackpot of treats as usual.

This was our 3rd weekly visit. I think I am going to start making this into a biweekly thing rather than weekly. Especially going into the holidays when there will be less time - I don't want to commit to weekly visits and then not be able to do it. Or start to think of it as an obligation. I want it to continue to be fun and rewarding so going a little less often seems like a good choice. =)