My little puppy girl, Mira, passed her therapy dog certification today. I can’t tell you how thrilled and proud we are. That’s a major step in what we hope is a long, fabulous career as a therapy dog. She’ll start by working at school and proceed from that to more difficult and less controlled settings (like hospitals).
Jenny and Qila have retired from therapy dog work. Jenny was still doing an incredible job with her school and hospital visits but cataracts are beginning to interfere with her vision and we didn’t want to push her past when she felt comfortable doing her work. Better to go out when you’re on top. Qila has been retired for some little while. He was still the perfect therapy dog but he had some aches and pains that were beginning to trouble him and we were concerned about the combination of the stress of the work and the aches and pains so we retired him.
So Mira will begin her work. It will take some of the pressure off Tally.
So Mira is happy not being famous but rather making people happy. Found her metier, eh? Congratulations to you and Mira!
Just curious how it works. Do you always accompany her to her jobs? Stay with her, etc?
The dog and handler are a team. They are evaluated as a team and they pass or fail as a team. The team goes to the hospitals or schools or whereever they’re working.
Congratulations, Janice. Onchu and I hope to be following your trail soon!