Moving Forward

LEXI has had her first experience practicing to be a therapy dog at the Ashburn Library this past weekend! I was a bit nervous going into the situation, worried that she might become very excited, or constantly want to get off my lap, but I think the constant flood of children in our home has helped her relax around kids. Although she doesn't look particularly comfortable in this picture, this is how she positioned herself, and she slept this way for most of the event. :-)

My experience working in an elementary school as an OT, and watching the other 2 handlers and their dogs at this event, I quickly settled in and felt confident in relating to the kids. I think it will take a bit more time for me to feel confident and natural with using a therapy dog. It still feels new and strange, especially not knowing exactly how LEXI will behave. But I was so encouraged by how well LEXI behaved, that I know it's only a matter of time before it feels like a natural process.

At home, we are still working on teaching LEXI to follow commands. She is 15 weeks now and is doing better then I expected. Even though we will not be eligible to go through the testing this June for LEXI to become certified, it was very helpful to receive the details about the testing from Allison. It has geared a lot of what I do at home . . i.e. exposing LEXI to loud unexpected noises and praising her when she reacts calmly, working very specifically on exposing her to food on the floor and making sure she never takes the food until hearing the 'eat' command, etc. She has gotten so good at this skill that my husband called my cell phone one evening while I was out, he couldn't get LEXI to eat the dinner he put in front of her. I told him to say 'eat', so he tried that and I heard him laughing as it worked. He was so surprised she had learned that skill so well that she wouldn't even eat her dinner!!

Today we are off to our 3rd and final puppy kindergarten solo class, and we'll find out what follows that; I assume it's a group class. Next week we take our first step into a school where we will shadow Terry and his therapy dog at Mountain View Elementary School. We're on our way! The next challenge LEXI needs to face is voluntarily entering new places. She occasionally digs in her heels if she feels unsure about a location. It's never around people or other animals, it's always about the location. I would like to see her walk comfortably around all settings without being nervous. We'll see how she does with this next week.

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