Pet Partners Testing

Every two years, my dogs renew their Therapy Dog certification.  First, they get a health check up and shots. I was pleased that Cooper has finally gained some weight. At 28.7 pounds, he is still a bit thin, but at least he is gaining. Maybe if he wasn't so "busy" he could gain more. The next step is the Team Evaluation.  For this, we went to El Paso, TX. The test involved some basic obedience-type components, some temperament components and some aptitude components. 

Sadie was first. I have to admit, I was a bit nervous going in. Sadie has decided she doesn't  want to "sit". Ever.  It started a couple of months ago. We believe it is due to arthritis. She is, after all, a senior citizen. We practiced some in the past few weeks with mixed results. Sometimes she would, and other times she would not. I wasn't sure how she would react to the test. I took her into the building and she had some problems walking on the slick floor.  We practiced a couple of times and went in the room for the test. We walked around a bit while the evaluator got the paperwork ready. Everyone else in the room told her how pretty she is. Sadie ate that up!  I told the tester that she might not sit on the slick floor and she sat down!  So we went on from there. Her down was rock solid as was her stay. One of the stay exercises had me go out about 20 feet and then go back. The next one I was supposed go out the 20 feet and call her to me. She took at least a minute and a half to get up from her down position. Then she very slowly came to me. That got lots of sympathetic ohs and ahs. I could tell she did it all for effect and totally enjoyed the attention.  The aptitude and temperament tests went well. She acted like she didn't even hear the loud clanging sound when they dropped a large pan lid. She engaged the "crowd" of people with medical devices and generally loved all the attention. She passed with a complex situations score meaning that she can handle anything. 

Cooper went next. He was the last dog of the day. I am fortunate that they schedule me late enough so that I don't have to leave at the crack of dawn and early enough so I can get home at a decent time. Even though we got there fairly early and had enough time to walk around a bit, Cooper was more than a little excited. In hindsight, it might have been better if he had gone first. He was so happy to see all the people. He just loves to spread his keesieness to new people. He was great at the obedience part until it came to the recall. The tester (different one than with Sadie) pointed at me and said "call him". So he came to me without me having to say a word. So I put him back and called him. He shot towards me like a rocket. He couldn't stop on the slick floor so slammed into my shins and almost took both of us down. (Everyone laughed). He automatically assumes that people will love him so the temperament tests were easy. His favorite part was the group petting. He just couldn't help himself and tried to climb up into laps. So not acceptable. (Everyone laughed). He passed, but got marked down due to his exuberance. 

Sadie got a perfect score. Cooper was perfectly entertaining. Either way, they can continue to do what they love. They will be working at the library this summer and maybe continue after that since I am going to retire again. They love their jobs.