Mid Week note

Uhhh not much going on....

I'm now reading the book Mike loved, Merle's Door. Oh! - it is a wonderful book by an award-winning author. He mingles a little science about dogs in with his story of his journey with his dog Merle. They live in wide-open Wyoming, near Jackson. Mike and I are enjoying discussing it as I read through it. If you haven't read it, and you love dogs, it's a must-read. Let me help you out: www.amazon.com.

The therapy dogs are gearing up for a testing session this Saturday. I'm a little behind on my organization for it - picked up an annoying, minor stomach virus that's going around. It caused me to skip Kennel Club last night, despite an interesting program by the SC K9 Search and Rescue folks.

This Friday is the upstate paralegal's organization's annual seminar. It's a big deal - from 7:30 am until the President's reception ends that evening. This year, it's at the Embassy Suites hotel and I'm really looking forward to it. The topics are very interesting - the sort of thing that everyone is interested in but the size of the specialty is so small that hardly anyone actually WORKS in it - like entertainment law. We have some other topics like electronic discovery that will also generate wide interest. I get to "shadow" ie hostess, the new Chief of Police for Greenville. She has quickly established herself as widely admired and genuinely liked by everyone in the community. I am really looking forward to meeting her in person and keeping her company at lunch. She is the luncheon speaker. I really enjoy networking with other paralegals, so this conference is a Must for me.

Knitting is really progressing. I went home early yesterday with this stomach bug and caught a TV demo of a particular technique that has always intrigued me - a way to knit a moebius strip in one continuous circle, from the center out. These make gorgeous scarfs - pretty and cozy, and staying in place naturally with a beautiful drape. Oh my! Once I'd SEEN it done, it was so easy. So I will need to make one of these - and they are great for using up extra yarn!

Finally got the current sock all sorted out and am half way down the leg of the first sock. It's look good and I will need to post some knitting pictures soon.

Is THAT my dog?

Tonight we got together with a group of other Rally nuts for a little practice session on a tennis court. Rowdy was terrible. Oh well. That's why we went. Dogs' learning is highly discriminating - and they are consequently very poor generalizers. That's why Sit in the kitchen will look so polished, and then Sit in the living room leaves your dog looking at you like, "Huh? What does 'Sit' mean here?"

But after a little refresher work, Rowdy stepped up to the plate and started doing better. Never at his best, we still were able to have a successful training session and a good time. The group is hoping to get together regularly, as we all need the incentive to get out to new places to train, and having other dogs around to distract each other - as at a show - is a big plus too.

Mike has been thoroughly enjoying a book he found about a dog. He finished it today, while we were out playing with dogs. This means I can read it next! yay! Tomorrow is chore day and we will both be busy all day - lawn mowing and laundry.

Responsible Dog Ownership Week 2007

Greenville has only one dog park, and today was the celebration of the one-year anniversary of the opening. Art in public spaces is very prominent in city priorities, and today the City unveiled a statue for the dog park. The sculptor was on hand, from Colorado, to give us a few words and unveil her work. The rescue arm of the Great Dane Club of America helped acquire it, and the statue is named, "High Four." I'd seen a picture of it, but my goodness - in person, it is amazing!! When you look at it, you hold your breath, expecting the life-sized Dane to come to life at any moment. This is the sculpture with the artist (in the red hat).

The Greenville Kennel Club is one of the sponsors of the dog park, and had a tent at the festival area. This is part of our participation in the national Responsible Dog Ownership Week sponsored by the AKC. Other tents were various rescue groups, local dog treat vendors, a large veterinary group which also sponsors the dog park, ChikFilA, and other dog-related vendors (doggie day care, kennels, artists and so forth). GKC also sponsored a demonstration area, where we had an agility demonstration by Speedy Paws. Here's a picture of Kim (who owns Speedy Paws and placed Tillie with us and helped us get Rowdy) with her dog Twisted. Twisted is her only border collie - she also has 4 Aussies at home!

Other demonstrations were canine CPR and the County Sheriff's K-9 unit. We also did Canine Good Citizen testing, and several dogs passed that test - and we immediately linked them with the therapy dog coordinator who was there, as well as making sure they knew about other opportunities to have fun with their dog! I was just helping out with the Club as a volunteer - my job was just to wear my Club shirt and mingle, chatting up folks and being available to answer questions. It was quite shocking to find that there were a number of opportunities to be helpful, mostly linking people up with specialty vets, training, and general education about dog sports.

I wished I'd taken Rowdy to be part of the agility demo. We could have run him over the jumps at a very low height, and there were no obstacles used today that really create knee strain. Next year - we'll join in the fun!

Therapy Dog visit

Tonight our therapy dog group visited at a private psychiatric hospital. There were only 5 dogs visiting tonight - where we often have 25. So there was more work on the dogs. However, we all had a great time and our visit was very successful.

We visited with a number of people who were familiar with Aussies, so Rowdy was encouraged to show off a little bit. We did several obedience and Rally demos, and just a few simple moves in a small space was a lot more impressive to folks that I expected. They were able to see the precision and Rowdy's joyful attitude, which surprised me a little. I taught a few teenagers how to give Rowdy the hand signals for obedience commands and they were thrilled to see him sit or down in response to their silent signal. Many people visited with Rowdy and it was so touching to see how he gave them such love and acceptance and a respite from their troubles. He left everyone he met with a big smile and some heartfelt goodbyes as we moved on to another part of the hospital.

Mike and I are so enthusiastic about therapy dog work. We think it is by far the most worthwhile thing we do with Rowdy. And it is also - BY FAR - the easiest. It is such a simple gift - to make your dog available to bring the healing power of a dog's acceptance and love to someone in need. It is such a blessing to have the opportunity.

Dog tired

We're all pretty tired from a long week and a busy day today. We'll post an update tomorrow.