Part 3: This is it.

What does this have to do with what I am supposed to do? I kept thinking, “I love to work with dogs,” and “ I love to serve people”. HOWEVER, the serving people is more a “brain-work” serving not a “do something for” serving. I love teaching, I loved being an EMT-I, I love organizing, I hated being a waitress.

How do those things work together? Oh yeah, I always wanted to try “therapy dog” work. Except for Tiger, I never had the dog that could do it. Where I lived with Tiger, there was no therapy dog organization and I just didn’t know how to go about forming one. NOW, I finally had the time to organize one. NOW, I had the dog that could do it: the accidental mutt, Leala. NOW, must be the time to pursue this.

I started research. YES, my new home town does have a therapy dog organization. I was psyched! For two weeks, I tried to make contact. No one had their phone number, my emails went unanswered (turns out the web-person’s mother died that week). I was getting frustrated. I called the sponsoring national organization. I called a certifying 80 miles away. I staggered….maybe this wasn’t it.

Then the thought struck me: I had never had Leala out anywhere except the vet. When we got her, she was terrified of her own shadow. Although she was confident at home, I had no idea how she would react to people in new places. Except for the vet, I had only seen her run from people.

Time to load up and go to Petsmart. Within 30 minutes of the thought, I was at Petsmart with Leala on a Sunday afternoon. It was adoption weekend and the place was in chaos. Leala, terrified of riding in cars, jumped out of the car to see hordes of people. I was intentionally “throwing her in”. I knew therapy dogs had to have a hardy mental constitution.
Leala loved it. People petted her, loved on her, gave her treats. She thought it was the greatest. I walked out the door of Petsmart even more frustrated. HOW could I contact the pet therapy group?

As I was leaving, a friend of mine, Michelle, who was working the adoption day, saw me and stopped me to say, hi. I introduced her to Leala and told her that I wanted to certify her as a therapy dog but couldn’t contact the group. Michelle smiled and pointed to a lady with a HUGE dog: Joan and Bella. Within a minute, I was on my way to signing up for the once a year training class which started the next week…good, I mean God timing.

Leala has been to two classes and absolutely loves them. Of course I think she is the best dog in the class. She is undisputedly an easy student.
It was time to test my own merit. I did my first tag-a-long. I went with Joan and Bella to a local Mental Health facility. I decided if I really wanted to jump in, this would be the place. I would sink or swim. I was expecting some personal apprehension as I had never been in a Mental Health facility. I was a little surprised when I found myself feeling perfectly at home…hmmm, that’s an interesting personal revelation.

This certainly seems like where I am to be. I got the right dog, I was at the right place at the right time, I am very comfortable and excited about it. If I am wrong, I can’t wait to see what God may have that is even better!