He is H-U-G-E! We have been working to get him to walk with people without pulling us. In many instances he is doing well. Mostly inside the halls of the school. However if he gets down near Ms. Korby's door, the one he goes out for 2nd period break with Ms. Breeze,he gets excited and pulls. Outside if there is a snowflake, or a bird and god forbid a squirrel, he pulls like a truck at a truck pull. I keep thinking to myself, "I outweigh him by a lot, do I need to gain weight?" Poor Karen is all of 100 lbs soaking wet, he pulled her clean out of her chair one day because of some distraction that caught his attention. He almost pulled Jennifer to the ground outside over birds. I have a pretty significant bruise due to an interaction at Feeder Supply where again he just pulled so strongly I took a dive. This, a therapy dog does not make.Ruff! Ruff! Ruff! Loud, deep and thundering! A huge yellow animal gallops toward the guest with dark eyes yelling loudly, "Woof, Woof, Woof!" I can imagine 50 different things he might be saying but the guests are probably just simply frightened. Their idea of what he is saying is quite different from what he really is saying. When he actually gets to the guest he just sniffs, leans up against them and loves on them. I have treats outside my door, but he is barking before I know anyone needs a treat. He roams the front office these days and has become quite the part of the BMS family. After school and before are especially troublesome in the barking department. Odd days, snow days and I can imagine summer days present issue for him. He simply has to quit that, luckily nowhere on the Therapy dog test does it say a dog isn't allowed to bark. But we don't want him scaring people away. (at least usually)
Trash cans are full of so many good smells- The command Leave It works for a couple of seconds but he is smart and he could survive on his own I am sure. He knows where to find food and water- that is all it takes. However for our life, we would rather he not get into the trash and drinking out of the toilet is just plain bad manners. So again it comes down to the humans managing his environment.
Okay so what is going well that pulls him out of the Novice range. He has such a good demeanor with kids. He is doing fantastic in the halls during hall change and has been so much help with at least one of our students who has special needs. There have been other students who have really benefited from him being here even if he isn't perfect. We have a student just returning from being ill for quite some time and he has been helping with Henry Clay. Yesterday he said, I never had my own pet before, as he walked away with Henry Clay. He looked happy and seemed so glad to be back in school. What a positive moment! It signifies the school community feels like 'we' have a pet. So what does that mean? WE are truly, 'we' -the sense of community has increased greatly by the fluffy-scruffy one. When he goes into classrooms with me, he has been able to focus, lay down and not distract -as long I have treats that is, - The students do like him being here, even the ones that really don't necessarily like dogs like that we have a dog. It makes BMS special and a little different. The students like that they have raised him from a puppy. He is their dog. He knows he is their dog and he loves them- and their people.
Still growing- NOT THERE YET.
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