A Dancer Story

    • Gold Top Dog

    A Dancer Story

    Dancer's gone, but her memory lives on.  She was so loved around here that some of the disabled people she visited still remember her, even though she died in 2006.  This story is about a visit we did to a senior citizen residence.  Two people stood out in my mind from that day.  One was a very prim and proper lady who sat with her hands in her lap the whole time I was chatting with some of the residents.  Dancer went over and sat by her for the longest time, and she eventually started patting the dog's head.  The resident services coordinator asked me later, "How did she know?"  My response - "She just does."  The lady had moved in months before, but had never come to any event, and most of the other residents didn't know her.  She finally came down for the therapy dog visit, and the social worker said she had been very depressed at the loss of her husband...

    At the same visit, a jolly, heavy set guy in a Red Sox hat rolled in on his scooter.  He asked if Dancer could go for a ride with him.  I told her "up" and she climbed on in front of him and sat there like a stone as he rode her around the room.  She had never been on one of those things before...

    The years we did therapy work are filled with memories like that, and miracles performed by a little 27 pound dog with a lot of attitude and a bigger heart.  My number one dog of a lifetime!

    • Gold Top Dog

    Those are great memories. Thank you for sharing, she sounds like she was a really special companion =)

    • Silver

    That's really sweet. I wanted to train my Standard poodle to be a therapy dog, but I never had time and didn't know how to go about it. It's amazing though how some people just open up instantly to therapy dogs.

    Last year I went to a nursing home with my piano class to play and sing for the residents. They seemed to love it, but I could tell some people weren't enjoying themselves like the others. I also would like to visit hospitals if I could get her certified since I remember how much better the therapy dog made me feel when my grandma was dying.

    It's amazing how dogs can do things like what Dancer did, but they don't even know what's really going on, you know? They just want to befriend someone. And sometimes (odd as it sounds) I wnder if dogs can tell when someone is frail or sick.

    • Gold Top Dog

    If you can train her to the standard required by the Canine Good Citizen Award, that's a good start toward registering for therapy dog work.