No Therapy...Yet

Last week was spent preparing Cabana for her therapy dog evaluations. We did a lot of "leave it" practice, mannerly leash walking, and went on as many outings as possible. We visited a number of hardware stores and fabric shops, any places I could think of that allow dogs. I wanted Cabana to get used to going into different buildings, so that when she went to get evaluated, going someplace new wouldn't be quite so exciting to her.

But we never made it to the therapy dog evaluation. My grandfather passed away a few days before, so we dropped everything and drove down to Los Angeles for his funeral. He was 97-years old and died painlessly in his sleep. The funeral was a peaceful event, where we could reminisce and reconnect with relatives that I hadn't seen for almost a decade.

Unfortunately, the next therapy dog class isn't until the end of January, so we have a long wait ahead of us. I was very disappointed, but it couldn't be helped. And after all, the additional time is a good thing, giving Cabana a chance to mature further and for us to keep practicing our teamwork.

While we were in Los Angeles, Cabana stayed with some good friends of ours, who were kind enough to accommodate us on short notice. Because their dog died a couple years ago, they'd been wanting a "dog fix". Through intermittent text messages, they kept me abreast of Cabana's activities--"Cabana is laying on Tim's feet," "Cabana found a comfy spot on Jan's yoga mat", etc. They reported that Cabana was very well-behaved, and I think she really enjoyed herself with them.

But of course, when we picked her up yesterday, she was very happy to see us. Here's Cabana on our usual morning walk today, as the fog rolled back to give us an absolutely gorgeous fall day. Wishing you a safe and happy Halloween!