junkyard dog to therapy pet?

Wish us luck - we are taking our friend's dog Lily to the vet today to be behaviour-tested so that she can become a Registered Therapy Animal, like our boy Arlo.

Lily is a thick-as-a-truck pit bull who was literally a junk-yard guard dog before landing in the pound at around six or seven years of age. She came VERY close to being euthanized because the combination of her breed and her age put her in the "not likely to be adopted" category.

Instead, a wonderful volunteer got to know her and fought the pound (and I mean tooth and nail) to keep her alive, and that's where our friend, a professional dog walker and SPCA employee, found her. It was love at first sight and now this "unadoptable" pit bull is living the high life.

We are good friends with her owner and have spent a lot of time around Lily and her furry brother and sister. We gradually realized that Lily's rock-solid temperament and unflappable, calm nature would make her an ideal therapy animal, and since there are two of us and we only have one Arlo, we asked her owner if we could borrow her to do therapy work sometimes. Her owner was enthusiastic about the idea, so Lily is off to the vet tonight to take her test!!

I'm pretty certain she'll do great at it, but...WISH US LUCK!!

chinch update etc.

Cecilia, our adult female foster chinchilla, has been taken back to the SPCA. She was to be adopted to someone looking to add a second chinchie to their household, but after we took her back it was decided to send that person home with a male chinchilla instead. We left her there since we're not exactly sure how old the boys are and we don't want any more baby chinchillas if we can help it!

I've been checking on Cecilia during my shifts at the SPCA. She seems to be doing well there. She's right next door to another female chinchilla. Unfortunately the two can't be put in the same cage because the other female is a big grump, but maybe the next female to come back from a foster home can keep Cecilia company.

Meanwhile, back at our place, Ramon is fine but Fernando was a bit stressed out by Cecilia's departure. He pulled some of his tail hair out in protest (poor boy!) but seems otherwise fine. We will keep an eye on him and feed him extra treats for the time being.

Our own dog Arlo went to a pre-school on Wednesday with our Animal Therapy group. The therapy group represented to the max with like eight dogs, (don't read this part mom) two snakes, and a llama. Mom, I told you not to read that part and you DID ANYWAY. I know it. Don't call me and tell me how awful (don't read this part mom) snakes are.

The kids had a blast. At one point, Arlo got swarmed by a huge group of them, and every time he looked at one of the kids they would shriek and giggle. He was looking at them all in quick succession, so it was nothing but a mass of shrieking, giggling kids. Did I say it was really really fun yet? Because it was fun, and hilarious.

We went upstairs to a separate preschool class for some disabled kids. There were only three or four kids there, but it was just as fun because the kids all got some one-on-one time with whichever animals they were interested in. Which was all of the animals, in rapid succession. I could NOT be a preschool teacher.

On the way home Arlo was so very tired! He was wired for the first 30 feet of the walk home, and then he either plodded by my side or dragged behind. He then crashed on his bed for the afternoon.

Here's a frivolous puppy picture, because I can't take pictures of Arlo while he's doing therapy work. This is our friend's new puppy - a Belgian Shepherd (Tervuren, to be exact).