Lily, The Therapy Dog

For awhile now I thought that Lily would make a great therapy dog. A therapy dog is a dog that goes to a hospital/nursing home and makes rounds to lift the spirits of patients/residents. She's just the perfect size, isn't overly rambunctious, and loves attention (which she shows by wagging her tail and doing her "bow"). So I've been looking in to making her an official therapy dog, which means you have to go through a course and finish by presenting your dog at a hands on type of exam. I've been cautious as I wouldn't want to spend a ton of money on it and find that maybe she won't be the perfect dog for the task. In addition, I was unsure if local hospitals/nursing homes would require such documentation. So I thought of the idea of sending out a letter to local places saying that we were available if interested, but once again thought "What if she doesn't work out." I presented the idea to my coworkers, who thought it was a good idea, but still put it on the back burner.

After presenting the idea I found that another coworker was also interested in pursuing the idea. Just as with me, she wasn't exactly sure what to do. And then an opportunity arose. She was at her second job and just happened to run into an activities director for a local nursing home. Figuring she might as well ask, she brought up the idea of therapy dogs, and asked what was required. The director said that she'd be very interested and that all we have to do is present a current vaccination history and a letter from a vet saying the dog wasn't vicious. Can do! My coworker got contact information from the activities director and has been in contact with her since. She even sent in both of our dogs' vaccination histories today and we think we have a date set up to do a "dry run" (meaning take the dogs to check it out and see how it goes). I am pumped about this! As stated previously, it's something that's been on my mind for some time. And it's something I can do to give back to those around me. Not to mention I think Lily will love all of the attention. And if it works out, I can then pursue other locations in the area. Now for the big question...what should she wear?