Chester's HERE!

It's been a whole week since we visited at Garden House. 

Garden House: A loving, safe, and secured home for those afflicted with Alzheimer’s and other dementias.

On Wednesday we walked in. I walked. Chester pranced, tail high and flying.

The residents were taking their morning snooze, each in their comfy recliners, laps draped in colorful quilts and afghans.  The living room was hushed and quiet. For now.

"Would anyone like a visit from...." I gently began.

Stella, God bless Stella's dog loving heart, blinked-open her eyes. When she saw us, (clarify--when she saw her buddy) her entire being danced with delight. "Chester's here!" she beamed.    And she opened her arms to her friend, who could hardly wait to give her a big ole sloppy kiss.

I love our "job".  Miracle Moments.

.thank You.

Digging to China

Therapy Dogs need play time too. This would be especially true of my buddy Chester. Heck, we all need play time.

One of Chester's favorite play spots is the doggie beach.  Mine too.

When it comes to the beach, he has  3 favorites:

1. Chasing BIRDS
2. Chasing TENNIS BALLS
3. Digging to China and burying his TENNIS BALLS

And so on this day, with the sun BRIGHT and WARM, it was definitely a "chuck-it" tennis ball day. Chester chased and swam and splashed and retrieved until WE were tired of chucking-it.   At last we  told him it was time to go, and he picked up his ball and pranced along behind us.  We thought.

Keith and I got to talking and weren't paying much attention to our furry friend with the tennis ball. At some point we both looked over our shoulders for Chester, and then it sort of turned into one of those slow-motion-scenes in a movie. 

We began to run and yelled,  "Chester, Noooooooooooooo!" just a 'lil bit too late. Face totally covered in sand, he turned his head as if to say "Whaaaat?"

There, about 50 feet back, was Chester.  His head down in a hole, furry-sandy butt up in the air, digging to China, flinging huge amounts of sand between his hind legs.  And right behind his furry butt, was this cute couple in their bathing suits, snuggling on their beach towels.  ohmygoodness

They didn't see it coming because, they were a little too....uh, into their moment.

You get the picture.

When the sand started flingin' and flyin' all over their moment, let's just say their moment was over.

Keith and I totally apologized for our diggen' dog, and offered to help them shake out their towels and other things. (I don't think they liked dogs)

We marched him on leash back to the car, he was holding his tennis ball and prancing. The 3 of us could not stop laughing.   I'm sorry, we couldn't, no matter how hard we tried.

Not sure if ole Chester boy lined up this target on purpose.  Pretty sure....

 

 

 

The Un-Scheduled Pet Therapy Moments

Sometimes Pet Therapy Days are scheduled appointments ~~ sometimes not.  And the “sometimes not” days are often some of the most memorable.  Whether planned or unplanned, one thing is always true,    Chester and I receive a kazillion times more than we give. This is the joy of  Pet Therapy and volunteering with KPETS.

On this particular day, Chester, my 4 yr old Golden Retriever and I, loaded up in the car and began a 40 minute drive to meet one of our scheduled appointments.  About 15 minutes into the drive I got a call, so I pulled over, took the call, and discovered sadly,  our appointment had been cancelled due to illness.  Bummer.

Rather than head home, Chester and I stopped in at nearby coffee house where doggies are always welcome.   It is kind of a funky place,  think 70’s and Hippies.    As fate would have it, just inside the front door, three women sat together having coffee who were absolutely delighted to meet Chester and hear Pet Therapy tails.  As I talked story about the JOYS of Pet Therapy, Chester was in heaven receiving countless head pats, ear rubs, and back massages.  One of the women commented, “Chester just made my day, we all need a bit of pet therapy, don’t we?….”

 Chester and I left the women to their coffee and conversation, and then ventured to the back garden and patio. It is here where the coffee-house-owners grow all of their own herbs and veggies and possibly other green plants.  Anyways,  seated in this patio garden was a group of traveling British Gentlemen who were so very excited to meet Chester.  More pats and backrubs for the boy. One of the men jumped into a lively conversation (you have to read this with a lively British accent and your pinky high in the air), “Oh my, is he a rescue dog?  I see he is in therapy!  I have a dog I’d like to get into therapy. ” And thus began our conversation that Chester is not IN therapy, but GIVES therapy.  I did not laugh out loud, and we had QUITE a lovely conversation.  Spot-on!

Chester, at this point, was thinking Hippie Coffee Houses were pretty dog-gone fun.  After waving g’bye to our British chaps, and heading out the door, one of the women (still having coffee) said, “Have you ever been to The Garden House?  It is a beautiful home for men and women with Alzheimer’s.  It’s just down the street.”    And so, off we trotted, around the corner and down the street.  I mean, why not?

Though unplanned and very spontaneous, we were welcomed at Garden House with open arms. We visited with the men and women in their common living area.  Many were responsive with smiles, puppy pats, and stories of their own dogs.  Things were pretty calm and mellow, until Chester spied four delicious green tennis balls attached to the bottom of a sweet little old lady’s walker.   He pawsed, he sniffed, he licked, he whined, he wagged, and then he BARKED.  Not a wimpy teensy bark, a WHOMPIN  WOOHOO let’s play BARK.  I jumped, and so did everyone else in the room --- I think we all leaked our panties (or depends), and then laughter erupted in the room.  So silly.  So good for the soul. 

From cancellations, to coffee, to quite lovely pet therapy talks, to peeing our pants with laughter, that was our day.  All unplanned (by us), but delightfully planned.   We are so blessed to do what we get to do.  Pet Therapy for all. 

Chris's Dream Come True ~~ Tara !

 I just had to write an update....I had to tell you some great news.

If you will check back to the blog archives you will see some posts regarding Chris and Victoria.  Well, the great news for Chris is, his long wait for a service dog has turned into a dream-come-true.  Tara, a sweet Black Labrador,  is now his service dog, and they are training together as a team. Thank you UDS Service Dog Trainers.  You are amazing.

Chester and I couldn't be more thrilled! WOOF WOOF & we send a  kazillion wags of congratulations to Chris and Tara (and Chris's sweet wife Victoria too).

What a wonderful fairy-tail ending & beginning to our prayers for Chris. 

God bless you both!  

And Happy Tails to You!

PS For those of you who don't know, Chester and I are traveling cross-country  with our family,  and he is on extend-o vacation ~~ thus the huge gap in Tails of a Therapy Dog posts.  Chester is enjoying chasing squirrels, long walks, doggie paddle swims in gorgeous lakes and rivers, chasing balls and sticks, going on bike-ride-runs, and cruising in the motor home. 

The other day, he seemed to be forgetting his therapy-dog-manners, I said to him quite sternly "Chester, are you EVER going to be a therapy dog again, HELLO?!"  He looked at me so dejected, totally heartbroken that I would say such a thing....I knew he knew exactly what I was saying............and his eyes said "Ummm, I'm on vacation Mom. I promise I'll get back to work."

I told him I was sorry I hurt his feelings....and he promised me that he would do better with his doggie manners. Once a therapy dog, always a therapy dog ;-).

To check out our travel tails, go to incrediblejourneytails.blogspot.com

Good Byes Aren't Easy

Good Byes Aren't Easy........that is for sure.

As we leave PA, to journey to California, one of THE hardest things is saying "bye"
to my KPETS friends.

To Willard, our dear dear friend.



To Melissa and her mom.



To our UDS students.

To Karen, "Mrs. KPETS...mommy to her goldens", my dear friend...



Each and all of you have filled our hearts to over-flowing. We love you.

Dear Willard....

Adult Enrichment Class ~~ How you have enriched our lives!!!

Melissa, you have changed our lives forever.

This good-bye hug....made tears flow down all our cheeks.

We were honored to have our prints put on the Schreiber Hall of Fame

Melissa's....her handprint has grown since she first placed it there....about 9 yrs ago.
You are engraved on our hearts forever.  FOREVER!

Walkin' and Rollin' in the Garden

Saturday Morning dawned cloudy and cool-er (yippee)  ~ after a scorchingly-hot-humid-not-fun-to-be-outside week, it  was a Pawsitively Perfect day for a stroll in the Willow Valley Gardens with Willard.   Willard loves plants and flowers. In fact, after returning from WWII, he earned his degree in Agriculture, and grew lush gardens on his New Jersey farm.  Dori and I wanted to bless our dear friend and give him an extra special day ~~~ we couldn't think of a better way than walkin' & rollin' outside in God's good earth with his dear buddy Chester.

Willard had not been outside in a very long time. As in a year or more. When you haven't been outside in a very long while, it can feel like quite a HUGE and fearful journey into the unknown.  Four-legged-buddies can help with that. Take a peek and see how it went.


Let's play ball !



Ready.....



GO!



Treats for bringin' the ball back!

                                    

      The day couldn't have been more lovely!  Really.  A Golden Moment for sure.... Priceless. 

       PS. Did you notice who is happy to hold the leash, and who is smiling big on the other end?
                    ....I'm thinkin' these two did ok, way ok.    

                                                                                            



Good Byes :-( .....

I don't do good-byes well at all. I'm terrible at them.  AUGH. 

Today Chester and I visited with our precious Adult Enrichment Students at United Disability Services ~ we have known many of these students for two years. I had no idea how much these amazing men and women would climb into my heart.  Nor, how much Chester and I would climb into theirs.  Two years doesn't seem like a long time, but our love for each other grew big in that short time span.     That is God :-)  How His love surprises us,  touches us, and changes us.

Today was the day I told my friends that Chester and I (and my family too) are moving to California in September. Though we have one more visit together in August...I knew I needed to tell them.  Today.  I was not looking forward to this moment, not one lil bit. After we had lots of Chester visit time ~~ I told them about our move, I told them how much Chester and I loved them, treasured them.    .....  .....  .....    And then it was like someone let all the air out of the room, and  I saw on their faces that  they clearly understood what I was saying.  I watched tears well up, and expressions sadden  ~~ and then the tears started to leak down my cheeks, like they are leaking out now.

While I was in the midst of fumbling with my words, eyes dripping, and lump-in-throat-growing ~~  my sweet friend Stephanie (name changed) reached up to me from her wheel chair, and began to repeat kind words. She was patiently repeating because I was having trouble understanding.  I think I had tears in my ears.   I asked a staff member to help me interpret the gentle words this young woman with the long brown curls, kind eyes, and dimpled smile was trying SO hard to communicate to my ears 'n heart.

She said to me --- "Would you like a tissue?  And a hug?"

Oh my, Yes.  I need both. 

 (And I needed BOTH even more after I understood what she said!)

With tissue in hand, and strengthened by a warm hug, Chester and I went to each student.  We heard everything from "I am so happy for you!" to~ "Please don't go..."  to~  "This is so hard" to~ "God bless you for giving yourself to us"  to~  the heart-words that long embraces and tears communicate.  Ohmy, it was so hard, and tender.  Chester's tail even drooped.  I wanted to make it all better for them.  But I couldn't. There's a lot to be said for  hugging and crying together, and laying a furry head on a friend's lap. It is healing.

One of the many things I have grown to love about those with so-called-special-needs (HONESTLY, I question who really has the special needs -- I think perhaps the world has it all upsidedown 'n backwards.  Special needs can easily translate into special-gifts. ) is the way many are able to express their emotions and their heart.  So authentic. So real. So simple.

Two years ago.  When I walked through the door into this special classroom, I had no idea I would love these students so very much. Each one of them.  With each visit, these men and women climbed deeper into my heart, and gave me far more than Chester and I gave to them. I will miss Tuesdays at Adult Enrichment.

Adult Enrichment. A fitting name. 

Thank you, Lord, for these dear dear friends, how they have opened their hearts and loved Chester and me, for how they have taught me &  how they have shown me YOU.  Oh how they have ENRICHED my life.

Sigh.  I need a tissue.  And a hug.

PS August 14th, we get to see our friends again. SO  HAPPY about that.  For sure.