Fate and I had our third therapy dog training session this afternoon at the Mansion, I could not have been happier or prouder of this dog. I am excited to know we will be doing therapy work together, and helping people in the most elemental way.

This work seems to be her calling, more than sheepherding. She is a natural. Fate went into the Mansion with tail wagging at full tilt, loved everyone she saw, was affection,  calm and responsive to me.

She almost jumped up once, but stopped and she lay down and stayed when told. Otherwise, she was soft and appropriate.

Fate is already learning to take my cues: when I want her to greet someone, I point to them or wave my hand in their direction, and she goes over to greet them. Fate is more demonstrative than Red, and not as calm.

She is also agile, she can jump up on a bed or sofa easily and gently. The residents respond very positively to her because she shows a lot of emotion to them.

Red is different, he is very calm and very soothing. Fate is more demonstrative, I don’t yet trust her to the degree I trusted Red,  I had a leash on her half of the time.

But she grasps the work, even after just a few visits, and after the excitement of the first few minutes, she was surprisingly calm. Fate is also the smartest dog I have ever had, every time we go to the Mansion she seems clearer about her mission.

I asked the residents to help me train her, and they all sat around the activity room while I had her visit one after another and then climb up on the sofa to visit Alice, Carol, and Mary. After that, I had her lie down in the middle of the room while the residents called out to her to come to them.

I told her to stay and she did. In therapy work, people – especially people with dementia – are always shouting at the dog to come to them, and that can be confusing, even dangerous. She must only respond to me. I have a zero-tolerance policy in my therapy work with dogs: one mistake is the last mistake.

Fate is a well-bred working dog from Wales, and even though she doesn’t wish to herd the sheep she loves to work with me or Maria. I  keep saying “let’s go to work” when we get into the car or enter the Mansion, and she is getting the drift of that.

The first challenge is to teach her that the work is the people, there are no sheep. When she enters the Mansion, I see her looking around for the work. The people are the work.

As she gets that, she will become even more focused and engaged.

The residents all loved her, and she returned the favor.

I was struck by how she makes the residents laugh and smile. Red is a serious dog, which made him so easy to work with.  The two are different.

Fate is a good-time girl, she likes to have fun. The residents pick up on that, it seemed to draw them closer to her.

I loved seeing those smiles.

Fate got a big ovation when she was done with her training. I asked her to lie down in the middle of the room and stay, something that normally would be difficult for her, she does not have a long attention span.

But she completely got what I was asking and held her position for four minutes. A great start, I want to get up to 30 minutes if I can.

I am relieved to see how well this went.

I was frankly concerned that my dog therapy days might be numbered. I love this work with dogs.  She and I are going to do intensive training together over the next three month, I am confident now we will get where we need to go. We were almost there today.

Red’s decline is sad on its own, but I would have been even sadder to not have a therapy dog to work with, this has been such an important part of my life these past 10 years or so. I  am always learning, but I have a lot of experience now, it would be a waste not to use it.

Even though I couldn’t train Fate to herd sheep,  our work together is paying off, after all.

I am no dog snob, but people are always telling me their nice dog would make a perfect therapy dog, even though he or she won’t sit, stay or come on command. You can train a therapy dog, but you can’t make one. Good therapy dogs are bright and empathetic. They must always be good and obedient listeners. They have a special gift for relating to vulnerable people.

I’ve noticed that some dogs especially love the elderly. I couldn’t tell you why, but Fate is one of them, so is Red.

But she is every bit as affectionate, the residents just loved her. I explained to them that Red is not well and will not be coming to the Mansion too much longer, and only once in a while.

Nobody needed any further explanation.

The photo above: Ellen and Fate. Ellen loves dogs, I asked Fate to jump up onto the sofa so Ellen (who has a bad back) could hug her with bending. Fate got the idea and was wonderful with Ellen.