Fate got an A-plus today on her first visit to Bishop Maginn High School or any school or institution besides the Mansion. She loved every person she saw, she even tried to cuddle with a large bronze statue of Jesus.
Sue Silverstein, the art teacher and a great friend of Red’s was charmed by Fate and surprised by her. When I got home, I asked Sue what she thought of Fate as a therapy dog, I need to start collecting references for her certification.
Fate had never been to Albany, let alone a two-story school. She wasn’t the least bit fazed.
Sue captured what I have been seeing and thinking:
“I think Fate is a natural!” she said.
“You know I adore Red and am in awe of his nature. Fate is a different kind of therapy dog. Almost like the difference between spending time with a very wise older person, sitting and gaining calm and wisdom versus being delighted by spending time with a young child who is delighted by the world and everyone they encounter. Each is so very special!”
That is a perceptive description of the difference between the two dogs in their therapy work. I’ve never seen a dog more enthusiastic about people than Fate, and this is not a common trait in a border collie. The ones I’ve had were very focused on their work, not that interested in strangers.
Fate made eye contact with people, let them touch her and hug her, stayed with me off-leash as we walked around the school and individually greeted every student or person she encountered or who wanted to see her.
She only tried to climb up a chair on one person, and she caught herself and stopped. She is more enthusiastic, I think than Red, perhaps not as deep. But she is learning my hand signals – when I want her to pay attention to someone, I point to them, and then praise her when she goes to them.
Few people in some urban areas have ever seen a dog like Fate, they talk about her beauty and her blue Merle eye. She is full of life, this does seem to be a calling.
(Fate with Issachar, Blue, Asher in Sue Silverstein’s class).
We walked all over the school, and I let the students in Sue’s room – Issachar, Asher, Blue – give her treats and get her to sit and lie down.
She moves around more than Red, but that is natural on a first visit. When I tell her to lie down, she does. At the Mansion, she went to sleep while I read stories to the residents. It just takes her a few minutes to settle, Red settled everywhere instantly.
She loves to be touched and petted. She is very calm around people.
Fate is delighted by the world and delighted by the people she meets, and this is infectious, smiles follow her wherever she goes, and for a therapy dog, that’s the point. That’s the quality Sue sensed in her also. She is very happy doing this work. Fate loves life.
I see her in a different light, in a new way. Tomorrow I go back to the Mansion to start taking portraits of the residents for a portrait project, we hope to put all of their portraits up on a Mansion wall.
I’m making three trips to get these pictures, I love doing portraits of the residents. It will be great to see their faces up on a wall.
I might just bring Fate along.