Fate has been a surprise to me in my therapy dog work with her. She is affectionate, appropriate and responsive. The residents loved Red very much, he was a spectacular working dog and therapy dog. But Fate is different, she elicits a different kind of response than Red.

She is more demonstrative, outwardly affectionate, happy to curl up close. She is more emotional than Red was, so the draws a more emotional response.

In my experience, it is very rare for a therapy dog to show the kind of emotion that Fate display, she seems genuinely thrilled to see the people who want to see her. With Red, the residents like to reach out and touch him. He was always still and patient.

Fate acts as if she was waiting all of her life for every person she sees. She shows so much enthusiasm, emotion, and affection that she pulls the same out of them. And this is what they need the most – to be loved, to be cuddled, to be wanted.

Fate does not have Red’s unflappable poise and stability, but she has something that turns out to be just as important. She makes a genuine emotional connection. If I go to the Mansion without her, people are visibly upset. This is not something I expected.

And when Zinnia comes, I won’t drop Fate as a therapy dog, quite the opposite. I will make good use of her amazing people skills. Some dogs just walk up and down hallways waiting to be petted, some dogs interact with people openly and fully. Fate is one of those.

She brings a lot of smiles to a lot of faces. Even Sylvie, who never touched Red, asks when Fate is coming.