One of the best training ideas I’ve ever had has involved setting up a Zinnia Training Team at Bishop Maginn High School, all very bright students in my writing class. Mike, Katie, Blue, and Grace (Gabe sitting) have all volunteered to train Zinnia with me at the school.

We are also working with other students – more later.

This has been great for Zinnia, for me, and for the students, who are learning a lot about dogs. It is lovely to be training a therapy dog in the very place she will be working with the very people she’ll be working with.

We meet every Wednesday, and each student walks Zinnia through the “come, sit, lie down, and you’re free” commands. We also worked to teach her how to go after balls and toys and bring them back.

We wore her out; she slept on the way back to the farm. Zinnia is entirely at home at Bishop Maginn and the Mansion.

Some of the students are quiet and shy; Zinnia is helping to open them up. They are getting stronger and more confident each week.

We met four girls in the hallway – they had been taking some tests. I heard Sue Silverstein yell, “puppy,” and they came running. Zinnia is a princess; she expects to be loved and surrounded and handles it with grace and style.

I love having a dog who makes people smile and laugh; it makes me smile and laugh also. We’ll be back next week to meet the new cheerleading squad, Bishop Maginn’s first. I’ll take a video and try to raise some money for them to have training mats.