You can’t keep a good therapy dog down. Zinnia and I are pioneering Socially Distant Therapy Dog work. It’s important for the Mansion residents to see Zinnia, it’s important for me and her to do this work.

So I’m working with the Mansion staff to do some socially distant work. I come up to the Mansion porch, wearing a mask and keeping back about 20 to 30 feet. I take Zinnia off the leash and tell her to “go to the porch,” and she goes running up the ramp and visits with the residents who have come out onto the porch to see her.

She goes from resident to resident and if someone is anxious to touch and pet her, I yell at her to lie down and she does, the residents can reach down and pet her or stroke her fur.

Doctors and vets say there is no known cause of a dog transmitting a virus, but to be safe, I spray her with a high-alcohol disinfectant dog and pet spray before and after her visits.

This means a lot to the residents, and to me.