Bud was a rock star at the Mansion, he was mobbed the minute we got there. Residents clogged the hallway and lined up to touch him and welcome him. I think he was shocked and then quite pleased by it.
In my life, Bud’s first moment of therapy work, especially with Red, would be historic, much more important than a Congressional hearing featuring raging old white men hiding behind a woman. They can’t see it yet, but their time is coming. I think their time is now.
When you enter the Mansion, the dining room is right by the front door, Red and Bud went right there when we entered. Tia, the night aide, was also there, and she was happy to see Red, an old friend, and Bud, a new one.
One of the ways I train my therapy dogs is to reinforce the behaviors that I like, in looks and words. What they most need to learn is that the work is the people, there are no sheep or other distractions for them.
Bud will know that by the end of the week.
Red went to Tia and Bud went to Joan, he looked back at me to make sure this was okay, and then did his work. I was happy to take this first photo of Bud starting out his training for therapy work.
Audio: Bud Comes Home: First Encounter At The Mansion
I asked last week of there was a laptop for Peggie anywhere out there, and of course, there was. Peggie is one of the most active of the Mansion residents and she loves computer games. Her laptop broke a few months ago and there is no way for her to get a new one.
A blog reader named Kathy e-mailed me right away and wrote “I have a WIndows 8 computer that’s probably about six years old I used it for just a short time when my brother passed away so I took over his Apple computer. That was about four years ago. I’ve been looking to donate the computer, I am no computer buff but I assume it’s in good shape.”
I said it sounded great and Kathy took it to Fedex and is shipped it to me – she wouldn’t take any payment for the computer or the shipping, she is a member of the Army Of Good.
She said it would be arriving tomorrow. I saw Peggie today and almost couldn’t restrain from telling her, but when it comes tomorrow, I’ll rush it right over there. This will greatly enhance her mental stimulation and her life.
Peggie is a very special person, full of love and energy. She has been out ogling one of the construction workers building an addition to the Mansion.
She has an active mind, she loves crossword puzzles and reading and computer games. She also loves letters, you can write her c/o Peggie, The Mansion, 11 S.Union Avenue, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. She also e-mails.
Thanks, Kathy, this is the way in which we fill the holes in people’s lives at the Mansion. I am grateful, and so will Peggie be. I bought her six computer games but she has been unable to use any of them. Her laptop is shot.
This is what we do, small acts of great kindness.
Peggie was pestering me all week about Bud, she was reading my blog, asking me every time we met. I promised her I would bring him over today and we got there in the afternoon.
From the first, Red graciously accepted Bud, he wasn’t jealous in the least, he backed off when Peggie was petting Bud, and then moved in when she was done.
As for Bud, he lay still while Peggie patted his head and scratched behind his ears. It was almost as if they were trained to work together. Maybe Bud is Red’s Doppelganger.
My thing is working dogs, I love working dogs, and all of my dogs work in one way or another. I was only with Bud for a few hours when I knew he would make a great therapy dog.
He lacks Red’s poise and confidence – and experience – but he has the qualities that make a good therapy dog, and possibly a great one: he is calm (he doesn’t jump up on people or claw at them) he loves to be petted and scratched around the ears, and he doesn’t mind crowds of people.
More than anything, the Mansion residents need an animal they can approach and hold and touch. That’s all they need, and Bud loves being touched.
Summer, the Mansion cat walked right by him, and he didn’t move. He was a bit taken aback – he really has spent little time in a house, let alone with a crowd of people, but he will get easier each time we go there.
They loved Bud, when the word spread through the Mansion that I had brought him (they have all been following the blog closely in the Activity Room to follow Bud’s progress) there was suddenly a line of people waiting to meet him, touch him, hug him.
He was patient and steady for all of it, I took him out after a half hour, I didn’t want to over do it. I am astounded by the degree to which this dog has already assimilated himself into our lives.
This morning, he went out again with the dogs and the sheep and the donkeys, and he had a blast tearing around trying to keep up with Red, which he could not do. I never expected his first appearance at the Mansion to go so smoothly.
I have to watch him closely – he does startle easily, an echo of something in his past – but he was very calm around the residents.
I want to work on socializing him with men.
What the residents most need is to touch and feel a dog, every one in the Mansion misses their pets deeply. Red does an enormous amount of good there, and with Bud, we can do twice as much good.
Within a few minutes, the line of residents was all the way down the hall. I promised to bring Bud tomorrow and I will try to go every day to get him comfortable with this kind of work, so important to me and my life.
This was a wonderful thing to see, and this will deepen my work and contribution to the residents there. I can hardly relate how much it means to them to have a dog they can love.
Bud is a monor miracle in some ways, he was definitely meant to be here. It is quite amazing to experience the twists and turns of life, and to learn how to be open to them. Bud is a new kind of experience to me, another thing that is opening me up..
If you wish to support my Mansion work, you can send a contribution to Jon Katz, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or via Paypal, [email protected]. Please mark the payment “The Mansion,” so the money goes where you wish it to go.
