Therapy Dog Orientation

This month St. John Ambulance is holding an orientation and evaluation for new therapy dog teams. Today was the orientation session for all the prospective therapy dog handlers, and next Sunday is the actual evaluation. I am in the process of becoming an evaluator, so was asked to help out with the orientation/evaluation. Gio got to come along as well and be the "demo dog" to run through the evaluation again to show all the new people what to expect next week when their dogs are tested.

We had a pretty good turn out, with about 8 people. Hopefully most of them won't be too scared off and will actually show up next week for the testing! Many people already had their forms filled out and their police checks with them, so they probably won't back out now *fingers crossed*

The orientation just goes over what a therapy dog is, how SJA organizes its therapy dog program, what is expected of each therapy dog team, and some legal/insurance aspects regarding working as a therapy dog team. During the speaking portion, Gio got to wait at the back of the room, keeping close guard on the CPR dummies and boxes of donuts! Then we did a bit of a demo test, put Gio through his paces.

Gio's sponsor, a local retail business called Freedom Living Devices, donated some equipment to be used for the demo and the test next week. Wheelchair, walkers, canes, crutches, etc. So I loaded up my little Neon yesterday, filling the trunk and the back seat with transport devices. As such, Gio didn't have room for his crate in the back seat so got to ride up front with me like a big boy! He quite enjoyed that special treat, getting to watch all the people pass by when we were stopped at red lights. I normally have the dogs constrained in the back seat, either in a crate or with a seat belt. But this time we just had to drive extra carefully with Gio in the front. He didn't complain, but of course, he rarely complains about anything!