I haven't been posting because my family has been monopolizing the computer! What is a dog supposed to do to get a little bit of online time? I finished my internship at the Cranston ARC, and am missing the many friends I made there, although when things settle down, I will go back and visit regularly. Yesterday Jacqie, Lin and I visited the ARC, along with two other Pet Assisted Therapy teams to talk to Pearl Salotto's current Community College of Rhode Island Pet Assisted Therapy students. Jacqie and Lin talked about their internships and what they do during the time that they spend with the clients.
Lin told about how I wanted to get close to a client that is in a wheelchair and has limited mobility. I tried climbing on some bean bag chairs that happened to be next to him to get up to where he could reach me, but it didn't work because the beans in the bad made it like trying to walk up loose sand. I kept sliding!. Then they found a big armchair that they placed next to him. I climbed up on the roomy chair, sat down and leaned over to give him a big kiss on the cheek. The kiss startled him so after that I would just kiss the air around him or kiss his hand, which he liked. After the first few classes he smiled all the time when I was there! I made him happy!
Lin also told about the one client who sat on a big comfy recliner that I mentioned in a previous post. One day he looked really sad so I climbed up and sat on his lap! That made him very happy! After the first time, every class I would spend some time laying on his lap. I keep telling my family that I'm a lap dog, but even after that they still say that I'm just too big!
It was great seeing so many student interested in Pet Assisted Therapy!
