She is doing better

Sagira just went on her 6th hospital visit today. She is doing better slowly but surely. Her tail is starting to come out now, she is approaching people more, laying in the patients rooms because she is relaxing. Today was a special day. One of the nurses asked us to visit a specific room. She told us it was a cancer patient that only had a few days left to live. The patients husband and son were in the room and woke her up when we walked in. They said look who is here to see you and she smiled when she saw Sagira. Sagira was a little to short for the bed so Jeremy picked her up so the patient could really see her and pet her. It was sad, but it is nice to know that Sagira gave her a smile on her last days. The nurse thanked us for going in the room and we told her no problem.

We also got our official ID badges done for the hospital today. I like the way mine turned out. Jeremy's turned out kind of funny. But oh well, at least we have them now.

Sagira also had her second agility class and this time I actually remember to bring the camera. So I have pictures of her doing some of the equipment for the first time. Some of the pictures are not the best since the lighting in the training building is pretty crappy.

Samick

Well, we now have our second therapy dog. Sagira's 10 year old brother passed his TDI exam this morning. We feel so lucky to have not one, but two therapy dogs in our home now.

Busy day

Took Sagira to the hospital again for her Saturday visit. We had to switch back the time since I had to work this morning. But that ended up being a good thing. The lady in the gift shop told us the fire alarms went off this morning. We went at noon which ended up being a bad time. It was lunch time for most of the people. We did get to visit a few good patients though. One lady was telling us about how she loved dogs and only had problems with one German Shepherd that bit her on the boob (OUCH!). We also had another patient and his dad that were hunters. They were telling us that sometimes they see dogs out in the field that are actual coyote and dog mixes. He loved his dogs though, he even had a picture of them hanging on this bulletin board.

One of the nurses told us that she can see improvement in Sagira. She is still a bit nervous in the hallway but is doing better slowly but surely.

Samick is actually going to take his TDI exam today. So we might have two therapy dogs in a few hours.

Agility time!

I must saw I feel like a bad pet mom. I meant to take my camera so I could take a picture of Sagira in her first real agility training class and left my camera at home.

Sagira did really well last night though. She didn't seem scared or nervous around any of the agility equipment. It helped that they introduced her to the tunnel and ladder when she was in her first puppy training class and when we would take her to Bark Park we would always run her through the tunnel just to keep her used to it.

I never realized how much you need to know as a handler to do agility. I have a new respect for these people.

Hopefully I will remember the camera next week.

Coach Collar

Just got back from doing another therapy visit at an assisted living facility. Sagira did pretty well. She did bark once at a lady with a walker, but that was part our fault because we didn't see her coming to tell Sagira to "leave it" first. She is starting to do better. She likes going to the assisted living facilities because other therapy dogs are there to play around with her as well.

Her therapy dog buddy Maggie had on a pretty Coach collar (the one I wanted for Sagira). So her mommy is going to keep an eye out for one for Sagira since she lives close to the outlet mall. Sagira has a Coach collar but not the one I wanted with the pink on it.

I also feel good, this one lady was scared of dogs because she was bitten as a child by a dog. By the time we left she quickly touched Sagira. It was the first dog she has touched since she was bitten. GO SAGIRA! It was a fast touch, but at least she was working on her fear, right? She then saw it wasn't so bad and decided to pet Maggie and Harriette as well.

Vet

Sagira went to the vet this past Thursday. She weighed in at 34.6 pounds. He said that she is looking good. I have noticed that when Sagira goes down our steps she never uses her back right leg. I asked the vet about this and he said it might be some hip problems. He spent a long time checking the way her leg bends, her hip moves, etc. He said that he didn't feel anything at this time. I asked if she would be able to do agility as she is supposed to begin her first level of agility this coming week and he said if we are not noticing her in pain it should be fine for her to do.

The picture in this thread is so cute. Sagira decided to take a nap on Samick.

4th visit

Todays visit went much better. She is still a bit nervous in the hallways but is doing much better in the patient's rooms. She even laid down in a few of the rooms today and looked very relaxed. She was in one of the rooms visiting a patient and the heater kicked on, that was new for her, but we reassured her that she was okay.

We have also been leaving Sagira out of her crate during the day since our three older dogs are housetrained and stay free in the house while we are gone. She does pretty good except she does like to destuff our comforters. It was a huge mistake to give her stuffed toys when she was a baby and now she likes to destuff things. Here is a picture of her and her mess. She has Starr up there with her looking guilty, but I know Starr didn't do it.