“Why don’t you come to The Mansion with me and see how Fate works”, Jon asked me.
Jon is so much more confident with the dogs than I am. I think it’s because he trusts them. It’s interesting because we both have issues with trusting people, yet so much of Jon’s work with animals is based on trust.
I worry that Fate is too enthusiastic, and when we first got to The Mansion, she was having a hard time just standing still. It’s like when she sees people, she just can’t stop her whole body from reacting.
But Jon also knows who to bring her to and when.
Because she does calm down a bit after the first ten minutes or so. And by the time we got to the activities room, she as paying more attention to Jon and what he was telling her to do.
Jon and I talked about Fate becoming a therapy dog on my our podcast this morning. So when he suggested I come and see her work, I thought it would be interesting to witness for myself.
And it was all pretty much as Jon described it. How he talked about it and wrote about it on his blog.
But it was when we went into the activities room that I really saw what Fate could do.
I’ve known Alice for over a year now. She’s often sitting on the couch in the activities room and whenever I see her there, I sit down next to her. She usually takes my hand and we talk.
But today Alice wasn’t feeling well. She hardly acknowledged that I was there.
So I got up and Jon motioned for Fate to sit next to Alice on the couch. Fate gingerly climbed onto the couch and laid down facing Alice.
Suddenly Alice’s whole demeanor changed. She reached out to Fate, holding her face in her hands. Alice smiled and started talking to Fate, telling her what a good dog she was.
Alice came alive seeing and touching Fate. And Fate calmly laid next to her, looking into Alice’s eyes and loving the attention.
It made me so happy to see how, even if just for those few moments, Fate was able to bring some joy to Alice. To make her smile and forget how poorly she was feeling.
And I know that Fate was enjoying it as much as Alice.
Seeing this makes me believe that Fate really does have an innate gift to do this kind of work. It feels to me like a puzzle when all the pieces finally come together.
Like everything is falling into place.
