Questions, Questions and More Questions

I often get questions about my dogs while doing pet therapy visits. The most common are, of course, name, rank and serial number. Oh wait, name, age and breed. I have logged many visits with my pointers Kobe, Mick and now Hank. I'm used to the questions. Such as....is that a Dalmatian? No, not all spotted dogs are Dalmatians. Is that a Brittany? Springer? Lab? Great Dane? I had to laugh at that one. Great Dane - not hardly. Most assume they are German Shorthair Pointers. I say English Pointers with as much decorum as an Englishman could muster.

Many assume these are dogs looking for homes. May I just say over my dead body! Do they bite? Not bloody likely. Some people want to know if they do tricks. Besides shaking hands/paws, mine aren't exactly America's Got Talent material. One of the members in our group has a dog that rolls over, prays, sits pretty, shakes and speaks. My guys look cute and are well behaved. I tell them not to stress about the over achievers. They will still get the same number of treats at the end of the visit. I did have someone ask recently if Hank was Methodist. My reply was that he is non-denominational. Frankly, if all dogs go to heaven it doesn't matter what faith he is.

Many ask what skills are needed to be a therapy dog. How do I get them to be so quiet and well mannered. I always say they've had basic training, they have been screened for temperament, they have a reference from their vet, and finally, I wouldn't expect any less than that from them. So much has to do with a sound temperament, good socialization, and the expectation that they will behave. That is not to say they are perfect. They are not.

There are times they act like I speak Greek and they can't understand a word I'm saying. Luckily most of those times happen at home, particularly when we have company. Overall, I think they save all their good behavior up for that one hour a week we do our visit. I don't have a problem with that.

Truthfully, I love talking about my dogs, your dogs and dogs in general. I don't mind the questions, they go with the territory. Dogs visiting hospitals - yup, our kind of territory.