Stress relief!

It's been a while again.  I am a graduate student myself, and just got through with what (I hope!) will be my hardest and busiest semester.  Also, Lucy had surgery in late August to fix her leg and was under strict house arrest for almost 10 weeks!

On Dec 20th, Lucy went to MIT to relieve stress for the students during their exams.  She and 4 other dogs hung out in the library and attracted quite a crowd.  There were so many students who said "Oh, I miss my dog at home!"  I think back to when I was in college, and it was the first time since I was born that I was living without a dog/cat/other pet.  I was, of course, homesick, and I do think playing with a dog might have made me feel more connected with the "real world".   I hope Lucy did that for the students.  As for Lucy - she laid on her back getting belly rubs for nearly 2 hours, getting up only when she heard someone reach into the treat bowl.

I love love love this one!  She's such a goofball!

~Jamie (and Lucy)

Yikes, I haven't posted in quite a bit.  I started grad school last fall, so I've been very busy.  Lucy did a little bit of work, including at Tufts University for some stress relief for students.  

Hopefully I'll have time to do more with her after my internship ends and I have the rest of the summer without classes.  Actually, a woman at the hospital I'm interning at expressed interest in possibly having Lucy come by there, so that would be awesome!

~J

Non-responsive

Lucy went to visit another autistic boy today.  He was very different.  He is non-communicative and seemingly disengaged from the physical world.  His mom was hoping that he would react to Lucy, but he barely seemed to notice.  He did have a brother and sister who were very interested in petting, feeding, and romping in the backyard with Lucy, so not all was lost.  The mom was apologetic, but of course I wasn't upset or anything.  Lucy had some good fun playing with kids, and that's important for her to learn and get comfortable with.

We did meet up with the boy from the last post again.  We met in a park where he paraded Lucy around.  She was struggling against him at first, and managed to wriggle out of her collar!  But we got her back and she cooperated and then ran around the park with him.  He was a little rough with her, but she seemed to take it ok.

I hope she enjoys being a therapy dog.  She does usually get lots of bellyrubs and treats out of the deal, so I can't imagine she's unhappy.  But if I see something that makes her upset or uncomfortable, I need to be honest about it, and I feel like maybe I should have spoken up at the park.  I'm still learning, though.  Hopefully we'll get to visit some big facilities soon so she can get a breadth of experiences.

~Jamie

First visit!

Lucy made her first visit this past week, on Thursday, August 5th.  A mother of two children on the autism spectrum wanted a doggy for them to play with.  I wasn't sure of how they'd react to Lucy, but they LOVED her!  The boy took her leash and proudly marched her around the house.  They both asked tons of questions about her, and I was happy to answer.  Right as the girl asked me Lucy's favorite spot to be pet, you can guess what Lucy did....flopped over on her back like she always does!  They were more than happy to give her bellyrubs, and lots of treats.  Lucy did really well, and only expressed fear/unhappiness when the kids both put their faces in hers.  She doesn't like the face-to-face contact so much.  But I had them back off a bit, and all was fine.

I managed to get some great pics of them interacting:

I love the happy grins on both their faces!

All in all, a great first visit, and I'm happy to see Lucy in action!