good advice and our first feature!

I really think Claire would be a phenomenal therapy dog. She is wonderful with people, great with other dogs, loves to be active, and has the sweetest demeanor. The first part of therapy dog training is passing the Canine Good Citizen test, which shows that your dog can do basic commands. You can't move on to training with The Delta Society until you pass the CGC. During the CGC test, if you and your dog demonstrate that you can do everything without getting a single thing wrong, you pass. Otherwise... you fail. When Claire finished all of her training classes, she had the opportunity to take this test. She was able to do everything except walk on a leash without dragging me behind her. We have continued to work on this before we attempt to take the CGC test again, but to this day, she still struggles. Every time I think we are making progress, she'll suddenly see a squirrel and make a beeline for it. Or she'll see a nice patch of grass and feel the need to go sample some of it. Or the wind will blow the wrong way. Or... well, you name it. It is so frustrating, because I know that she can do this!

I follow a number of dog blogs, but my absolute favorite is is about Maggie who has just become a registered therapy dog through The Delta Society. I asked Maggie's owner Jason for some advice on how to work on loose-leash walking with Claire. Not only did he give fantastic advice (which is already proving to be successful), but he featured Claire in his blog! How exciting! I need to say a HUGE thank you to Jason and Maggie for their help! And I'll be sure to let you all know how the continued training goes!