[bellemarie]

with my next little one i'm going to train her from day one to be a therapy dog... taking her through obedience classes from puppy to champion (and hopefully getting the certificates)
the reason for this is that my mum works in a special needs school (for auditory and visually impaired as well as other special needs) and when kuki and bambi were little i took them in for the first time. one of the completely blind girls who had never felt (or seen since she was born blind) what a dog looks like, was asked by her teacher what a dog was like- her answer was it 'has 5 legs a head and is purple like my guinea pig'. another of the girls was soo scared of the idea of holding an animal it was upsetting to watch her panic about it, but she sat beside another girl who had kuki on her knee and eventually got the confidence to pet her, then hold her, then brush her... to the best of my knowledge she now has a spaniel who is her best friend.
seeing that change in such a short amount of time was incredible- but bambi gets bored easily and kuki is a little timid with loud noises because i didnt have her in those settings often enough when little, so that unfortunately that rules them out, but the next one will be trained and conditioned from a few weeks old- with visual and auditory commands so the deaf children can play with her and get her to do tricks!
so many of the kids in that school have such bad communication (and eye contact) skills when they arrive the best thing in the world for them would be a cute little dog to get the conversations going... her name will have to be something easy to sign though, i can't wait for all this to get going!!
everyone should get to share the wonders of these awesome dogs!!!!