Harley.....Canine Therapist

Harley has a job!!!!

As soon as all his paperwork is in order, he will start working in  the therapy program on the unit where I work.  I am completely thrill to be part of this new program.  It's so very exciting to think that in less than 3 months, I was able to facilitate this new program for our unit.

Later this month, Harley will go for his certification testing.  He's getting a royal blue and white vest proudly displaying where he works and that he is a therapist.  There are also talks of him working with some of the community marketing projects.

Harley's happy but was not.  About the time we moved, Harley began going through some transformations and not for the good.  He was running away......if the door was opened, he was darting out it where earlier he would just go with me.  He also began digging at his own body.  At first, I thought perhaps it was fleas but being treated with Capstar pills and on K9 Advantix II, that was not the problem.  He also was not sleeping through the night.  Until this started, he slept next to my side of the bed with his head directly under mine.  He'd begun sleeping in the all and prowling the house.  We know WHY he was doing this.  He was reacting to a very specific stimuli.  Once that was removed, the behaviors began subsiding.

Everything but the itching.  A trip to the vet revealed that Harley had been licking himself ...apparently due to stress & had developed a couple of skin conditions.  He also appears to be allergic to corn products.  Being able to give him a quiet home........without stimuli that upset him......monitoring his diet carefully......and putting him into training for his new job have all eased Harley's worries.

He's back to sleeping on my side of the bed......for most of the night.  Some nights, he jumps up onto the bed with me and snuggles up next to me.  Lately, he's been snoozing on the couch in the early morning hours after Mr. P heads out for work.  He's loving romps in the dog parks.  His favorite is the one in CoMo because it's got a lake for swimming.  He likes to run and jump off the highest point of the bank of the lake and swim to the other side.  We like taking walks and bumming around to stores for him to practice his skills.

 Exhausted after a long training walk

He's got a buddy now too.  Miss Maggie Mae.  He's a great big brother to her.  She's a rowdy, rambunctious, rough housing puppy.

He is very tolerant of her playing too rough and nipping him or pulling his ears.  But, he let's her know when he's had enough.  He puts her in check.   As I am typing this, they are playing tug of war with one of her squeaky toys.  Poor squeaky toy may end up meeting it's demise this evening.

Harley's a happy man and that makes me a happy yellow dog owner!