Tonight's picture was created by Tim Beck, my Facebook friend. I have never met Tim. He lives in New Mexico, but he graciously spends his time helping countless number of parents who lost their children to cancer by creating photo memories. These are all the different compositions Tim has made for us over the years, and he put them together in this wonderful patchwork type quilt. When you look at all 25 of these photos, you are probably saying.... how lovely or how sweet these look. I say the same thing, except for me these are snapshots in time. A time that was once very real, and I can recall each of the moments and contexts behind each of these photos. For me they aren't only a lovely display, they are a visual and bittersweet reminder of what my life used to look like.
Quote of the day: The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. ~ William Arthur Ward
About a month ago, I researched pet therapy certification programs, because I truly believe Sunny has the disposition to work with children who are hospitalized. I would love to bring him to Georgetown University Hospital. So I asked the child life staff there, which therapy program they work with. They told me.... National Capital Therapy Dogs (NCTD;
http://www.nctdinc.org/volunteers.php). There are many different programs in the DC area that allow you and your dog to do pet therapy. However, there are different requirements and also different levels of rigor for each program. NCTD seems to be the most stringent, because step 1 requires that Sunny pass the American Kennel Club's Canine Good Citizen test. Then step two requires a six week training class, evaluation, and a test followed by hands on skills training. The training involves 50-100 visits to a hospital with a volunteer mentor.
As for step 1, the Canine Good Citizen test is offered by a different organization (NATURALLY!!!), the Capitol Dog Training Center. Sunny is scheduled for his test on December 4, but the training center offers a prep class to pass the test. So I enrolled Sunny and I into this four week prep class. Considering I have never taken an obedience class with a dog, nor do I know if Sunny has had official training, I figured such a class was necessary.
The American Kennel Club's Canine Good Citizen (CGC) program is recognized as the gold standard for dog behavior. In CGC, dogs who pass the 10 step CGC test can earn a certificate and/or the official AKC CGC title. Dogs with the CGC title have the suffix, "CGC" after their names.The CGC Program is designed to reward dogs who have good manners at home and in the community. The Canine Good Citizen Program is a two-part program that stresses responsible pet ownership for owners and basic good manners for dogs. All dogs who pass the 10-step CGC test may receive a certificate from the American Kennel Club.
We took Sunny to his first prep class today. Have you ever experienced meeting a teacher for the first time, and saying to yourself...... this isn't going to work?! This was the reaction both Peter and I had with the dog trainer today. Within minutes of her speaking, what jumped out at you was that she is judgmental, rigid, and stressful! There are seven other dogs in the class, besides Sunny, and I would say the teacher set each of these dogs off at any point within the 50 minute session. Fortunately this is just a four week course. But honestly her teaching skills are poor and if Sunny passes the test in December, it will be strictly due to him and not her teaching abilities.
All of this candy may sound nice, but in such bulk it is down right nauseating! You can even smell it through ziplocs and plastic bins!
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