Now introducing, Mr. Certified Therapy Dog!

Yup, we passed! And holy crumb, I was WAY more nervous than I expected. The test started out well with greeting a stranger, sitting politely for petting, and staying in place for grooming and body checks. No problem.

Unfortunately, things went downhill a little bit when two of the assistants got up to begin the "walking through a crowd" item. One of the assistants was banging a walker and Finn was extremely suspicious of the other assistant. He let out a low woof and I started to sweat. It was way too early in the exam for things to start going wrong so my anxiety level went up about 10 notches. Finn was skittish and distracted, strained a little on the leash, startled when they dropped the pie plate (to simulate a loud noise) and was clearly frightened of one of the assistants. To the point that even after they sat back down he was watching her and giving a few low woofs.

We moved on to sit, down, stay and come on command which all went really well. Walking on a loose lead through cones was a piece of cake. Then Finn really gave his best performance during the "meeting a neutral dog" item. Seriously, he was fantastic - he stayed by my side, didn't lunge toward the other dog, paid attention to me, sat when I told him to and pretty much was a model of doggy behavior. The evaluator and the two assistants showered us with praise.

After that came the temperament items including rough petting, a restraining hug, people arguing, and several people crowding around him. Then came the "reaction to a person who is staggering and gesturing" and out came the walker again. Luckily it was the assistant that he liked so even though he didn't like the walker itself, he recovered nicely when she reached down to pet him.

Then all that was left was "leave it" when walking past a toy on the ground and taking a treat nicely. No problem! It was over and we were both exhausted. While the evaluator completed my paperwork I chatted with the two assistants and Finn was still hesitant to let one of them pet him. Of course, even though we passed the test and they were all very complimentary of our performance, I thought about his reaction to her to the whole way home.

Now that we've passed the exam, I have to have our vet fill out some paperwork about vaccines and health, send in a photo for our identification badge, complete some forms, and then wait until we receive our official registration before we can start our visits.

So, cheers to us and a doggy ice cream for Finn!

Whew! All of this therapy dog stuff is hard work!