Thursday, October 30, 2008

Thursday, 10/30/08

Timber went to school today and listened sorta patiently to 6 readers. The librarian got Timber and the kids some dog beds to sit on - Timber lays down and acts up - pawing at me and turning herself upside down to look at the book... One of our readers got his first free book for the year from Timber - he has already read 10 books to her in 3 weeks...

MDES - 10/28/08


Went to a meeting at Mt. Desert Elementary School today. Robyn, myself and our 3 dogs all attended a planning session for them to have a READer dog in their school. Robyn owns Cirra (picture) and will start next week in grades K-3! I went along to share what I do at the Tremont school. Cirra will be a big hit in those classes and I'm sure will get them excited to read out loud to her!

Friday, October 24, 2008

Friday, October 24th


Had a "doggie" day today! Rissa and I went to a 4th grade class in Bar Harbor. They have a week called the "Business of Reading" - folks in the community come to a class and read to the kids and talk about why reading is important in their job. 3 READer dog teams (in picture) participated. I read a book about a nurse that has a therapy dog - duh!! Rissa teased the kids while I read - she laid on her back- belly up - wagging her tail while I read. SO - 15 minutes into my 30 minute time slot - the kids broke out of their seats to pat Rissa. 8 kids got to be around her and then we switched to the other 8 kids. They looked at her photo album - we talked about her life as a show dog, her being a dog scout plus they saw pictures of the kids she reads with in Tremont. Their favorite pictures were her and her puppies though. I have a nice picture of Rissa with the class for her album - not posting on here. That's Sandy with Boomer(golden ret) and MJ with Kelvin (Chesapeake Bay Ret).
After class this morning - I took Timber in to visit patients/staff at the hospital - we saw 8 and many, many of the staff. I received a donation of 20 books for my READer kids from Ruth at work! What a treat! Timber decided that one of the patients needed a bed buddy and hopped right in bed with her to snuggle... She has never done that... I figured she knew that this woman needed a closer visit then her beside the bed. It really was quite cute. I then took Rissa in to see our folks at the retirement village... as usually - she loves going and they love to see her.

Thursday, Oct 23rd

Timber went to school today - She had brand new dog beds to sit with the kids on! One of our kids read 4 books today - OK, so they weren't War and Peace size books - but the point is he is excited about reading - sets goals and meets them!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

October 22





Today was our 1st anniversary of READer dog at the Somesville library. We had a 13 kids that had read to Timber, Rissa and/or Cirra, over the last 12 months, come to the celebration. Some of the library ladies (and Ellen) decorated and provided some yummy snacks for all. Rissa was licking her chops at the smell of the Halloween cookies! Cirra was eyeing them too! All the children received a book from the library, a book mark, an activity coloring book, a dog print pencil and a large purple paw print sticker! All 3 dogs were very well behaved with all the food, kids, adults and confusion! It was a very nice party and the kids had a great time! The dogs did too - they got A LOT of pats and loving! We'll resume our once a month READing time there next month.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Saturday, October 18th



The girls got a nice fall hike around Eagle Lake (6miles) ! The colors are fading but still some pretty scenery. We logged 165 minutes for our walk a thon!! Pier(Grace and Bri) + Tracy (Simon) joined us. Almost every bike rider was RUDE and I must say we had the 5 best behaved dogs out there! Before the hike - I shopped for the kids books for the READer dog tea on Wednesday!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

October 16th


No doggie activity this week. I have been working - TO MUCH! This nice profile shot of Rissa was taken by friends who come to play with the girls when I have long days at work. I had to cancel READing at Tremont today as I had been at work for 22 hours.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

October 9th

Timber resumed her 1:1 kid reading today at Tremont. We had 3 repeats from last year and 3 new kids reading to her this session. She is so mellow there - very different than when at home... Guess she knows her "job"!!

Monday, October 6, 2008

October 5th


Dog scout walk and meeting. Dogs lined up from biggest (Great Pyr) to smallest (Chi chi) ! 14 dogs and their owners did a walk from Parkman Mt to Brown Mt - then gathered at the Somesville Firehouse for a meeting, lunch and dog games. This was the first anniversary of the organization of Troop #159.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

October 4th



Today the dogs and I participated in the Alzheimer's walkathon in Bar Harbor. We walked with Lydia(in picture with the girls) and Ellen(Lydia's mom and fellow co-worker and Gestation walk a thon team member) and friends... We walked for Ellen on "Team Richardson" - at the end they had a raffle drawing - I won a quilted lighthouse wall hanging - plus I got a tee shirt - I was trying to have Rissa display it in the picture! A nice day for a stroll and I'm sure they made quite a bit of $ for the cause. We saw several of the employees at BBV - where we do pet therapy visits at "Safe Harbor", the memory unit.

Friday, October 3, 2008

October 3rd


Rissa always feels right at home on our hospital visits. She lays out in front of the nursing station requesting belly rubs. Amy is obliging her this time. We saw most of the patients and numerous staff today. At the end of her visits - Cheryl always gives her a dog cookie. Rissa knows exactly where that box of Milkbones are! Timber made the visits at the retirement village after the hospital. Interesting today - one of the women in "Safe Harbor" never wants a visit from the dog and always watches and keeps her distance - today she was totally mesmerized with Timber and even touched her. Timber usually makes quite an impression wherever we go- don't know if it her looks or her soft teddy bear like coat... but folks naturally are attracted to her.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

October 2nd

Today we started back at Tremont school for READ. Took both dogs for PR and reintroducing the program. First time Kindergartners met the dogs. The doggie bag program will start again. Rissa obliged all with kisses.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

October 1st





Went on a fall hike today - climbed Flying Mountain - and then the girls got to swim in beautiful Somes Sound. We were in Valley Cove and you can see down the sound behind them. The colors were nice - overcast day didn't show the vibrance of the leaves here at peak. Rissa turned 10 this week - no signs of her slowing down yet! Got 60 minutes in on my fall walkathon I am participating in through the dog scouts. 6 weeks - walk an average of 30 minutes a day. I am on a team with some girlz at work - team name= "The Gestations"