The Therapist is In

Because of crazy work schedules and a broken air conditioner (finally got fixed yesterday) Luna has been coming to work with me at least once a week.  She has become very comfortable in the office setting.  A little too comfortable.  Most of the time she stays by my desk so their is no need to tie her to the desk or put up the baby gate to keep her in the room.  However, once in a while she will decide I'm boring and leave the room seeking a co-worker who will give her some attention.  It seems she likes to do this when I am on the phone and cannot yell at her to come back.  "Excuse me for one minute.  I need to catch my dog."

While I'm a little annoyed by Luna's antics, the rest of the office staff loves having her around.  She seems to have taken her new role as therapy dog very seriously.  Every morning she will make her rounds to each person with a big smile on her face and a lot of tail wagging.  Last week, a few staff members even got some play bows and greyhound hugs.  When people come into my office Luna will jump up from her nap to greet our guest.

When I am between projects, I try to take a short break to do a little training with Luna.  This way I can step away from my desk and she can get a few minutes of mental stimulation.  This week, I decided to see if I could create a new trick out of Luna's "take it" command.  I first taught her to take a post-it note from my hand.  Then she learned how to pick up the post-it note from the ground.  Her method left the post-it a bit slobbery and very crumpled so I won't be asking her to pick up any important papers.  Finally, I placed the post-it to her back end.  She quickly figured out how to get that silly post-it off and proudly presented it to me for her cookie.  I like this trick because she looks so silly and I'm sure it will delight many audiences in the future.