She Continues to Amaze Me

My first day back at work with Bonnie, and I knew it would be a hectic one. I was a bit worried about how she would handle it.

As humane educator I develop a lot of kids programs. We currently have one at the shelter right now - Winter Camp. Today and tomorrow we have 33 kids between the ages of 7 and 9. The kids have a lot of fun -- they get to learn about and play with animals, play games and do some fun activities. Put that many kids in one large room two days before Christmas, and you can imagine just how noisy and active it can be!

My office is right off of the Activity Room where camp is held. My dog Mystic does great when camp is running. He enjoys interacting with the kids; getting petted, getting told how cute he is, cleaning up after snack time, and showing off his tricks. My office has a gate in the doorway -- so if Mystic is overwhelmed he can get away from the kids and crash in his crate.

I wasn't sure, however, how Bonnie would deal with it. I hated to put her into a kennel in the shelter because I was afraid she'd shut down again. I didn't want to leave her in the front office because she is my responsibility, and I didn't want to pawn her off on other staff. So I decided I would leave her in my office and see how it went.

She did great! She actually came up to the gate many, many times and let the kids pet her - wagging her tail the whole time. Sometimes it was overwhelming -- and she retreated under my desk for a self imposed time out (I eventually went and got a bed to put under there for her.)

I think tomorrow I'll actually bring her out into the room with the kids for a carefully supervised visit.