My Official Vest!

These last few weeks have been pretty hot -- no -- too darn hot! Like most of you, I have been working in spite of the heat. I have been to FENCE Day Camp three times with the Foothills Humane Society. This photo was taken at the camp with the children, and I would like you to notice my new and, I think, extremely handsome Official Therapy Dog Vest.


As most of you know, I have routinely been dressed up in all kinds of garbage......er, I mean garb, for the various seasons......the hats, the sunglasses, the light-up antlers, the ties, the bandanas, the abominable black feather boa (and you remember what I did to that), and, of course, the ridiculous orange fright wig I wore for Halloween. I do try to be a good sport about it, but sometimes I have been downright embarrassed by some of my outfits. The children and the folks at the assisted living homes seem to enjoy the "Champ-Wear" though, so I do my best to keep from looking as disgusted as I feel. If the truth were known, however....



Now, for the first time, I finally have something that I am proud to wear. It is a (very) bright red vest with an emblem that says: "I Am a Therapy Dog" and underneath that it says, "Sharing Smiles and Joy". I believe it is obvious by the expression on my face that my relief at having an official uniform (as opposed to an "outfit") is great. I do try to bring joy and smiles to all the folks I visit, but would prefer to do so in a vest rather than a rhinestone tiara, thank you very much.


I wore my new vest to FENCE Day Camp and I am happy to report that everyone there made quite a fuss over it, and me. It was highly satisfying and hopefully my humans are taking note of this. The children at the FENCE Day Camp were a lot of fun and they were also very well behaved (which matters a great deal to me) during all three visits!

I went to check out the Columbus Farmers' Market this past Saturday, and it is a really neat "down home" market. They have lots of local produce, some is even organic. They have everything from okra and blueberries to tomatoes and honey and plants and potatoes and cucumbers, and even some beautiful embroidered towels and crocheted hot pads. And there is a man who sells fresh bread and delicious goat cheese made from goats who are guarded by..........YEP.....a Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dog! (Simply the best!) They have fresh baked doggie cookies there (and the lovely lady gave me one so I can attest to the fact that they are absolutely delicious). They also have some human baked goods that I could only drool over. I think I could really get into those sticky buns....and I believe the nice lady who sells them might be charmed into giving me one if my humans weren't around!

I thoroughly enjoyed making the rounds of delicious smells, meeting people and greeting old friends. I met two very well behaved boys whom I really liked and tried to follow around, and I met a very, very small, very, very yappy thing that I am told was actually a dog....hmm....and lots of other folks who all admired me and said what a great dog I was. I believe I need to become a regular.

Stay cool. Woof.


CHAMP

P.S. Please start taking some great photos of your pets....(any and all pets, yep, even the horsey ones!) for the Po'Kitties All Pet Photo Contest. Details at www.pokitties.com , click on the link to the contest!