(Not me! The photo is of a dog who looks like The Princess.)

My name is Sunny, and I am training to be a Therapy Dog. My program has been accelerated because the supervisor is so pleased with everything I have done so far. I have been visiting Day Programs for disabled people, and I have been to an Aged Care facility twice now – I spent this morning there.

Again, the supervisor was very happy with me, but I came home feeling a bit down. A few things happened. I’ll explain in a minute.

Last week there were three of us dogs who visited the seniors. The other two are pure-bred Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.  

One of them is the mother of three Australian Champion dogs! Her nickname is “The Princess”! She’s mostly black with a bit of brown. Bulging black eyes. She is one of five identical dogs(!) who all belong to the supervisor. My personal feeling is that she looks “alright”, because her long ears are a bit curly, but isn’t that beautiful.

I’m obviously wrong. She’s a show dog, after all. Perhaps I’m a little jealous. I don’t have any special identity. I’m just a black and white nobody, no background, no heritage.

She gets dressed up frequently, always wears a silver sequined bow, and never walks – she rides in a pram, a baby carriage. I had to sit in it once today, next to her. Well, I must confess, I jumped right out. 

The other one looks very nice – she has a golden coat. I call her Goldie, but she has a fancy French name. However, she is a bit ditzy. Last week during a short break she saw a goanna in the garden. After that she was too excited to settle down and couldn’t complete her visits to the elderly people. This week she looked for the goanna but couldn’t find it. But she can’t go near the bird aviary nor the chicken run, because she upsets them too much.

On the other hand, when I went near the chickens today during our “bathroom break”, I ignored them, and they ran right along the length of the chicken run alongside me, on their side of the fence, trying to get my attention! 

Today, a huge Blond Labrador came too. She’s also a pure-bred! I really am the odd one out! She is a bit overweight and is on a diet. But she is magnificent! I am a little overawed – by her beauty, yes, and because she probably weighs six or seven times what I do! I call her Blondie.

Well, today I was on an old lady’s bed, and she was stroking me, saying how nice I was … and then she saw Blondie in the corridor. Next thing she asked my Mama about the Lab, and said in a loud voice, “I like that one better! I want to see that one!” So Mama organised for Blondie to visit her. How do you think I felt?

Well, we continued on, speaking with several people, and they were all happy to see me and pat me. One old man, Peter, used to have dogs throughout his life. He was so happy I was there, and he was telling Mama some stories about his dogs … but then he started to cry because he missed them so much. I wondered if I was being helpful if I made him cry, because I reminded him of his much-loved dogs. 

Next I sat with Anna who was just wonderful. I snuggled up with my head on her lap. She had long, thin, beautiful fingers, and she was so gentle. I could have stayed there longer, but we had to move on to the next person. We didn’t get to everyone before we had to go. They don’t want us there at lunch time, in case we become more interested in the food!

When we went back for the Debrief session, I walked next to Goldie – we get on very well. Then I shared my water bowl with Blondie. She drank it all! The Princess went to sleep in her pram.

I couldn’t help but notice that a lot of talk was about breeding, going to Dog Shows, and so on. I lay down on my rug at Mama’s feet and looked at Goldie and Blondie. They’d both fallen asleep too.

So Mama leaned over and patted me until I fell asleep also. It’s quite a hard job, being a Therapy Dog. Emotionally challenging for me. But Mama loves me greatly and says I am doing fine!  

So that, my friends, was my day today!