Delta Dog

Once I made the decision that I was going to keep Hope, I decided that Hope still had a lot to offer and would enjoy working again, this time as a therapy dog. I attended a one-day workshop in San Mateo for Delta Society and signed us up to take our certification test in April, 2007.

Hope and I drove to San Mateo for our test. Lots of driving for a test that probably only took about 30 minutes or so. I was a little concerned about how Hope would do as we were testing at the San Mateo Humane Society on a hospital-type floor similar to the floors she was having trouble with in Advanced Training. But she did great! In fact, she did better than I did. On each of the tests, they score the handler and the dog separately, the team then gets scored based on the lowest score whether handler or dog. Well, in most cases, Hope outscored me. I do have to admit I still have lots of test phobia, so I was very nervous. I'm glad Hope did well despite my nervousness!

After you are done, you wait outside while they tally up your score and you are told whether you passed or not. Yay, we passed...in fact, the lady said we did really well and that Hope seemed very comfortable. After passing the test, we had to fill out an application packet which included getting a vet exam for Hope, a written test, etc. Our certification will last for two years.