If you’re just joining us, catch up by reading Becoming a Therapy Dog - Parts 1  through 3.  Back to our story where we’re about to have our therapy dog evaluation…

NOTE: From here on out, our therapy dog tale will focus on the Delta Society Pet Partners program, which is the organization we are registered with, but from what we understand, Therapy Dogs International (TDI) is an equally terrific organization.

Shortly after Oscar’s 1st birthday, we found out that they were doing evaluations for the Delta Society’s Pet Partner’s program at the ASPCA (on 92nd St. between York and 1st Ave). I managed to secure Oscar a test slot at the last minute. We hadn’t taken an official training course, but I had read the Delta Society Manual from cover-to-cover and practiced with Oscar at home.

In addition to the skills from the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) test (which translate almost exactly to Part 1 of the Pet Partners Program Team Evaluation), we would also need to demonstrate that Oscar would be able to react properly to stressful situations that he might encouter while visiting in a facility. These situations include, exuberant and clumsy petting, a restraining hug, staggering/gesturing individual, angry yelling, being bumped from behind and being crowded and petted by several people.

We hadn’t done any specific training for those situations, but I was positive that Oscar wouldn’t react aggressively to any of them. Plus he had done so well on the CGC test without any practice…

On the way to the test, we came across two little boys - I’m not very good at guessing kids ages, but I would say they were 3 and 5, maybe a little younger. The boys saw Oscar and immediately were drawn to him. The older of the two looked at us and asked in a loud squeaky voice, “IS HE FRIENDLY?”. Yes, I replied, would you like to pet him? Oscar sat like a super star and patiently endured some clumsy petting (good prep for the test).

A few seconds go by and the younger boy pipes in with his own, “IS HE FRIENDLY?”. Yes, he’s still friendly…..excellent training by the parents on how to approach an unknown dog, btw. Since we had a few minutes to spare, I had Oscar demonstrate some of his tricks. High 5 and Kiss were a huge success….then I had Oscar stand up and balance on his hind legs.

I’m so proud of Oscar, he looks like he belongs in the Big Apple Circus - his paws, stretched up in the air, reach just to the height of older boy’s chest and he takes tiny steps back and forth to keep his balance. Then all of a sudden, the older boy, overcome with delight, swoops in and gives Oscar a bear hug. I tense, preparing for Oscar to react to this aggressive hug, but he handles it like a pro…he holds still for a few seconds and then slowly and gently rotates around and drops back down to all fours. It’s an omen…Oscar is going to ROCK the therapy dog test. He’s already perfectly demonstrated two of the aptitudes from Part 2 right there on the sidewalk!

Fastforward 30 minutes …

We knew we were in trouble as soon as we entered the ASPCA building. In addition to conducting training programs, the ASPCA in NY is also a shelter and an animal hospital. As soon as we crossed the threshold into the lobby, Oscar’s tail clamped down (it would have been between his legs if it was long enough) and his nose went to the ground. The combined smells of the hospital and the rescue dogs seemed to send him into a panic. Next we had to go in an elevator - Oscar had never been in one before - he was absolutely terrified.

Finally, we made it to the evaluation room (we later found out that rescue dogs play in this same room and that they sometimes are not house-broken). It was a total disaster, our calm well-behaved dog was in a complete panic. His nose never left the floor, he strained at the end of his leash, he wouldn’t even respond to his name. The evaluators took one look at him and politely told us that Oscar was not ready to take the test. What?? He failed before he even started?!? Yup.

Poor Oscar, he’d never failed anything before…how would he handle the rejection? I consoled him for the entire car ride back home - I wanted to protect him from the embarassment, the shame of trying and failing…but by the time we arrived back at home he had completely recovered and seemed totally unphased about his failure.

Tune in next time to hear about how Oscar finally becomes a registered therapy dog!