Recovering from surgery

To all my friends:

  Just a brief update- I haven't been updating the blog as much as I previously had.  Life has been a lot busier lately.  For the last several months, I've been hanging out at the doctor's office a lot more!  (Nothing life-threatening.)  But none-the-less, it's been occupying a lot of my time.

 Yesterday, I went in for an out-patient surgery. All went well, and I'm at home recovering now.
When I got home from the hospital, Jaz immediately curled up in my legs, very concerned.  She cuddled with me for a good 5 minutes until hubby went into the kitchen to get me some food.  Then suddenly, Jaz jumped down to follow him into the kitchen.  Jasmine loves me dearly, but food will trump me every time.  ;)

  So- I may not be updating the blog much, but I do try to post on Facebook regularly.   So if you don't see me here, be sure to check out Jasmine's page.    https://www.facebook.com/MyFavoritePupJasmine  And we can stay in touch that way.  (Because I can check that from my phone.)  Hope you are all doing well.  Take care my friends!   I'll be back blogging as soon as I can.  

~ CJ  <3 font="" nbsp="">

Jasmine... the Magic Therapy Dog

Last Friday, Jasmine and I volunteered at the children's hopsital like usual.  Every week is a new experience, but there are a lot of similarities.  This visit was fun.  One room we went into had 4 little boys. (only 1 was the patient.)  Three were on the bed, one was in a chair beside the bed.  They were SO EXCITED about our visit.. It was seriously like a party in there! And Jaz gets energized when the kids are enthusiastic. She was showing off all her tricks! (even when I wasn't asking!) :D  We did our little routine, then they wanted to see some of the tricks again.  (Requests)   Then they wanted to "train Jasmine".  So I had them do the hand signal for High 5, and they were crowded around Jaz all asking at the same time.  Jaz was a little confused who she was supposed to be giving a High 5 to, but it all worked out.  And the adults were cracking up.  Another episode that made us laugh was when I asked Jasmine to "ring the bell".   I know in advance this trick will elicit laughs- because Jasmine tends to keep ringing the bell, even though I don't ask her.  But this time was especially hilarious.  Jasmine rang the bell, and got her treat.  The little 4 year old said "I can ring the bell!"  And he jumped down and rang it.  Apparently it wasn't that impressive that a dog could ring a bell if he could to it too!!   ;)  We were laughing.

The other thing about Jaz that I love- is that she almost has a magical power to make kids stop crying. Later that night, I heard a little girl crying down a hall, so I followed the noise.  The little girl definitely wasn't happy, but immediately when she saw Jaz, she stopped. She just kind of stared. As I talked to her and started showing her some of Jasmine's tricks, a shy smile spread across her face. Her parents said that was the first time they had seen her smile in a while. It makes me feel good to be a part of that. I couldn't do it without Jaz!  She makes all the difference.

Although Jasmine is pretty special... she's not the only one.  There's a ton of good dogs out there that could do the exact same thing.  And there are plenty of opportunites to volunteer and make a difference in someone's life.  Think about it.  Could your dog be a therapy dog?

Therapy Dog once again!

Now I remember why I LOVE to volunteer as a therapy dog team.  


Prior to tonight, I haven't volunteered in months.  At first it was because life was so hectic, I hadn't finished the renewal process.  And then once Jasmine got recertified, I was so busy with our travels that I just hadn't had time!  


March/April was our participating on the Animal Planet show "Who Let The Dogs Out'.  (Which was a ton of fun!)  This ended with performing live at Universal Studios for the finale.


The month of  May was our trip to New York to be on Good Morning America.  (in addtion to local news stations.)  And last but not least, we just got home from a wonderful trip to Utah where we were speaking at the BlogPaws conference.  

So, we really have been really busy.  But I've missed it.  So tonight we went.  And as usual, there was just something special about it.  The most memorable was a 2 1/2 year old girl named Bella. (I make my rounds on the pediatic/oncology floors.)  As I was going from room to room, I could hear a little kid crying very loudly.  The nurses take them to a separate room to do blood draws, treatment, etc.  She was having a rough time.  By the time she came out of the room, she was screaming.  


Her mom was holding her, and they were going across the hall to go pick out a new toy.    It was very drastic.  She went from crying very loudly to suddenly quiet.  It was when she saw Jasmine.  I was pushing her on her cart down the hall.  The little girl just stared at us.  As I came closer, I asked "Do you like doggies?"  


The mom said yes, they had a dog at home.  Bella pet Jasmine, and watched enchanted as we did our little trick show routine.  And she laughed.  Because we were in the hall, more people gathered around to watch Jaz.  One 4 year old was imitating the tricks I was asking Jasmine to do.  It was quite amusing.  Everyone was smiling or chuckling.  By the end, Bella had completely forget about her previous experience.  The entire situation was turned around.  All because of one little furry dog.  What a difference a dog can make.  


That's why I like to volunteer with Jasmine.  It reminds me of the Emily Dickinson poem,
 "I Shall Not Live In Vain".  

"If I can stop one Heart from breaking
I shall not live in vain
If I can ease one Life the Aching
Or cool one Pain
Or help one fainting Robin
Unto his Nest again
I shall not live in Vain."

Our video from the elementary school!

Jaz and I were asked to come meet with all the 3rd graders, and talk about being a therapy dog team! (They had just finished reading "Rosie the Visiting Dog"- which is about a dog that goes to the hospital.) So they were really excited to meet a real therapy dog!

We had so much fun visiting all the kids!! :D (as you can tell!!) I made a little video of all the highlights.

Back to the hospital! :D

Tonight we were able to go back to our normal routine of volunteering at the hospital. It felt SO GOOD to be back! Jaz has missed it! Her tail starts wagging from the moment we pull into the parking lot!

I stopped by the Volunteer Resources office- because we finally got our trading cards!! (A little baseball card w/ Jaz's picture on it!) So now we can give those out to the kids we visit! Jaz does her little repertoire of tricks- which make the kids' smile. Sometimes (like tonight) there is a language barrier- where I don't speak the same language as the patient or their family! I pointed to Jaz, and they nodded yes they wanted us to come into the room. And when I started sharing her tricks, they smiled and laughed, and even recorded them. Lucky for me, "dog" is a universal language. :)

We had missed the last few weeks of hospital visits due to various events (most recently, our trip to Georgia for BarkWorld!!) - which I still need to blog about! But now we're back into our normal routine, and feeling good that we did something worthwhile tonight. It was a good way to spend our Friday evening. :)

P.S. Here's a picture from BarkWorld in Atlanta, Georgia. It's me with Jasmine and Paige! :D My two sweeties. :)