Pet Therapy???

Last night we had a lady come over with her dog Sallie. They volunteer to come over once a month to have a therapeutic visit at our home. I'm pretty sure I don't even need to say more. But I will.

Apparently, past visits have not gone over too well with one of our guys in particular. He likes seeing dogs, just not up close. We have been preparing him for the last several weeks that Sallie the dog is coming. We even went out and bought a calendar and put a sticker of a dog on the 24th so that we could talk about it and remember how excited we are that Sallie the dog is coming for a visit.

When the doorbell rang, he jumped up, welcomed them in, and grabbed Sallie's leash to "hold her." We were all impressed that this visit was going so well. But all good things must come to an end. This lasted about five minutes. Like a brother, the other roommate knows exactly which buttons to push to cause a complete and total breakdown.

To set the scene, you need to know that hot dogs are a favorite meal in our house. And I mean just that. Eight hot dogs, no bun, no side items. (We TRY!!!!! I promise we put fruit out and make vegetables, and we hide half the hot dogs, but he knows, and he finds them...) Oh, that we could just eat hot dogs every night. Life would be so very happy.

Since we have had such a good couple of weeks, and we were so excited that Sallie the dog was coming, we decided it would be a hot dog night. Happy doesn't begin to describe the mood. So the hot dogs are boiling, Sallie the dog is visiting and all is right with the world, until... the antagonist upstairs says, "Hey, how about giving Sallie some hot dogs?" The reaction to this statement was very similar to taking a pacifier from a baby. Or a paycheck from an adult. It was bad. And that's when all the happiness in the house went out the door.

He actually held it together better than he has in the past. However, I think Sallie did have some flashbacks to her days when she was an abused puppy (not that he laid a hand on her, cause God forbid he actually touch the dog - we were witnessing a miracle when he held the leash). It didn't take long for Sallie and her owner to clue in that it might not be best to hang out any longer.

Sallie will be back next month. I guess we need to start preparing for that. And we'll be sure that hot dogs are not on the menu.