Push Ups for Seniors

On Saturday, we had our meeting at Freedom Square Nursing Home.  Below is a photo of the puppy raisers who attended (we are missing just a few who are waiting on puppies).  We started the meeting with some obedience outside the nursing home to tire the puppies out mentally, so that when we went inside, they would be in a better frame of mind to be loved on.  

Photo of our happy bunch!

Fred also had a plan.  He was going to have Coach do puppy push ups for every resident as a way to demonstrate what he could, with the added benefit of tiring him out and hopefully impressing the resident!

Fred explaining what the coat means to a resident as Coach looks on.

Fred would first ask the resident if they liked dogs.  If they said yes, he would angle Coach in close and introduce him.

Fred explains how Coach hopes to be a guide dog someday.

He then talks about how Coach wants to be a guide dog one day and he shows them Coach's coat, which is off because Coach is 15 months old and has to be without coat to be petted.

Fred pointing out Coach's handsomeness.

 Then Fred would usually have Coach do a puppy sit push up which means that he would have Coach do a sit, do a down stay, then do a stand. All in a row, in fairly fast succession. Most everyone oooohed and aaaaahed over this and said to the affect of "Good boy."

A photo of the green shirted puppy raisers and their puppies working the crowd of residents.

 We visited some high functioning residents who could interact with us and then we went to the dementia ward and interacted with residents who had less ability to interact, but perhaps needed us just as much!

Fred and Coach with another female resident as she gets ready to pet Coach.

There was only one little hiccup.  As we were walking down the hall and visiting residents in their rooms, we went into the rooms of two sweet little ladies.  They both really like dogs...and stuffed animals.  Coach really likes stuffed animals.

Do you see where this is going?

Cute stuffed dog that was on the resident's bed.

When we walked into the room, instead of looking at the resident, Coach locked on to the fluffy dog that was spread out like a chicken salad buffet on her bed.

He tried to make a lunge for it.

"Oh! He wants my dog!" The lady laughed.  Thankfully she had a sense of humor about it. "He's not going to get my dog."

"No, he isn't." Fred promised her, holding Coach firmly.  Coach was eyeing the dog and not paying attention to anything else.  We thought about trying to go to the other lady, but I spied a stuffed bunny on her bed.

Sigh.

We left while we were ahead.  All in all, Coach did a great job and Fred was amazing.  It was a wonderful exposure.  We had a great time.