Xochitl
Please Note: The dog in the accompanying photograph is the subject of the story, but the child or teenager pictured is probably not the patient in the story.URGENT – 8 week old Lab puppy running out of time at North Central
There it was just waiting for me in my email inbox. I used to get a lot of this type of email, telling about another shelter dog in urgent need of a home. I hoped that some kind soul would come to the rescue, and I deleted most of them. I have a dog pack and did not need another dog, but this subject line could not be ignored. So I opened the email to read a little more about the 8-week-old Lab puppy on death row. How could this be true? The sad little pup in the photo trapped me, and early the next morning I had to go to the shelter to investigate further for myself. Suffice it to say, the 8 week old Lab puppy left North Central that very day, destined for a new home with me.
Standing in line to do the paperwork, I called Warren Animal Hospital to ask if they would accept her even though it was not their day to receive the adoptees from North Central. I thought I had nothing to lose asking my Vet if he could squeeze her in and keep her until the end of the week. You see, according to the shelter records, she had mange, and I wanted a clean bill of health before she came home to meet the pack. So with everything set, I headed off to work, a little late and wondering if I had gone completely crazy, adding an 8 week old puppy into the pack.
Xochitl (pronounced Sochil) was the first large breed puppy I had adopted in a very long time. She has turned out to be the largest dog who has ever shared my home. This is very evident when she tries to imitate the Min Pins and climb into my lap. Only about half of her fits.
I knew that to make this girl into a good family member, training was a must. We started our training with the Hollywood Dog Obedience Club a few months after she came home. The dog trainer there uses the old style traditional approach --- training collar, no treats, lots of pets and “Good dog!”s as rewards. That’s not everyone’s favorite training style, but it worked for us. After 8 weeks of our 10 week course, Xochitl passed her Canine Good Citizenship (CGC) test. Since Xochitl was the first dog I had ever trained, I was amazed. The CGC test requires the dog to be able to perform several tasks such as heel on leash, amicably meet another person with a dog, sit quietly by your side, walk calmly in a crowd, and be left with a stranger for several minutes. It was a blast, and having that kind of goal was good for both of us.
The next thing on our list was to check out becoming a therapy dog. Thanks to Jen Byrne, another member of the EPAA email list, I heard about Love On 4 Paws. Love On 4 Paws is a great group here in the Los Angeles area that makes volunteering with your pet easy, assuming you can pass the test. I logged onto www.Loveon4paws.org to figure out exactly what being a therapy dog meant. I read about all the great dogs already in the program and read the evaluation that would be required of Xochitl, and I found a new goal. I signed up for the next evaluation and got to work. The evaluation was just a tad more extensive than the CGC. I am not sure what most trainers consider the top commands, but “Leave it!” has to be one of them. It also seemed quite a tricky skill to train, but not with Xochitl, or so I thought. Xochitl is a bit unusual in that she is not completely crazy about food. Weird, huh? So teaching her to walk calmly by bits of biscuit or hot dogs strewn about my driveway was an easy task for me. As evaluation day approached, I felt confident — sure of myself and Xochitl. And then the day of the test came. We are being put through our paces and all is going well. The “leave it” test is coming up, and what is sitting in the first position of the line of things to leave? A toy duck, and not just any old toy duck, but a seductively (at least to a dog) QUACKING toy duck. I looked at that toy and I looked at Xochitl, and we walked right on past, not without a few head turns and some prancing, but she did not grab it, and I did not need to pull her off. What an accomplishment!
Today, two years later, the skinny, mangy pup has grown into an 82 lb beauty who brings joy not only to me, but to the many people we meet as we stroll through the halls and rooms of Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital. One of the unexpected rewards of our involvement in Love on 4 Paws was inspiring someone else to join the program. In the early days of our visiting at Hollywood Pres., I visited with a mom and daughter. The mom was a patient in the hospital. I saw them on a few subsequent visits, and I gave the daughter the card for Love On 4 Paws so she could bring her wonderful Lab to our program. Just a few months ago she started in the program, and the team is a great addition to our group. I know we bring joy to a lot of people, but here is some concrete feedback, and it sure feels good.
Xochitl just turned two, and we have a lot more to do --- more patients to visit, more training, maybe even some obedience trials, who knows, but I am sure that opening that email was not the craziest thing I have ever done.
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