Benitude

As the dog who is the 'love of my life' grows older, I am starting to think about what happens next. Ben is not retired from agility at all, but we are no longer competing for national placement (that is my decision, not his).  Although he is older, he is still a herding dog in search of a job, and trialling less, only makes that more apparent. He is a trained and dangerously operant dog, who like all 'type A' personalities, can't just mellow out and chill. 

Combine with this, my continuing struggle to make sense of the last 2 years with my mom, who died in a locked alzheimers ward last year.

Today we took the Delta Therapy dog test (it is a test for both handlers and dogs) - we are approved to visit complex environments, such as alzheimers and children's units.

Ben never fails to amaze me, and I think that this will be a way for me, of giving back what I could not give my mom,  and for Ben, another opportunity to be awesome.