During the past four years, since I got Coco, my amazing Akita service dog, our lives have opened up. We started doing some public speaking for the Ray Graham Association and United Way and the Girl Scouts. I finished editing and published,"Down the Road" and I've started doing speaking engagements.
The Indian Prairie Library was the first public place Coco and I went to. Everyone who works there started getting to know us and watched Coco grow from the sweet puppy she was to the loving service dog she is today.
Coco gets excited when I tell her we are going for a ride in the car, or going for a walk, or when I tell her the kids are coming. And she really gets excited when I tell her we are going to the library. She has become friends with most of the people who work there and she looks forward to stopping and saying hi to everyone of them.
Early on it was evident that Coco had a special gift of sharing love with people she met in hospitals and in retirement homes.
To train her to be properly socialized I needed to have a safe place where I could train Coco to be okay with strangers coming up to me. I needed to make sure she would be gentle, no matter where we went, just in case I needed help one day and so we could travel easily in public places.
You will see why this was so important in this video.
I hope you enjoy it.
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