Newport is a Therapy Dog!!

Newport after he passed his test!

He did it! Newport passed his Therapy dog test! I am SO incredibly proud of him. I was pretty nervous about how he would do. We had to drive an hour away to a training kennel up in the mountains on a lake shore. It was a gorgeous place. There were about 8 or 9 other dogs there. Newport was the only black lab, but there was a chocolate male named "Hope" (weird for a male, right?) and a Career Changed yellow female from CCI named "Tabu". There was also a 200 pound bull mastiff! Most of the other dogs were mixes or little dogs. The test was fairly simple, and it helped that Newport was already used to pretty much everything they did. He had to walk past food on the ground and show no interest, be okay around loud noises/medical equipment, have no fear of little kids running up to him, and just pretty much be a calm, obedient dog. One part of the test was that we had to leave our dogs in the training area and go out of sight for three minutes. The dogs had to show no signs of anxiety and just relax until we came back. I could see Newport between some trees. He watched where I walked off to for a few minutes, then looked around, and went to sleep in the grass :) Then of course when we walked back to the dogs, he acted like he hadn't seen me in years. One of the many things I love about Newport. Now, I have to send in lots of paperwork and such to get Newport in the system. I already ordered his vest that he'll wear. It's red and will have different patches on it that say, "Therapy Dog", and "Ask to pet me, I'm friendly". I can't wait to start doing therapy work with him, and I know he is going to LOVE it!