Good boy, Giddy!

I volunteered to bring Gideon to Kindercare this morning. A's class has been learning about pets, so I thought it would be fun for them to have a live specimen. I also brought in some dog bite safety worksheets (produced by the ASPCA) and handed those out. If I can stop one kid from running up to (and hugging) a dog he doesn't know, then my job is done.

While still in the van, I wrestled Giddy into a Halloween costume (yeah, he was pretty psyched) and then entered the classroom. The kids were very excited to see him, and he them. I was proud of him for not jumping on any of the young'uns. He does jump on adults, but seems to know that kids will just topple over and that it's just a bad idea in general. I am hoping to bring the jumping issue under somewhat better control before having him formally tested for the Therapy Dog certification.

The kids were gathered in a semi-circle on the carpet in their classroom. I talked to them (as best as I could while holding a wiggling dog in a wizard costume, anyway) about dog-related safety. "Is it okay to pet a dog while he's sleeping?" I asked. "Yes!" shouted my kid, a kid who has been told approximately one hundred thousand times that she must never, ever, ever bother the dogs while they are eating or sleeping.

I let the kids feed him some treats, and Giddy was definitely down with that. We hung out for twenty minutes or so and then headed out. He was successful in sliming most of the kids (his tongue doesn't quite fit in his mouth), so he felt like his job was done.

During this "pet unit" they've been doing at school, apparently the kids learned that animals are not human. A has been stuck on this idea for the past few days.

The other day we had this exchange:

"Mama, dinosaurs are not human."
"Yep, you're right."
"Giddy is not human."
"Right, he's not."
"Yes, but he farts just like me."
"Nice."

Comments

Mary said…
That's a great picture and how awesome of you to go there and do that!! As a kid I knew absolutely nothing about dogs... well, still don't know that much! But we never had a dog when I was young and I had no fear and when I went over to feed my neighbors dog I got bit!! Looking back I think the dog was afraid of me, I never really met him before. Dogs need to be respected and what a great time to start to teach them!
October 7, 2008 at 9:50 PM
Anonymous said…
As usual, Adrienne cracks me up! Heheh! I agree with Mary...what a great way and also a time, when they are still young, to begin teaching them.

Jen
October 8, 2008 at 11:10 AM
Anonymous said…
Kids, dogs, and farts all in the same day! Your job is complete-you made me laugh pretty hard.
October 8, 2008 at 3:02 PM
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