This is a series of caches at or nearby sites that my geodog, Redtail, visited as a certified therapy dog. Redtail is my golden retriever who loves to geocache with me. He’s got a nose for a cache and knows when to sit and stay while I sign the log. He is exceptionally sweet and kind. When he was a puppy Mr. Redtail2000 and I promised that we would get him certified as a therapy dog. Admittedly, he had to take Canine Good Citizenship twice because during the final exam he jumped on the instructor… but only because he loved her so much. Those goldens sure do love to be a puppy! Finally at the mature age of eight, he’s made the ranks as a therapy dog certified by the Southwest Canine Corps of Volunteers. Now I get to share with you some of the more poignant events that occurred during our visits. Please always be mindful and respectful of your surroundings when caching at these sites.
This is a high security facility that requires an extensive background check, fingerprints, interview and orientation in order to visit. We returned to the Bernalillo County Juvenile Detention Center after getting cleared to find that on our first visit that we were the only team to visit the residents. Usually there are several teams but today we were solo. One at a time each unit was escorted to where Redtail and I waited for them for a total of four units. Most of the kids who have had dogs have had pit bulls with some Chihuahuas. A golden retriever is a different breed that they almost all seem to embrace.
Surprisingly the girls played ball with him and tuckered him out a bit. They also like to brush his hair… But there was one girl in particular that didn’t want to have anything to do with Redtail initially. I asked her to join us but she continued to decline until I told the other girls that we had to make our way over to the one girl as well…fair is fair. She did end up greeting Redtail. She was the first one to give Redtail a treat. After that the others wanted to as well.
Later when the boys were visiting we started to talk about the solstice. One of the kids said that wasn’t fair because they couldn’t see the sun. I pointed out that there were windows and the staff said they had windows on the units as well. FYI, they also have a really nice grassy field out back that you can see through the fence. The sun will continue to always rise each morning for them even if they are in an area that they can’t see it. We can always count on the sun… After each visit most of the kiddos thank us for coming as they line up with their hands behind their backs to be escorted back to their units.
Cache on…
Congrats to Duck-Boy and fgfsumh on their FTFs. We love a show of good sportsmanship:) Y'all are rockin' the FTFs on this series! Rock on :)