Happy Callie!

In the summer of 2003, when I was 4 years old, the people I lived with gave me up for adoption. They said that I kept getting out of the fence in the back yard, but they didn't know that I was only doing it so that I could be with my favorite things: people!

Some nice folks at the Porter, Indiana, pet shelter put a picture and a small description of me on the internet (I don't really know what the internet is, and I don't really care unless it's some kind of treat). Anyway, some lady in Chicago saw my picture and thought I looked cute, so after a few emails she came to see me and fell in love with me immediately! I was glad to go away with her, although we had a rough time in the car on the way home because I kept wanting to crawl in her lap. But when we got home, and it looked like she was going to keep me, I thought I was dreaming!!

After a few days together, my person kept saying things to me like sit, down, come. What did all this mean? I wanted to please her, but didn't really know what to do. And she kept saying that I had so much love to give, we should find a place where I could give that love to people who needed it, like older people. Luckily she found Animalsense on the internet (there's that word again) and enrolled us in Basic Manners. What she didn't know, was that the class was really for her, not for me! She learned how to correct me, and how to reward me, and how to teach me all kinds of things. She even taught me to walk alongside her quietly, instead of running around like a crazy dog. And she learned, that, even though I was an "old dog" and learned more slowly than some of the puppies, I could learn some new tricks.

Then I thought it was time to become a citizen: a canine good citizen that is. Animalsense had a class for that too. And we passed the test!! I found out I was a good test-taker, and within a few months, I had passed the Therapy Dogs, International test too.

Now am I happy! Every week we go to see some older people who give me lots of hugs and talk real nice to me. But my person also takes me out into the fields and lets me hunt for things too.

Thanks, Animalsense!! I'm one happy pooch now.

Callie in the clover fields.		Almost covered by the grass.