When our one year old grandson was here at Christmas time, he singled out Lily as his favorite dog among our pack. Lily is our sweet three year old English Setter who is a Bright Spot Therapy Dog participating in the Reading Buddies Program at the Westhampton Elementary School. Lily was as gentle with our young grandson as she is every week with the first and second graders as they read on-one-on with her in the special reading corner of the school’s library. She ever-so-gently interacted with our grandson as he approached her and pet her face and head. She just lay calmly relaxed on the floor. Sometimes Lily would sit next to him in his highchair. The two seemed to have formed a special bond.
Last week our grandson returned for another visit with his mom while his dad was on business in Boston. This time he began to notice all four of our dogs He still indicated a strong preference for his pal Lily, but now interacted with gentle James, our retired Bright Spot Therapy Dog, a bit with shy Annie, the pack manager, and seemed to enjoy running his fingers through Therapy Dog Violet’s coat of soft fluffy Australian Labradoodle hair.
His parent’s elderly dog died just before he was born, so our grandson doesn’t have a dog of his own right now to enjoy. We’re thrilled that he has become such a dog lover, since he has a house full of dogs to visit here in western Massachusetts when his family comes east from Colorado. Our daughter tells us that he doesn’t stop talking about the dogs at home, so I’m certain it won’t be too long before he enjoys the thrill of having a dog of his own.