I decided to let Mom and Dad write this part, by the way since we did so much work on the other sections. - Daisy
Thanks, Daisy. We have had lots of fun visiting and a lot of cool things have happened over the years, but we'll share a special few stories that really make visiting worthwhile.
This story took place at a facility with a REALLY long hallway-probably 50 yards. We were visiting a couple of people at one end. We noticed an older gentleman slowly walking all the way from the other end. He came up and pet Daisy on the head, turned around, and walked all the way back to his room. We didn't think much of it until a few minutes later when a nurse came running to us down the hall and said, "That's the first time he came out of his room!"
On this visit, we were set to go up to a floor where we could have the children throw the ball for the dog, er, in this case dogs. There was also a German Shepherd Dog, Samantha (a close friend of Daisy's), visiting with us on this floor and she wanted to retrieve, too. So, Daisy went first, came back, and gave me the ball. Then (this is the cool part) she went and laid down against the wall WITHOUT ME SAYING ANYTHING TO HER. She stayed there until Samantha finished her retrieve and then she got up for her turn. It went like that for a whole hour.
One of Daisy's best bed visits was her first-- Daisy was still young, energetic, and was used to retrieving. She hadn't been visiting very long. When we were asked to do a bed visit, we decided to give it a try. We went in to the treatment room-poor kid had tubes everywhere and couldn't really move or talk. I heeled Daisy over next to the bed. I could see she wanted to jump up, so I said "Sit". I picked her up and placed her next to the boy. Daisy immediately laid down and put her head on his shoulder. She didn't move for 15 minutes. The boy's mom was helping him pet Daisy. The boy's mom and the therapist and I were talking softly. When the therapist said it was time to go, Daisy sat up and I said "stay" (because I knew she would jump down) and then picked Daisy up again and put her down on the floor. The therapist said, "You've never done a bed visit before?" The mom was so happy and the kid looked relaxed. I was so proud of Daisy, being in a new situation and listening so well, and being so good.
(We apologize for any incorrect spelling or grammar in Spanish.)
We were visiting three ladies who only spoke Spanish. As English speakers (us and Daisy), this of course presented a challenge to all of us. With our limited Spanish vocabulary, we managed to get some basics across -- Daisy's name (Se' llama Daisy), that she is a beagle (este una subuesa), etc. Then Daisy (and we) got a Spanish lesson. We asked if they'd like to see some of Daisy's tricks (with some help from a nearby therapist who spoke limited Spanish). They wanted to, so we decided to do her tricks using Spanish commands. We'd ask "How do you say 'sit'?" in Spanish (Como se' dice "sit"), and we'd find out (Sientence). Then we said, "Daisy, Sientence", and sure enough, she sat. Their jaws dropped in amazement! We proceeded this way through most of Daisy's tricks, and Daisy was perfect!
We're not supposed to give away the secret to Daisy's Spanish magic tricks, but here it is: Daisy knows her tricks by hand signals as well as voice commands. So when she heard gibberish (Spanish), she followed the hand signal. Pretty cool, huh?
We were visiting a boy in wheelchair on a cardiac unit and he wanted to throw the ball for Daisy. She obliged a few times, then sat next to him and refused to run any more. The boy complained that he was tired and after petting her for a couple of minutes went back to his room. I thought he said this to be nice because Daisy wouldn't retrieve any more. Next we visited another couple of children and Daisy retrieved perfectly for 45 minutes straight. Coincidence? This situation was repeated almost identically on another occasion. Daisy KNEW the child (in each case) was tired and decided he shouldn't throw the ball any more. If he did, she wasn't going to be responsible.