IT WAS THE BIG day: the therapy dog certification test. Sitting in a metal folding chair, awaiting our turn, I got the butterflies. During the last class, Petey broke his “down”—he got up and came to me when he was supposed to be lying down and staying put. Tonight that would be an automatic fail.
“You can do it, Petey,” I whispered. The test began. We knew we’d be asked to heel, sit, stay, greet people and, of course, down and stay, among other tasks.
The first task was heeling through a course of cones, with volunteers milling around, to simulate mingling in a crowd. A piece of cake, right? We marched up to the volunteers. No problem. But as we passed the other dogs waiting along the side, Petey…
