Rocco’s special, and that’s a good thing

We have two dogs in our household — Rocco and Nyse.  Nyse is a 13 year-old pit bull, and not the main subject of this entry. She was somehow named after the New York Stock Exchange in the cloudy and long-forgotten past. She was my wife’s dog long before we were together and every time I ask my wife about the origin of her name, I just hear a series of low bleeps and bloops with the words ‘brother’, ‘hoodlum’ and ‘New York Stock Exchange’ mixed in, sort of like how the adults used to talk in the Peanuts holiday TV specials.

This regularly made my heart rate double. Oh, old TV, how do I love thee!

She is the smart one of the pair and makes sure that the household is in order and the trains run on time.  Her dreams consist of tax forms, stopwatches and orderly rows of alphabetized files.

Rocco is a 5-year-old Lab/Rott mix with the intellectual capabilities of a brick of Velveeta and a heart of purest gold. He is minus a leg from a disagreement with a Buick, but gets around well enough to knock every thing in the house over at least once daily.

The flowers may have a slight edge, intellectually.

When he dreams, I am sure it is of lame and slow rabbits happily cavorting about in an Alpo landscape as unicorns frolic in avalanches of marshmallow fluff and bacon clouds drift slowly by.

We are very similar in that respect.

He recently completed the certification process for Therapy Dogs International, and is now a card-carrying and tag-wearing certified therapy dog. He can now go spread his particular brand of sloppy, dumb-happy love to sick and infirm two- (or less) legged people.  One of the first things we plan on having him do is have kids read to him.

He thought it might be edible at first.

There are lots of kids who freeze up when they have to read something to their peers or an adult – seems they have an episode of the panics, and are afraid of being judged. A dog, particularly one who is as agreeable as Rocco, presents less of a threat, so their nascent reading skills can blossom like a Bloomin’ Onion (only slightly less delicious).

Hospitals and retirement homes will probably round out the itinerary after he masters the art of listening to kids read. We are really looking forward to spreading his gift of (slightly dimwitted) love with those in need.

Who knows — maybe he will learn to read.

If any of you have experiences with therapy dogs, either on the giving end or the receiving end, please feel free to share them here.

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