Yesterday I was asked to attend an Author’s Fair at the Massillon Public Library. I had been there the year before and enjoyed it. This was a great chance to mingle with other authors, hear them talk about their writing journey and buy some books! Plus we had great refreshments!
I was asked to speak first. I showcased all three of my books but the favorite story came from Paw prints on my soul: Lessons of a service dog. Sita is one of the most sensitive and intelligent dogs I have ever seen. For 7 years she went with me to appointments in the private practice where I worked as a Professional Clinical Counselor.
I have many stories about how her gentle nature impacted my clients but my favorite story is this one. I was sitting on a chair facing my client who was on the couch talking to me. Neither one of us was paying any attention to Sita, who appeared to be asleep under my desk. My client was sobbing as she described her terrible childhood.
Suddenly Sita came out from underneath the desk. She reached on the top and pulled a tissue out of the box lying there. Then, she trotted over and handed the tissue to my client with her mouth.
My mouth dropped to the floor in amazement. My client started laughing and said “Sita you just made my day! “ I chuckled and told her that she should pay Sita and not me for the session! But the wonderful thing about this was that she had never been taught to do this. She had been observing me and knew that when someone cried I handed them a tissue. So she did my job for me. What a fantastic dog! If people would spend more time observing and less time talking think what we could accomplish! This and other heartwarming stories are available in my book.