Saturday, January 17, 2009

Cobber & Me

My wife Danielle testifies to the community service record of our Labrador retriever, Cobber, at the Huffington Post.

Off and on over the past eleven years, I've accompanied our 110-pound English Labrador Cobber on visits to the sick, the handicapped, and the disturbed. I've never had to train him for this work (although he has been registered as a "therapy dog" with the magnificent PAWS program). In fact, he trained me.

Our "teamwork" began when our two eldest children, now in their teens, were in pre-K. Cobber, gentle and calm by nature, has always been especially gentle with children. When under siege by toddlers and roughhousers, he exhibits the same kind of stoicism as a Londoner during the Blitz. You can push his nose, tug on his ears, bodycheck him, attempt an air landing on his back, and at most he will emit a heavy sigh before closing his eyes and resuming his nap. Somehow I persuaded the school principal to allow Cobber into the building on my children's birthdays: Cobber would show up pulling a flotilla of helium balloons tied to his collar. In his mouth he'd carry a little sack containing his parcel of "tricks:" a tennis ball, a newspaper, and a brush. The children would take turns tossing the ball to him, brushing his coat, and after, applaud his best trick — fetching the paper.

This was one he taught himself. At one time, in the pre-Internet age, as many as five different newspapers landed on our front walk (or more often, in the bushes) every morning. After observing my husband collect them a few times, he got the idea, and from then on assumed the daily task. You would open the front door, say "Carry paper!" and out he'd charge, running back and forth until they were all picked up (even the heavy weekend supplements, which he had to drag). We soon realized that Cobber could count: If only four had arrived, he'd go back without prompting and start searching the bushes. Occasionally he made up for the loss by fetching our neighbor's paper.

So in the classroom, I'd place the newspaper as far away as possible from Cobber, sometimes on a low shelf. Then on command he'd retrieve it, cheered on by the children.

When my kids got too old for this dog and mommy show, I wondered how we might take it on the road, so to speak: Cobber never seemed happier than when he was visiting a classroom performing his "work." I found out about a program here in D.C. that organized dog visits to sick children in hospitals. Who would be more perfect for this than Cobber?

Labrador lovers will want to read the whole thing.

01/17 02:32 PM