Derby and I went to The School for Exceptional Children today to read a story about a dog named Molly who went to a dog park and met a lot of other dogs. This is a public school for children with severe developmental disabilities - everything from Down's Syndrome to Autism to severe physical and cognitive disabilities.
The story had a lot of opportunities for the kids to interact with the story - it asks them to bark like sad dog, a bouncy dog, a sausage dog, etc. and has them sniffing the air and each other every time Molly meets a new dog.
Derby was a HIT - and he was soooo good! He greeted all the kids before we started the story. He was so gently and calm and the kids just loved him. There was one little girl in a wheelchair who was just kind of "there" when they brought her in. She couldn't see, but the teacher's aide put her hand out to touch Derby and he licked her hand and all of a sudden, her face just lit up!
We had so much fun and I am so proud of my boy! After the kids left, they brought in another little boy with severe autism. He couldn't say too many words or even speak those clearly. When he saw Derby, he screamed a little. He didn't want to pet Derby, but he wanted to be near Derby. He wanted to take the leash out of my hand so I let him have it. Normally, Derby pulls on his leash when I don't have him on the halti, but with this little boy he just walked around the cafeteria with a loose leash, wherever the little boy wanted to go.
The teacher said usually all this boy wants to do is bolt out the door, but she was amazed he didn't even try to escape once while he was leading Derby around. And, after about 15 minutes of walking Derby, he even got up enough courage to touch Derby's tail!
Derby gave out so many kisses and got so much attention today. I just can't stop talking about how proud I am of him and how much fun we had. I can't wait to do it again.