A Visit to the Gym

Yesterday over lunch we ran up to the gym so my friend Anna could meet Murph (she works at my gym).  He gave her lots of snuggles and kisses, and got to meet a lot of the other trainers as well as a whole bunch of other people as they were coming or going from their workouts.  Murph is super social - he wants to greet every single person that he sees and get pets and kisses and snuggles and belly rubs. That is one of the traits that is good in a therapy dog - you want them to want to interact with people, not have to be coaxed into doing so.

One of the families that met Murph on their way out had two little tiny girls, maybe 1.5 and 3 years old.  They have a dog at home so are comfortable with them, and even the littlest girl wanted to pet Murph.  He started licking her fingers very gently - I kept a very close eye on that, since he still has his needle-sharp puppy teeth, but he was simply giving her very gentle kisses on her fingers.  I was incredibly impressed with his innate instinct to approach her gently - it certainly isn't anything I've taught him yet!  And I was equally impressed with how those little tiny girls interacted with him - their parents clearly are teaching them how to treat dogs gently and approach them correctly.  It was a 100% positive interaction for both puppy and kids. Win-win!