Ch. LacShen Herdit Truda Grapevine

Hello, I am a Shih tzu and my name is
Ch. LacShen Herdit Truda Grapevine CD, but you can call me Marvin (all my friends do).
I want to tell you about what I have been doing lately. My aunt Gayle takes me to Nursing Homes to visit people. I really enjoy myself there, being a clown to all, and the people look forward to my visits. Sometimes I visit with other dogs (Saluki, Afghan, Newfoundland, Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier, and Labs), sometimes by myself and on a few occasions I have let one of my daughters come with me or even to go without me. There are some special people that I always have to see, to make sure that they are smiling (at least when I leave they usually are, if they aren't crying to see me go). At times my aunt has received calls to bring me in to see one of my special friends that needs a pick-me-up. Recently we changed from visiting with an animal-assisted therapy group to visiting for the Cypress Creek Kennel Club (the all breed club that my mom and aunt belong to). Families of the people I visit have especially stopped us to thank us for all our efforts.

One such incident happened after we were called to come in and see a gentleman that I have always had a special feeling for even though he does pinch my aunt Gayle, if she's not looking. The nurse called and asked if we could come, so we hurried over and found him yelling at everyone around until he saw us and then he got this huge smile on his face. Within minutes he was humming to me and smiling away. The nurses were then able to treat him as long as I stayed with him.

The same man was in a very bad mood one time when I allowed my daughter Ch. LacShen Ask Miss Manners, known to her friends as Mandy (the BRAT), to visit in my place. She was in a silly mood when she went in to see this man and started her silly act on his bed. The next thing my aunt knew they had an audience with how loud he was laughing at Mandy. The more he laughed the sillier she got (dumb girl, get mad when they laugh, don't promote it). My aunt shares a doctor with a few of the people we see, and he has written orders that his patients see us once a week, and if they don't, the nurses and my aunt hear about it from him.

One hard part about making all these older friends at the nursing home is when I lose one of my friends. It might be hard for us, but I have to remember them and that I gave them happiness and friendship in their last days. I could tell many other stories, but I'll share just one more. When I started visiting this center almost two years ago, one lady screamed if I came anywhere near her. My aunt didn't give up, and every time we visited we stood back and talked to her. Little by little, I inched forward until she became one of my best buddies. We even took a picture with her, me in her lap and the saluki (Rocky) had his head on her lap. We have had many success stories and have proven to be beneficial to the people and will continue to be in the future.

I hope that more Shih Tzu will start doing this after you and your owners read this.

I hope that you don't mind, but I want to close this by saying good-bye to some of my missing friends: Goddard, Catherine, Arthur, Miss Mamie, Fannie, Marie, Anita, Denby, Lu
(no one sings to me now), Sara, Brock, Lupe and Virginia.