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Bowling for Smiles!

Cora arrived today at the Mayo wearing her new red collar and full of holiday spirit as she tapped  the "jingle bells" in perfect rhythm with her paws.  For the first time, I actually heard true laughter from several people in the waiting area.  One woman laughed so hard and long that it actually brought tears to her eyes.  Her first visit was today at the Clinic and she said "it felt good to have a good laugh".
We brought with us today what will be now referred to as "Cora's Cart".  Inside the wheeled bag are all of her favorite things to share with her friends.  We brought out the puzzle next and hid her treats in the wells.  Cora quickly solved the puzzle and was rewarded with her favorite treats.   The people seated in the area clapped and giggled watching her "take a bow" for her efforts.  
Ever seen a dog bowl?  Well, ask Cora to do that and you'll find a room full eager watchers.  I set up 5 pins and placed the ball a short distance from the pins.  Giving Cora the command to "push" she quickly moved forward "striking" the ball with her two front paws...."Strike"......all the pins went tumbling.  "Wow! Oh my gosh, that's something!", could be heard around the room.   Looking around the room there wasn't one face without a smile.  
Cora always finds one individual that is the neediest.  Today it happened to be a young man that sat off to the back of the room by himself listening to his music.  I wasn't going to bother him, but Cora insisted on walking towards him.  He looked up and then took the headphones from his ears.  Cora immediately curled up against him, using his leg as her pillow.  He reached down and began petting Cora talking about his time in the military.  He asked me what Cora did, I replied....."she does lots of tricks, but this is what she does best, she makes people feel good".  He smiled and said "That's for sure"!

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