Mammal Day

My dogs did some volunteer work for the Science Centre today. Today was "mammal day" at our Amazing Animals summer camp and one of the things the kids got to do was learn how to approach a dog they don't know.

Here is Sheila (on the left), one of our coordinators, reminding the kids of the rules. First they were told to ask if they could pet the dogs and wait for a yes.

Here we are, waiting for our debut. (The black one is Katie, and the white one is Simon. I've had Katie for 2.5 years,and Simon for one month. I got them both from the Regina Humane Society and they are both amazing dogs! They have really great temperaments and they respond super well to training.)

After I said yes, the kids could then approach slowly with their hands out to let the dogs sniff. They held out their fists so that there was nothing for a dog to chomp on to if it decided to disagree with the motion.

Simon was usually quickest to sniff hands and go in for a cuddle:

He is a charmer!

Some of the kids remarked that they liked Simon better. Katie was too distracted by food over on the other side of the deck to care much about playing with the kids. And Simon is only 1 so he's still a bit of a puppy, and I've only had him a month, so he's a bit needier these days.

This next picture illustrates best how each dog behaved. Simon: LOVE ME. Katie: ya you can pet me, if you want.

Oh, I should introduce to you Science Explorer Rachelle, in the navy shirt. She started working here earlier in the summer. Every summer we get new Science Explorers (and new Visitor Services staff as well) to handle the summer camps we do and handle the influx of visitors (including tourists). It's nice working in a place where we have a solid base of regular staff, plus we get new colleagues every summer who stay with us til school starts again and sometimes longer than that.

It's also nice working in a place where I get to bring my dogs to work! They were here all morning, snuffling about the office and begging for food and scratches.

Here is another picture of the kids and the dogs. I like this one a lot because you can see little Simon's face better:

The kids all behaved super well in their meetings with Katie and Simon, and I'm pleased to say the dogs did a great job too. If you want to see more pictures of cute kids with cute dogs, check out the Flickr set. Also thanks to Outreach Explorer Tia for taking these great photos!

Stay curious,
Collette