Graduation Holiday Story!! This is Frannie and she also just graduated, FIRST PLACE. No small feat considering Frannie was a very frightened rescue who was afraid of everyone and everything.

The world for Frannie was a scary place. But with patience, she went from hiding under her mommy’s chair, to coming out to greet me every time I or anyone passed. This was true redemption.
Frannie, at first, acted like everything was torture but in the end she WAGGED her tail whenever she worked in class. She even came out to demo an exercise with me and almost played a game!!! Her graduation was perfection. I was starting to get “teary” as I watched her go through her final paces. She hit every mark!! By the time we finished graduation and i realized she placed first, the tears were rolling (didn’t help Frannie was also my mom’s name). When I got up to award her FIRST PLACE, I was a mess. Full on Pete Ugly Cry (see I’m not always an a**hole).

Frannie came out to greet me, waggin her tail, like a real proud dog and I totally lost it. Then Frannie’s mom started, then my assistant Jess, then the whole class was crying. Not a dry eye in the room and Frannie’s like “WTF???…..I WON”. Yes you did win Frannie!!! I will always remember you. You will do great things. Shes gonna be a Therapy dog. Now I need another tissue……