UPDATE from his special picnic snack date when I responded to her post about how much of a blast they were having and what a huge hit he is every place they go. The more dates he has without me, the more he is dealing with self-comforting and relaxing and becoming more confident as he learns he is going to be ok and that I am coming back. 🙂 He did not have terrible SA yet, he latched on to the stability, routine, structure, and no end of love here of a well balanced home, and I have been working on showing him that many other homes/people are equally kind, and full of consistency for him. 🙂

“Absolutely, we just did another tour of the grounds, and we sat in the lobby for half an hour. He greeted all who came in calmly and gently as his name implies. He was so very carefully saying hello to one woman with a walker and stretching out his neck so she could pet him – wasn’t fazed at all by it – then greeted companions when she was done. Definitely a therapy dog in the making! The rest of the time he snoozed on the carpet runner.”