Our first stop was my grandson Tyler's kindergarten class. When we entered the classroom, Mrs. Martin had all the five- and six-year-olds sitting in a circle. All except one, that is. As we came into the classroom, I noticed one little boy sitting away from the others at a table. I saw that he was crying. Mrs. Martin told me that he was extremely afraid of dogs.
I walked Whitney over to the circle of kids and watched her go from child to child letting them pet her. I asked Tyler to tell the class what kind of dog she was. He told them that she was a greyhound. A couple of years ago when we first adopted Whitney, Tyler came over to our house with his two sisters. He looked at Whitney, and said, "She should be called a Whitehound, not a Greyhound!" Whitney, of course, is white. Tyler was four at the time, and I thought this was a very observant and cute statement for him to make. Naturally, at the age of six he no longer makes such "silly" comments! This is what he told me! Anyway, back to his kindergarten class. The children had many questions, and many remarks about their own pets. One little girl ask me if Whitney could run as fast as a cheetah. I just stopped in my tracks at this question! The cheetah is the only animal that is faster than a greyhound. I really praised this child and asked her why she was wondering about a cheetah in particular. She informed me that the cheetah was her favorite animal. Kids at this age are remarkable - you never know what they are going to come up with!
During the time that Whitney was visiting with the kids, I had Mrs. Martin hold her leash, and I went over and talked to Jordan, the little boy who was afraid of dogs. I commented to him that Whitney was a very nice dog. I did not try to get him to join the group; I just wanted to include him as much as possible.
As I returned to the group and Whitney, I noticed another Jordan with the kids gathered around Whitney - I did a double take before I realized that Jordan had a twin! His twin was not afraid at all. I answered more questions, and continued listening to the children talk about their own pets. As I was winding up our visit, I turned around and saw that Mrs. Martin was holding Jordan in her arms. Then he reached his little arm down and petted Whitney on the head! I had tears in my eyes as I saw the look of accomplishment in Jordan's face. This made the entire visit worth it. I was so proud of Whitney. She stood very still and allowed Jordan to softly pet her. He never got out of the teacher's arms, but he did reach down two different times to touch Whitney. What a thrill this was.
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