Being Cassie’s Human was a pretty special honour.
The thing was it had certain kinds of responsibilities, but there were plenty of rewards too.
The responsibilities mostly centred around food (plenty of it, and often) and exercise (same deal),playtime ( yep same deal) – plus a lap to lay on (this time only as and when required) and lots of love (always,and not just from us who were her humans, but everyone).
See Cassie did not really think that she was a dog. She felt more in common with people, preferred their company, and felt more confident with people than dogs. She learned to tolerate the other dogs we made her live with , but if she was out and about then people definately were head of the queue.
Cassie’s work was to help people who lacked confidence and had some life challenges to feel good about themselves, pretty easy for a dog who loved everyone.
Wherever we went there was someone to love. She loved us, her special humans,sure. But she had more love to give than we could take- we were already overflowing. So she liked to share it, and as her humans, we liked her to share it too.
Her favourite was teenagers.Especially if they were wearing hoodies and trying to look tough and notcaringaboutanything.
She also liked anyone who was scared of dogs and was always on a quest to help them feel better and not be scared. Several families now have dogs of their own thanks to Cassie.
At our K9 Community Cafe she was the meet and greet committee – trotting up to everyone as they came in to say hi- her bright eyes gleaming, her bushy tail waving.
She would roll onto her back to say lets do the tummy rub thing to break down any barriers,or shyness they may have been feeling.
Once off lead she purposefully trotted up a garden path into someone’s kitchen to say hello – turns out she knew the elderly lady was missing her own dogs and needed a canine cuddle.
So being Cassies human opened doors,both literally and figuratively.
She opened doors to peoples homes for sure – but mostly she opened doors to peoples hearts. Once that door was open then us humble humans could stumble on in and do what we were there for.
Since she has been gone I do try to keep on with her work- its hard without her and I have to imagine her trotting along beside me ,tail waving, happy and proud to greet the day and all the people and opportunities held gently within it.
Truth is those doors do not open so easily without her, but I owe it to her to keep going. With a spring in my step,a wag in my tail and a forever open heart. 
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