Here's a picture of the boy with his final ribbons. I think he is the 9th dog to achieve that level in the nation (and the first Golden Retriever). Pika did it - he got his Excellent Title in Performance Scent Dogs today (Oct. Check out the pictures of Pika with Elizabeth Kinard, who was his Friday handler. The Gazette just ran a piece on the dogs and their handlers. But Pika has been an active therapy dog working with the amazing people at the Philips Brooks House Association (PBHA). I think we got so excited about his Performance Scent Dog title that we retired into oblivion. It's been a long time since I added to the Pika-page. ![]() It's July 4 and Pika is Nine Years Old!!! We do some scenting work around the house. He goes to doggie day care at Pet Companions in Reading MA three days a week and swims at a dog pool in Natick once a week. ![]() He is an active ten year old and romps at the Harvard Law School every day (see the Pika video below). He's been our personal therapy dog and we lend him out to any graduate students who need some non-judgmental affection (and also a lot of fur). PIka has not been able to work as a Therapy Dog during the pandemic lockdown. Watch gleeful Pika scamper across a meadow. We just spent the weekend at Dartmouth (actually Etna NH with friends). Pandemic life for Pika did not change much, except that he didn't spend his days in our Littauer office and he was furloughed from his job at the Nursing Home on Dana Street. He remains a healthy and active dog who goes to Pet Companions three times a week and swims in the Natick pool every other week. Spring is lovely but Pika misses the snow (we don't). He goes swimming in the indoor pool in Natick every week and has returned to visiting the Nursing Home on Dana Street on Sundays with Harvard Students David and Gabby, where he apparently does a great job cleaning the floor. No more Pet Companions since they stopped picking up in Cambridge (very sad for us). Pika's world is now centered around Littauer again. He will rejoin Pets as Therapy in the Fall and help the folks at the Dana Street Nursing Home be entertained (plus keep their floor free of food scraps and napkins!). We think that swimming is keeping him in great shape. Isn't he gorgeous! He swims almost every week in a pool in Natick for dogs that need physical rehab and for lucky dogs that just love swimming (that's Pika). ![]() Pika is 12 years old! And he had his official Littauer photo taken (drool air-brushed out). He healed quickly and is back swimming and being the best dog-friend of all in the Harvard economics department. He was the star of the ICU at Tufts (Grafton) for five days. He showed his amazing ability to figure out how to please the "bi-peds" and never touched the incision or the various tubes coming out and going into his body. Both were sternotomies (the entire sternum is cut). All is fine now, but Pika had a major operation to remove a benign tumor (a thymoma) near his heart and then another to get rid of an infection that was caused by the first operation.
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