As some of you might know, Sidney is a certified therapy dog with Love on a Leash. After my Mom passed away from cancer last year, I decided I'd sign him up to volunteer at North Coast Hospice.

Today the Hospice hosted Camp HOPE, a daylong camp for children with cancer and their families. Since Sidney was already in their system, complete with our ID cards, and he took quite a fetching photo, they decided to use him as the mascot for Camp HOPE. His pic was in their emails and facebook; I didn't know ahead of time, so it was a cool surprise to open the email and see Sid's smiling face!

Because of this, they asked me if I could bring Sidney to be the greeter as kids arrived for camp. It meant getting up early on a Saturday (those of you that know me know it's hard to give up my sleeping-in day!), but we had to be there!

The camp was being held at Green Oaks Ranch, in my hometown of Vista. I never knew this place existed, and I've lived here for 15 years! It was a huge camp, an amazing place. After everyone had checked in and we sat quietly for the opening ceremonies, I decided to take Sid to explore the ranch while the kids were at their activities. There would be more Love on a Leash dogs arriving later, but we had about an hour to explore.

I didn't have enough time to see the whole place. It has baseball fields, a stream, an old west style town and even a "zoo"! We saw ducks, chickens, pigs, goats and llamas. Sindey was so excited, you could tell he was in his element. He wanted to go check out all the animals. Then we saw a pen with four emus. Do you know they make a noise that sounds like bongo drums? And they show no fear. They looked like they wanted to chomp on Sidney's ears.

Notice how they all line up? One goat kept following Sidney, like he wanted to take him on. 

We passed by an enclosure that had a sign reading "keep fingers out", but I couldn't see who lived there. So we went on to visit the turkeys, pheasants and parrots. On our way back out, I heard a low growl...I looked into the pen and then I knew who lived there - a bobcat! She was staring down Sid with a murderous look. When he saw her, he backed away quick and did not want to go anywhere near that enclosure. Smart dog! Beautiful cat too.

We left the zoo and wandered further down the road, wher we found horses, miniature ponies and donkeys! The donkey were really curious about Sid. He would have gone right into their corral if he hadn't been leashed. Now THAT would have been interesting!

We passed by a little chapel and then an outdoor church. We could have kept on walking but it was time to go back.

The other therapy dogs arrived and we got ready for the kids to come meet the dogs. They would be in two groups, smaller kids and then teens. We introduced ourselves and then our dogs, and told what breed they are and what kind of work they were bread to do, and what kind of therapy work they do. Sidney loves kids, especially when they toss treats to him! Sid did great, and he was happy that his therapy dog girlfriend Pixie was there. It was a loong morning for him and he's fast asleep on my bed as I type.

Sid's pal Pixie :)