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Canine Ambassador
Yuuki

“YUUKI Soba” is a 55 pound black Standard Poodle.  Puppy Yuuki was jet black with a thin silver line along the trailing edges of her ears.  John and Cindy rescued her.  Yuuki was joyful to join Poodles Goose and Gandy despite the respective 9 and 4 year age differences.  The Pack o’ Poodles quickly bonded.  Yuuki’s dark brown eyes and black coat give her a deep soulful look, that is until one sees the playful twinkle in her eyes.

Born on 14 Jun 2017, Yuuki, at over 6 years 9 months, is an energetic therapy dog.  She now has over 680 visits during her growing career.  Concerning therapy dog training, Yuuki had the advantage of training uninterrupted through advanced obedience and therapy dog training.  She also completed the requirements for the American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizen course.  Yuuki did many shadow visits with Goose and Gandy to socialize her into the therapy dog environment.  She trained up to the intermediate levels in a variety of canine sports just for fun.  John and Cindy adapted these sports into therapy dog activities.  Despite her lengthy training history, Yuuki still enjoys formal and informal classes, the most recent being PetSmart’s Brain Games class when she was nearly 4.  After that, Yuuki learned how to paint with her friends and to play old school schoolyard games with them.  Yuuki has mastered all 12 of the weekly activity themes John and Cindy do with her and their friends during group visits.  Currently, her favorite activity themes are

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themes are rally, hula hoops, and cavaletti.  She also loves being a reading support dog.  John and Cindy strongly believe that training is for life.  It strengthens the human-canine bond, provides mental stimulation for the dog, and provides different exercise challenges.

                                         Weekly Activity Themes

1.  Obedience                  5.  Puzzles                   9.  Old School Schoolyard Games

2.  Rally                            6.  Scenting                10.  Cavaletti (Cones & Noodles)

3.  Tricks                           7.  Hula Hoops           11.  Brain Games

4.  Shell Games                8.  Tunnels                 12.  Painting with the Pups

 

Yuuki’s journey from a shy puppy to a warm and engaging adult has been so fulfilling.  She has been an astute student of Goose and Gandy, incorporating the best of their characteristics into her own personality.  Team Yuuki’s calling is to those having intellectual and developmental disabilities; and those residing in memory care, 24/7 skilled nursing care, and rehabilitative care facilities.

 

Yuuki is known as the “Yuuki Missile” because of the speed she does cavaletti jumps.  Yuuki means “gentle princess” in Japanese and she certainly is with her friends.  Soba means “noodle” in Japanese and she is named that because she lies across things like a big noodle when she sleeps.  Yuuki perks up her friends whenever she enters a room because they know something exciting and fun is about to happen.
 

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