My beloved Savannah got kicked out of her therapy dog class last week.

Let me rephrase that in more congenial terms: It was gently suggested by our wonderfully diplomatic instructor that Savannah might want to abandon attempts to study toward passing a therapy dog exam in the coming months, and consider taking on the training at some future point in her young life.

Her housemate Rikki was welcome to continue. But I couldn't see taking Rikki to class (held at a church in far west Little Rock) and leaving Savannah at home to wonder what she'd done wrong to be abandoned. Not that she would, if she was well stocked with a supply of chews and passers-by to bark at.

Still, now I know how parents feel when one of their children, who they are convinced is beyond exceptional, learns from experienced educators that the child is not all that.

Like the lyrics to "The Acid Queen" by the Who explain:

If your child ain't all he should be now

This girl could put him right

I'll show him what he could be now

Just give me one night.

Savannah is smart, affectionate, enthusiastic, a fan of all humans, athletic, lively, prone........

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