Therapy dogs

[skunkstripe]

Sicne I do this regularly I thought the rest of you might enjoy a post and a couple of pictures. Both of my dogs are therapy dogs.
Zircon was the first, and there is a pic of him the day he passed the canine good citizen test and therapy dog evaluation. That is the first step. The canine good citizen means that he behaves himself nicely, is not agressive or fearful etc. The therapy dog evaluation involves exposing the dog to loud noises, wheelchairs etc, anything that you might run across in a hospital or nursing home. Zircon visits an adult daycare facility once a month.
Sophia got her qualification in February, and I almost wasn't sure she would make it. She is not quite as 'saintly' as Zircon, but on the other hand she loves being petted and doesn't mind little kids swatting her in the face. (Zirc does not care for it, not that he would react aggressively, he would just try to slink away). She and I will be visiting a nursing home this Saturday, and I am a little apprehensive. I am not very good about being in hospitals, and when she get her certification, they said she would be good in the Alzheimer ward because she is so good about being petted roughly. So here are two pics of my little girl with her official red bandana.

[nancy]

What lovely dogs and what a worthwhile thing you are doing .Good luck on Sat. I'm sure you will be fine. Look forward to hearing how things go. Regards Nancy.

[Sara]

Wow, I bet training therapy dogs is a very rewarding experience! It looks like a lot of fun, not just helping those in the hospital, but getting to show off a well-behaved dog!

[lassie]

Good for you. id love to have seen the dogs "working".

When i worked in a day centre for the elderley, one of mine came to work with me. Its amazing how the clients used to perk up when she was there.

[retriever crazy]

i have a golden retriever who loves people and would make a great therapy dog. i just want to wait til Lilly is older then she will be more calmer. she is a very happy and friendly dog.she great with kids and everyone.

[skunkstripe]

Well we have done some rounds and the dogs are better at it than I am.

I took Sophia to a large nursing home where the residents are fairly poor. She loved it, since she got petted by about 80 people. But boy, when humans get to be THAT old some things get pretty rough. The hardest moment was when I went into a room and saw a woman who looked like what I might look like at age 90 and if I weighed 65 lbs. She held out here hand to me and the nurse said I reminded her of a relative. She wanted to pet ME, not the dog. So what do you do, you go over to the bed and let the old woman stroke you.

I got home and was planning to also do a visit at a home that is smaller and where the clients are wealthier. DH told me that Zircon had cried when I left with Sophia, leaving him at home, so I thought what the heck, I'll take BOTH of them. They were a BIG HIT. My two Therapy dogs were a sort of a tag team. Zircon will go over to someone who has their hand outstretched if I use the command "Go say hi". This is useful for people who are bedrinned or in wheelchairs since they cannot come to him. Sophia does not understand that command yet. But she DOES understand that Zircie is being petted and she wants in on the action. So she noses him out of the way and he slinks off. The result is that they both do a decent job of cheering up the residents.
And they are very grateful, they often say how thankful they are that someone brings in a dog to pet.
All I can say is when I get to the state where I am in a nursing home, I hope there are dogs to cheer me up once in a while.

[Jake2006]

Hi,

Your dogs are great! What a wonderful and rewarding job.

I work with disabled and deaf people and I am always totally amazed at the empathy and intelligence the therapy/dogs for blind/hearing dogs etc have. Its always a temptation to pet them but of course they are working.

Its always sad when anyone needs to go into permanent care and cannot take their pet with them. I think that there are one or two places that allow people to have pets but they are few and far between.

Carole & Jake

[LuckyLincoln]

That is amazing!! My dog is also kind and absolutely loves people. He's got a bit too much energy and needs a little bit more discipline to be a therapy dog just yet though!:)

[skunkstripe]

HI folks,
I did it again today. Took both dogs and my two stepdaughters to the closer, "nicer" home.
I find it amazing how sometimes my little stinker will pick a human seemingly at random and go up to him/her. And then the nurse or activities director will tell me that that particular person had just suffered some kind of loss.
They say that 'dogs know'. Maybe they really do?