Therapy Dog & CGC

I know what you mean -- I fear this with our "regulars" at Jessie's nursing home. She has become very attached to several of the people, and so have I -- we're even making them Christmas presents (I found a bunch of different dog-patterned fleece material, and we're making the no-sew blankets to help them stay warm in the winter -- well, actually, I'm making them, Jessie is just stomping on them to give them character!). But I do think about this from time to time.

But the upside is seeing the difference your dog makes, which is incredible. Last week, we were outside playing ball with Jessie's regulars, and a couple and their daughter brought their father out, who was completely non responsive to them (and everything else), and had been for several months. They, however, were fascinated by Jessie's ball playing with the other residents, and they kept trying to get their father to look at the dog, since apparently he'd always had big shepherd-y dogs his whole life.

So Jessie is kind of noticing this, and finally she puts the dog in the guy's lap. He sorta grasps it in his hand, but doesn't do anything and eventually lets go of it, so Jessie goes and nudges it up to his hand again, barks at him once in her most stern "Throw it for me!" voice, and...he threw the ball for her!! After that, she returned it to his lap a bunch of times, and he threw it more than half a dozen times and even smiled at her! The family told me this was the first time they've seen him react to or respond to anything in three months.

And THAT is why I do it.

Well, that, and I feel Jessie has a responsiblity to give back, since she's worked her way up from kill shelter to a very nice life! : )

What I'm working toward now is becoming a TDI examiner so I can give the test out here and get more therapy dogs working the local hospitals, nursing homes and libraries. Another two months before I can apply, but I'm really hoping they approve me, I really love doing this, and enjoy expanding what therapy dogs can do. In fact, now I'm putting on a 30 minute "show" at the nursing home's "Autumn Fair" on September 23rd. I have no idea what I'm doing with this show, since I just found out about it, and honestly, I'm scared out of my wits about how I'm going to fill 30 minutes (major stage fright!), but they expect several hundred people from the community, and I thought it was a great opportunity to spread the word about therapy dogs. I've got Jessie working on her tricks now, hopefully I can get six other dogs and do some different exercises and stuff. We shall see.

But yeah, as great as it is, it can also be tough emotionally. Hopefully, the pay off outweighs the pain of the losses.

Jan

To Jessiesgirl, I definatly agree that the good out weighs the bad. There is a lady at the home I go to that never talked to anyone. I went for several weeks and she never showed any interest in my dog, Sarah.Then one day I saw her looking at us and I said Hi to her and she just smiled at me. So I asked her if she wanted to hold the dog and she did not saym anything but she smiled at me. So I put Sarah in her lap and she reach out and held on to her. She stroked her and said "soft.soft" That was it for that day. Then on next visists she started talking to Sarah. Last week she talked to one of the other patients. She was holding Sarah and asked the other lady if she wanted to hold her, then she just started talking away. She still does not respond if you talk to her but what a difference a little dog made. I love going and it funny that you mentioned that you would like to be a tester/evaluator because I have been thinking about that too. My big problem is time,I work 6 days a week between 2 jobs. I can't think of anything that I would enjoy more that therapy dog work.I tell Sarah on Tuesday afternoon that she is going to see her ladies and she gets so excited.(there are some men there, but they prefer the big golden retrieve that comes on a different day, the ladies like the little dogs they can cuddle on their laps.I think it is great that the nursing home has to different dogs, big and little, something for everyone. Hope to hear from you soon love talking therapy.
 
 

but what a difference a little dog made.

Yes -- exactly!! It's amazing, isn't it? I wish I had more little dogs by me -- Jess is a hundred pounds, so some of the people are afraid of her, and I would love to be able to bring some small dogs, too. But so far, the people I've gotten involved to go with me also have big dogs. I thought if I were an examiner, I'd be able to get more people into it and then we would have more dogs to choose from in all different sizes.

I know what you mean about the time thing -- it's really hard when you already work long hours. And six days a week must be brutal -- I do five, with a lot of business travel, and I'm perpetually tired. But I really try to make Jessie's visit a top priority because I know people look forward to it so much. That's tough when I travel on business, so sometimes I have to swap out days to make it work, but so far, we've been good about it.

I've also found that when I leave, they beg me to come back during the week and not wait til Saturday to come back. Of course half of them probably don't know what day it is anyway, but I still feel so bad, because I always think, what if that were me and I couldn't have any dog contact except once a week? How horrible would that be? So sometimes I make an extra trip during the week after work, though it's really tight -- I have to get in after dinner, but before they close at 8. It's not so bad in the summer when it's still light, but I'm going to have more trouble in the winter.

Have you ever done any kind of dog show for them? I'm only asking because I could use some suggestions -- they are having their Autumn Fair on September 23rd, an all day affair for the families of the residents an d the community with bake offs, singers, dancers, raffles, all kinds of stuff, and I've been asked to do a half hour show of some sort. They have a wooden platform "stage" set up in the parking lot where all the festivities will take place, and they get a few hundred people, and I have no idea what I'm going to do for 30 minutes. So far I have 3 dogs committed -- hoping to get six to eight -- and I'm thinking maybe a mini obedience demo, followed by introducing each dog and having each dog do some tricks (one of our dogs can do the electric slide, which would be soooo cool!). But I'm not sure this could fill half an hour. Any suggestions? Have you done anything like this?

I did want to do a Christmas show for them with dogs, but that would give me three months to plan -- this, I have three weeks, and I'll be in Vermont at dog camp until the 9th. Fortunately, they have a tricks class there, so I'll be able to hopefully have Jess learn some new tricks.

In any case, suggestions cheerfully welcomed -- I love to find other therapy dog people!!

Jan

I also have been thinking of some sort of a show to put on. My poodle is obediece trained so I might use him to do a little show, also I have friends who show their dogs in agility and they might be able to do somehting. There was a man in therapy training with me who had a Mastiff, a real gentle giant, he could just bring her and that would be something!How many of my ladies have seen a dog big enough for a saddle.One thing I was thinking of is to contact some people who use assistance dogs and maybe they could put on a demostration. I am not sure how to find these people, but I will ask my trainer. You could also do more than just dogs, maybe a craft show, most of these nursing homes have crafts for  the people and maybe they would like to show off what they made. I also thought of a little picnic, but it is hard when the people probably have so vaired diet restrictions. But you could ask ahead of time to see what they could eat. I am sure the food is good where I go but I can tell that the ladies would like something different once in a while. I have quite a bit of time to think up more stuff as it is still way too hot here do anythimg outside(I live in Phoenix, Arizona)I would love some ideas from you too.

   I am worried about my poodle's career as a therapy dog. He was born with no optic nerve in is left eye, so has been blind since birth in that eye. It has not bothered him much except when I tried to do agiilty, he fell off the dog walk, because of depth perception problems. But now he is 9 years old and getting cataracts. I can tell that his good eye is affected. I am going to my regular vet to see how bad it is and then I will have to decide if I am going to have surgery done. He does not work as much as my puff, mostly bcause I work so much it is hard to fine time to do another schedule, also I do not have wash and wear dogs, they both require grooming and must be clean before each visit.Today is Sarah's day to go to the nursing home so I was up at 4 and bathing her by 5 and back home by 6. I take her to the grooming shop I work at and it is easier to do her  early in the morning when no one esle is there, no interuptions. Then at 7 I was at my desk working my other job.I hope he Tyler ( my poodle) can continute to be a therapy dog for a little while longer, I need to get him back to the preschool he went to a while back, they all loved him and he seemed  to really enjoy himself.

These stories are incredible to hear!
 
I contacted the seemingly only local place that does their own training for therapy dogs and no one has responded. I called the first time, left my name and number with the receptionist -heard nothing back (it's been like a month now). Called a second time, mentioned my first hadn't been responded too, so wanted to be sure I wasn't forgotten/acknowledged they're busy, so got to leave a voicemail on the "person to talk to's" answering machine, and still never heard anything back?
 
I don't want to be annoying, but I just assumed more of these dogs would be needed, expecially in our area!
 
...maybe I'll try again in the future, or see if there are any other organizations that do it. I do have a 3 1/2 yr old golden who would love the extra attention -like he needs it!

I love hearing about therapy dogs!
 
I have a 9 month old Cavalier spaniel that I would love to do therapy work with in the future. She's pretty small, will probably mature to around 12 pounds, and is very naturally gentle and just loves getting adored and sitting on laps. We're on our third obedience class, and we'll probably be doing CGC in the spring (she needs to be year old to test, and the next class that starts when she'll be old enough meets at a time we can't make it, so we'll just wait until after the holidays). Our training place offers a 7 week course to prepare for the CGC and the last class is the examination.
 
I'm trying to learn where to go from there. What age were your dogs when they started visiting? She'll probably be about 1 1/2 after we finish CGC. There's a training place that does a therapy dog class, but it's over an hour away from my house and I don't think I can do that with my work schedule. How do you go about getting licensed without a class? Thanks!