Beau and I received our training at the Paws-Up community partner of Pet Partners Inc. The nice thing about this group of therapy dog handlers is they don’t just say… go and share the love… once you receive your certification. An experienced trainer goes with you on the first few visits so that they can help you navigate all the rules and even idiosyncrasies of each place we visit.
Our first official visit as a Therapy Dog team was to a care center for the elderly. It was a 4 story building, so the first thing that was new to Beau was the elevator. He acted like a pro, although he seemed a little puzzled when the floor “moved.” Our visit was the week after Christmas, so a lot of the residents had “goodies” in their rooms. We never take our Therapy Dog into a room where there is open food. While the dogs are trained to “leave it” on command, it’s not worth the risk. We carry dog treats in our bag so if the residents want to give the dog a treat, we provide one that is healthy and safe for our dog.
In order to be able to visit in a hospital, I had to become a hospital volunteer first. Once I completed that training, and I received my official photo ID badge, I brought Beau in to be evaluated by the volunteer supervisor. She took us on a tour of the hospital, to see how Beau interacted with people and I’m sure, to see if he followed my commands. He did really well, as I knew he would. One humorous thing happened, though. The house we lived in had stairs… and it was one flight straight up to get to the upstairs level. The supervisor was showing us the emergency stairwell and we were going up to the second floor. Beau flew up the stairs as he always did. But when he reached the landing, he abruptly stopped and looked very puzzled. This was the type stairwell that you turned at the landing to go up a second set of stairs to get to the next floor. Beau had never seen that type of stairwell before! Once we navigated it, though, he was a pro from then on! When the supervisor gave the green light for us to visit, she sent us over to HR to have Beau’s photo taken for his ID badge. The people in HR were flabbergasted! They had never been asked to take a photo of a dog (they must have been new, because he wasn’t the first Therapy Dog at that hospital)! Now, Beau hated to have is photo taken, so it took a few tries before we got one that would work. Each time we visited the hospital, I had to attach his hospital ID to his vest.
We did a variety of visits to other places, too.
Undoubtedly my favorite activity with Beau was visiting an elementary school to help students improve their reading skills. I had no part in this video, but it perfectly describes what the R.E.A.D. program is all about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8hB0CKiHT0 I hope you will watch it, Like It, and if you are a Therapy Dog team, consider becoming a R.E.A.D. team! https://therapyanimals.org/read/
Beau was a natural for this program, but I had to take a special course and become certified in order for us to be a R.E.A.D. team. This happened after we were certified as a Therapy Dog team.
We also did some promotional work in Petco.
One thing that was happening in many businesses, particularly dental offices, was a trend for Therapy Dogs to be present in waiting rooms to help reduce the anxiety of the patients. Many other businesses have also joined in, realizing that the presence of the dogs helps reduce stress for a wide variety of employees. Beau and I never had the opportunity to do this sort of work, but he did accompany me to work at the various churches I served.
One of my granddaughters begged me to bring Beau to school for “show and tell.” The principal said the school district had a strict “no animals in the building” policy. So, my granddaughter’s teacher arranged for us to visit on the playground. At the appointed time, she brought the class outdoors so they could meet Beau.
What I was surprised to hear the next year, was another elementary school in the same district started having Therapy Dogs on campus and in the classrooms almost daily. I found out about this because some of my grandchildren attended that school and were delighted to see the dogs, since they already knew what a Therapy Dog is. They called their program D.I.G.S. Dogs in Grade School. For me, this shows that Therapy Dogs can be beneficial in a wide number of settings.
More on that in my next segment: Beau goes to church.
Thanks for continuing to read our story. If you have ever loved and lost a beloved dog, you understand.
Grace Notes 