Monday, May 05, 2014

therapy dog weekend..

In typical fashion of my life... "when it rains, it pours".. I go months and month (even years and years) without any weekend dog events, and this month I feel like almost every weekend is going to involve some dog event or another. This weekend was all about therapy dogs!!! I packed up Camille, Livy and Danny and headed out. Sadly none of these dogs were a part of this seminar.... Livy is too young to certify and Danny isn't "mine"... but just the same, I was there to help, get the puppies out and just enjoy the time. 
A number of my students and friends were there for the seminar, so, it was fun to be with all of them. Livy got to meet Brian, my friend's Skye Terrier and Danny got to schmooze with some other friends, including another black lab. 
It's been a long time since I had a dog with a therapy certification... and I'm hoping Livy will one day have her's. It was nice to see what things have changed since I was last in it, and what is now expected of dogs who do therapy work. The most interesting thing (to me anyways) are all the different fields of therapy work that dogs can do now. It used to be "just visiting nursing homes" and the like, but now, there are all sorts of fields... one for example.. "reader dogs"... who are used for children to read to. 
For the certification of therapy dog, you must have dog that is well socialized, and has very good - if  not excellent - basic training skills. As you can see, this group certainly had all that going for them....
But, the work goes beyond that... here is Gina (the instructor) and friends, Rick and Scott setting up an exercise that involves a person who might be in a wheel chair.... the dogs must show they are steady and trustworthy around things like wheelchairs and other medical type equipment....
And then, the handlers are given tips in how to properly approach someone. Case in point, Elaine's Brian is a small dog, and someone in a wheelchair might not be able to see or touch him if he were down on the floor, so Elaine decides to pick Brian up and bring him to an easier level....
Melissa on the other hand, has a golden Rangley, who can easily be within reach of the chair. But, (being a golden) he had to be encouraged to "greet" more gently , so Melissa went down on Rangley's level to keep him a bit more "controlled"..... all sorts of good tips like these were taught....
Lunch break gave everyone a chance to sit outside in the sun and go over the mornings lessons and experiences....
And I took advantage of things myself... Danny and I "played" with the wheelchair. He certainly didn't think that this was any big deal.....
And it was nice for him as well.. to meet up with some different dogs.....especially dogs that are well trained and good "examples".....
As the afternoon continued, the handlers got to practice in all sorts of situations... this one here was "how to visit someone who might be confined to a bed"...... 
And to keep the dogs motivated and happy, there where breaks where games were played that weren't just fun, but also tested their obedience skills..... 
Sunday was a review of Saturday's work, and then the certification itself.  It was also a time to ask questions, and share about the possible future therapy dog visits would be. It was fun to watch the certification and very happy to say that all the dogs  (and handlers) passed. I can't wait for Livy to be "old enough" (which is a year of age)... because this is certainly something we will do together....especially since we are already doing some of this type of work, and I think she' going to be a great little dog that will bring a smile to someone's face.