Therapy Dogs
 

Anyone else doing this with their pups?

The local St. John Ambulance center had a booth at the Pitt Meadows Doggie Dash promoting their Therapy Dog program, so we went to the orientation this week, and just got back from putting Groucho and Dusty through their evaluations... and they passed!

So at some point soon, we'll hopefully be taking them for their first visits to a seniors' home or hospice or youth center or something (we have to decide where we want to go first).

We are going to do this with Oakley once we hear back from St. John Ambulance with regards to getting the evaluation done! Looking forward to getting him out to see people and putting smiles on people's faces!

That and to see there reaction also hehehe

So did Oakley ever finish his evaluation?

We've been going to a seniors' home in Maple Ridge now for a few weeks, 6pm-ish every Tuesday, and our three mini-mutts are a huge hit. They even put posters up announcing the dogs' visit, and there are at least half a dozen people waiting in the lounge for us when we get there. Apparently when the St. John coordinators go in with their dog on the weekend, everyone is still talking about the "three little dogs that came the other day" :)

Groucho:
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._8054901_n.jpg

Dusty:
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._3576370_n.jpg

Daisy:
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._7584727_n.jpg

When I was more heavily involved in animal rescue I used to take bunnies and cats to seniors homes for therapy (I've never been a big dog person). It's a really nice thing to do. Often we don't realize how starved for affection and contact older people are and how a visit from a fuzzy baby can be something these people look forwards to all week.

Yup... especially since so many of the ladies used to have small dogs themselves. Dusty especially (middle pic above) gets attention because he's so damn cute, and when they ask what kind of dog he is, we tell them, he's a Pomeranian and yorkie cross... well that gets them, because a lot of them who had dogs, had yorkies.

Dusty post-grooming:
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._2034129_n.jpg

Finally got our official uniforms!

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-X...gs%2525214.jpg

...

Thats great! Do you know if they do anything like that out in Richmond? I wouldn't volunteering my pooches for a good cause.

Awww your dogs are ADORABLE.

Phil, I'm sure there is, contact St John's ambulance, or call one of the Sr Centers and ask who they use?

Yeah, we do it through SJA, but some places have their own in-house programs as well. A good place to start might be to think of a couple places you'd like to visit, then contact them directly... they should let you know if they do it themselves, or if they work with SJA or another organization.

Pretty much everyone else we've talked to with the local SJA chapter says they same thing: the dogs love it too. If you go along with Cesar's theories, he says most dogs need to work to feel "fulfilled", and ours seem to know that what they're doing is important - they get excited when we put on our SJA shirts and get out their scarves, because they know it's time to "go to work".

We have not been contacted yet from St. John Ambulance! We have applied a few times now with no luck. Oh well.

I think that St. John's has gotten better. I had tried to do it with my Shih tzu years ago and paid my dues but never got a call about a test. When I'd call they'd say they would get back to me.

Depends on the organizers for your local branch... John and Yvonne here in Ridge/Meadows are great; they really like doing and promoting the therapy dog thing and are really excited to help get new people involved.

Wow, what a weekend... we signed up for this because of the booth John & Yvonne ran at the Doggie Dash last fall... so we figured it would be a good idea to help them represent at the Ridge Meadows Home show.

Well... a one-hour shift on Friday turned into two hours and we barely covered half the floor. Another two-hour shift on Sunday and we still didn't get by every booth. Just taking Groucho and Dusty around the floor, and we couldn't get three steps without someone else stopping us wanting to see the dogs and talk about their volunteer work. We handed out a least a dozen info brochures and business cards as well to other people who were interested in signing up their dogs.

Poor Dusty... after an hour at the park Sunday morning, an hour at obedience training, and then a couple hours at the Home Show, he was POOPED. Outside the building, we put his water dish down for him... he started drinking, then laid down and kept drinking... and I'm pretty sure he actually dozed off with his face in the bowl.

So, we're now also officially Code K-9 volunteers at Ridge Meadows Hospital! Did our orientation last weekend, took the dogs to get their pictures done today (for their ID badges)... Sunday we meet with the hospital's Code K-9 coordinator to get a walk-through!

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._7863062_n.jpg

^That's an great photo of your "family". Congrats, what you and your dogs are doing is awesome :)

Anyone else manage to get their dog(s) in with Therapy Dogs? Come join my group on Facebook :) Log In | Facebook

Recent article in the local paper, featuring Buttons and our SJA coordinators, John and Yvonne:

Therapy dogs help children read

http://www.mrtimes.com/7965774.bin

We were supposed to take Groucho and Dusty for the special evaluation for working with kids, but it happened the same weekend we went to Victoria to see Cesar :)

After we get Monty a little better with his easy excitement I'd really like to get him into this. He's in love with everyone, but being 70lbs of pitty puppy, he's not ready for it yet. He's making leaps and bounds lately with his obedience and calmness so hopefully he will be ready sooner than later. It would be nice too since my girlfriend already works at 2 hospitals, and so many of her patients already ask about Monty daily.

SJA doesn't generally take dogs until they're over 1 year anyway... although other organizations may have different requirements. And the hospital themselves may have their own therapy dog program.

He's about 1.5 years now, but he kinda had a bit of a delay on a life of learning, since when we adopted him at about 8 months he didn't even know basic commands.

For anyone in the Ridge Meadows area who's interested, there will be a Therapy Dogs orientation on the evening of March 19th at the SJA offices in Maple Ridge. PM me for details!