Any other therapy dogs in here?

[Soundy]

St. John Ambulance had a booth set up at the Doggie Dash last fall (local fun-run event), so we signed up our three little monsters... they finished their certification in December and we've been visiting a seniors' home with them weekly ever since... needless to say, they're all quite the hit, and there's a regular group that gathers in the lounge after dinner every Tuesday waiting for us

If anyone's looking for a volunteer opportunity that doesn't take a lot of time and gives your dog something constructive to do (as Cesar would say, a working dog is a happy dog), I highly recommend looking into a therapy dog program, either through SJA or whatever other local outfit.

We get our official shirts and kerchiefs for the pups this weekend; I'll post some pics with everyone all decked out once we have them!

BTW, if you haven't seen it, the site has an article on the topic: http://www.pets.ca/dogs/articles/the...anine-therapy/

[AnneCS]

That's great! Congratulations! I would have loved to do something like that with my two, but alas, I think they're too high strung.

[Soundy]

Try contacting your local SJA about orientation and evaluations... it's actually surprising how many dogs excel at this. The evaluations are actually only half about the dogs themselves (mainly to see how they deal with certain circumstances), and half about the handlers and how they work with the dogs. There were a couple at Dusty & Groucho's evaluation that I'd call "high strung" as well, but they handled all the situations presented quite well.

All it costs is a $20 signup fee, and a few hours of your time... plus, having something constructive to do may be what your guys need to mellow them out a bit! Worst case, you find out what areas of behavior you need to work on, and try again later. As they said in our classes, "nobody fails, but not everyone will pass today". As it was, only one dog didn't make it through, because he growled at the evaluator.

[Melinda]

Brina isn't certified but she visits the nursing home where I volunteer at least once a month, and if I don't, then they ask for her, she's 6 yrs old (almost) and has been visiting them since she was 8 weeks , she enjoys it almost as much as they do.

[Soundy]

Nice! Of course, volunteering there yourself gives you (and her) an in We had to get criminal record checks done for SJA, and some of the sites want us to have our own vaccinations up to date too.


The local SJA coordinators take their dog into this same nursing home on Saturdays, have been for years... after our first visit, they said the next time they were in, everyone kept talking about the "three little dogs that came to visit"

[Etown_Chick]

I've been talking with one of our dog park visitors who teaches autistic kids at the local jr high. Scruffy is fantastic with the autistic kids who visit the park with him...it's got me thinking.Just not sure how to go about doing it. Might also force me to do a bit more training on the "listen to mom and quit being an idiot" skills. He's too feisty to be a senior's dog, but there might be other things he can do.
THx for getting me thinking, Soundy

[Soundy]

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

http://www.mrtimes.com/Therapy+dogs+...565/story.html

[Soundy]

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!