Whistler passed the therapy dog certification! :)

[reanne]

I decided not to go with St John Ambulance because their assessments don't happen very often, and the next one is when I'll be gone away on a surf trip. so I went with a different therapy group.

He had his testing on Friday afternoon. We had to go to a vet we haven't seen before, and it took an hour. The vet did so many things to test him! I mean I knew there would be a lot, I just had no idea what it would entail. One of the things was dropping a stainless steel surgical tray on the floor (which he warned me he was doing)...it really startled me a lot, and I think Whistler just glanced at it and that was it haha!

After the testing, the vet said "Well, Whistler is BOMB PROOF and he really SHOULD participate in providing pet therapy!" He said Whistler is very well trained, well adjusted, happy, tolerant, and confident! This was SO gratifying to me! It is especially amazing because when I first adopted him from rescue, he was terrified of EVERYTHING and had some fear aggression. Just for a regular exam at the vet, he used to have to be muzzled! And he wasn't even phased by a single thing at the testing on Friday! I am so proud of him

[Love4himies]

Yay, you must be so darn proud.

[Longblades]

Congratulations.

I didn't know Vet's did the testing. Here it's done by a fellow TDI member and is very similar to the CGN test. We didn't do it after all because with TDI we would be assigned a "client" and have to keep a weekly appointment and at this stage of my life, with elderly family, it just wasn't going to work.

TDI would cover us with insurance and St. John's Ambulance used to but no longer does. Or did, this is past tense for us. But does your group have insurance for you? The lady who was to be my tester had some stories to tell. I'd sure be wanting the insurance coverage.

*Note: It was a year ago and now I can't find the TDI link to the people I was going to go with so perhaps my memory is wrong on that. Maybe it was not TDI. But it was definitely not SJA. Just in case that's important to anybody.

[hazelrunpack]

Congratulations to both of you, reanne! Whistler couldn't have done it without you!

Now we need celebratory pics.

[marko]

That's great news reanne! congrats!

[LilMac]

Excellent news!! Congrats to you and Whistler!

[reanne]

Thanks! I am very proud
The testing is quite a bit more intensive than the CGN. First we were in an open area and he was on leash and they looked at how accepting he was of strangers coming in, a couple people approaching him. Then in the exam room he was off leash and I'm not paying attention to him. The vet comes in, bangs the door shut, approaches in a friendly manner. Pets the dog everywhere, picks up all the feet, lifts the tail. Has him sit and then lay down. Puts him right on his back, touches him everywhere. Rubs the ears and then pulls them a bit, pulls the tail, pinches between the toes, to see how they react to pain (so they know if someone in a facility steps on him by accident or pulls an ear, they wnat to make sure he's not going to snap/snarl/growl, but instead will cry and pull away). Throw a ball, let him play with it, take it away, do that a couple times. Give a treat to see how he takes it, then take away food and see how he reacts. Drop the noisy surgical tray on the floor. Get the dog's attention looking at you, then wave the hands all around, then move the hands quickly toward the dogs face, then a fist toward the face. Then walk around the facility without the owner, busy areas, lots of people, etc, dropping things on the ground, knocking things off the counter, dropping a few things on him to see how he reacts. That was most of it, I might be forgetting a few things.

I'm not sure if there's insurance, I assumed there was. The society has been doing animal therapy for about as long as I've been alive. I will find out though, thanks for the prompting to ask!

[reanne]

Here is a picture of Whistler from a backpacking trip we did in August. He is semi-retired from backpacking and mountain biking now because of his bad knee.

Here is a link to an album with a few really cool pictures of him
http://reanne.pinkbike.com/album/Whistler-the-dog/
He also surfed in his younger days
http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/1850989/

[hazelrunpack]

Loved the shot of him in the bicycle glasses!

And congrats on him passing that test!!! Holy catz! I'm pretty sure all of the Pack would fail with flying colors...right about the time the tray crashed to the floor. Whistler must have nerves of steel to go with his great good looks.

[reanne]

Haha thanks! He is a pretty tolerant boy! I am constantly amazed by him, especially considering the terrible start he had in life! LOL I am pretty sure that I would have failed the test too hahaha. Whistler barely even blinked during it LOL After the whole big test, while the vet and I were talking and filling out the paper work, Whistler just layed on the floor and relaxed. I can't wait until my miss nervous Nahla is this well recovered too

[Love4himies]

hahahaha, love those bike glasses.

[Sylvie]

Congratulations to both of you That is quite an accomplishment.

[rainbow]

LOL ....I loved Whistler in his bicycle glasses too.

And, the shot of him surf boarding was awesome.

Congrats to you both for the certification ....Whistler sounds like one dude.

[reanne]

Haha thank you! He is pretty rad!

[growler~GateKeeper]

Congrats on the certification

Do you have any plans for hospice/hospital/nursing home/elementary school etc visits?

[reanne]

Thanks!
No plans yet; when I worked in a residential care facility I used to bring him there for visits on my days off sometimes and that was really great. I spoke with the coordinator of the therapy group this morning and we'll set up a meeting to get his bandanna, ID, etc. I am SUPER broke right now and don't have the $20 for those materials, so as soon as I do, we'll get them and organize some visits. I'd like to do visit a combination of all of the facilities, because Whistler loves people of all ages. There's a really neat program I think it's called Paws and Tails, where kids who are learning to read, read to the therapy pets. Because of my all over the place schedule though, I'm not sure if we can do that program. I'll find out when I go in for our little orientation and pick up his stuff!
(I know, the $20 doesn't seem like a lot, but I have a pretty tight budget so it just doesn't fit in right now, soon though). I'm pretty excited!

[hazelrunpack]

I know of two setters in CO who work in the reading program for kids. It must be very rewarding and the dogs and kids love it.

When you finally get the vest, we for sure need some pics of Whistler modeling it!

[reanne]

Yeah I think the reading program would be great. I also volunteer for Surfrider and am going to start doing speaking in classrooms (we're working on the Rise Above Plastics campaign right now). So, with Whistler being a therapy dog I think I can work him into that as well, in a way that can help engage the kids a bit more. After all, Whistler does help at the beach cleanups! Since he is retired from the extreme sports adventure life now, I might do something like putting stuff in his backpack to bring into classrooms to show the kids (examples of stuff that we find on the beach during cleanups).

I will definitely post pictures! They get a bandanna, and therapy dog ID. I think it's a bright blue bandanna so that will look nice, especially since his collar is the silverfoot waves pattern Haha a west coast dog through and through!

Originally Posted by hazelrunpack

I know of two setters in CO who work in the reading program for kids. It must be very rewarding and the dogs and kids love it.

When you finally get the vest, we for sure need some pics of Whistler modeling it!

[mummummum]

Well done reanne and Whistler! And what a superb "adoption tale" that is.

[luckypenny]

Well, it's no wonder Whistler passed the test without a hitch, look at all you've done with him . Love all his photos but the one of him reading the magazine is my favorite . How old was he when you adopted him, reanne? I love happy adoption stories .

[reanne]

Thanks everyone!
Whistler was 14mos when I adopted him, so still pretty young. He was in rough shape! He was in foster care for a bit when he came into rescue so they did a great job to start his recovery. It is still amazing to me right now to think of the scared, skinny adolescent I adopted and how far he has come!

[Soundy]

Late to the thread, but congrats to you and Whistler, and welcome to the therapy dog family

That's a gorgeous pic of him above, too!

[reanne]

Thanks! If you look at the links I posted there are a few fun pics as well. He is such a great guy!

[Melinda]

way to go...my he looks like my Brina.

[reanne]

Thank you