pet connection

The Love on a Leash therapy dog chapter in northern San Diego county visits a wide variety of facilities and people. Groups of people and their dogs visit skilled nursing facilities, retirement homes, assisted living places, special education classrooms, day care centers, and much more. Many of the dogs are involved in reading programs for kids at local libraries and schools, and in dog bite prevention programs.

Since the dogs visit such a variety of people in different situations, Kindred Spirit Dog Training’s therapy dog classes try to duplicate a number of the situations a dog might run into on a visit. Not only does this get the dog used to things happening, but the owner can also learn to anticipate potential problems. So for Archer’s third week of therapy dog class, Archer and I had some interesting experiences.

Cayla Horn, one of Kindred Spirit’s assistant trainers, was standing with a walker as Archer and I walked up to her. I said, “Hi! I’m LIz and this is my Australian Shepherd, Archer. Would you like to visit with him?” Cayla said, “Sure,” and reached down to pet him. As she reached, she fell, knocking her walker over and into Archer. Without hesitation, I asked Archer to lie down and stay, and I put a hand on Cayla, “Don’t get up, honey. I’ll call for help” And then in a louder voice I called, “Help! We need help here!” This exercise shows the owners how important those obedience exercises are. After all, if someone falls, we certainly don’t want the dog to be jumping all over the person! Plus, it teaches the owner how to handle that specific situation.

The next training section involved people with different physical disabilities. Kate walked with a very unsteady gait, moving her cane erratically. I encouraged Archer to stay out of her way and to avoid her cane, but yet encouraged him to go up to her for petting when she was standing still. He was fine with that and showed no reservations about her erratic movements. A couple of the other dogs in class had to be encouraged to move close to her, though, and one Labrador Retriever thought the waving cane might be a toy and grabbed it.

Mary, another trainer, was in a wheelchair and pretended her hands were very shaky and hard to control. She patted the dogs on the head harder than they were used to and when petting the dogs, made her hands shaky and erractic. Although initially most of the dogs were a little hesitant when handled roughly, they accepted it well. Archer was fine and pushed his nose under her hand for more petting.

Debra, an assistant trainer, was also in a wheelchair and pretended she was confused and grumpy. When asked if she wanted to visit with the dogs sometimes she would say yes and other times she would yell at the handler – saying things like, “Dogs belong outside! Get that dog out of here!”

Maggie, another assistant trainer, was friendly but sometimes too friendly. She would grab the dog’s leash and hold on tight. Or she would hug the dogs, also too tightly.

Kate Abbott, the President of the Board for Love on a Leash, said, “In doing these exercises, we certainly don’t want anyone to think that we’re making fun of people. Instead, we’re preparing both dogs and handlers for their future volunteer work. If both people and dogs experience these situations in a controlled environment such as this – a training class – we can make sure they can handle these situations better in real life.” She emphasized that all of the scenarios that were being portrayed had actually happened – often more than once – during therapy dog visits.

In addition, as each dog visited with the trainer, the trainer would coach the owner. For example, when Maggie grabbed Amber, a Golden Retriever’s leash, Maggie told Amber’s owner, “Don’t try to take the leash away from me. Instead, unhook Amber’s leash, walk her a couple of steps away and have her sit stay. ” Maggie then explained that the leash is valuable when it’s hooked up to a dog. When the leash is no longer attached to a dog, the person will probably drop it. If the person doesn’t drop it, then ask a caregiver for help getting the leash back. Maggie stressed that it’s important to never get into a confrontation with the person being visited.

Mary also taught the class a very valuable lesson, “Never take your eyes off your dog!” The owner of a toy poodle asked if Mary would like to visit with her dog and Mary said yes and to please put the dog on her lap. Then, as Mary was petting the dog, the owner turned away to talk to someone. When she looked back to Mary and her dog, they were already quite a ways away, Mary making that wheelchair go as fast as she could with the toy poodle still on her lap!

These exercises were very effective. I found that Archer was fine doing a down stay when Cayla fell. He didn’t want to do the down stay; I’m sure he wanted to go see if she was okay (or to give her sloppy kisses) but when asked, he did hold his stay. He was fine with shaky hands, and was okay when I unhooked his leash and asked him to sit and stay until I got his leash back.

However, he was not at all happy when Debra yelled and told him to go away. His ears went back, he plastered himself up against me, and his body language showed his distress. So immediately I distracted him, turned him away, asked him to watch me, and praised him enthusiastically when he did. I wanted to turn the potentially negative learning experience into a more positive one.

The third week of therapy dog class was very interesting. Although I’ve been doing therapy dog work for more than twenty years with many dogs, each dog is an individual and reacts in a different way. After watching Archer become upset with the angry person, I realize I’m going to have to watch for that. Archer is a happy extrovert but obviously is a little sensitive to anger. But since I know that now, I can help him when we run into those situations.

Image: Archer gets some attention from Adam, a visitor to Kindred Spirits.