pet connection

As I turned into the parking lot of the day care center where Riker and I have been visiting for several years, I could hear his whining increase in volume. Riker loves everyone – his goal in life is to share as much affection with the world as he can – but he really loves kids. A visit to this day care center is the highlight of his week.

As I parked the van, I could see the director walking towards us waving her hands to get my attention. This particular day care center is for kids facing challenges. Some are in the foster care system, some have severe health or emotional challenges, and some have behavioral issues. Riker is popular here with the staff and the kids, but the director doesn’t meet us in the parking lot.

As I leashed Riker and he jumped out of the van, the director said, “Liz, Riker, I’ve been waiting for you.”

As I greeted her, she continued, “We have a new student and we need Riker’s help.” Apparently the little girl we were going to see was abandoned by her mother shortly after birth; perhaps because the little girl, Gracie (her name changed for privacy), is blind and deaf. “Gracie is in a wonderful long term foster home and is getting a lot of therapy. Unfortunately she doesn’t accept change well and doesn’t trust easily.”

As I sighed, the director continued, “I’m hoping Riker will help Gracie relax and perhaps even smile. She’s been coming to us half days all week and I haven’t seen her smile yet. Nor will she move from her chair, play with the other kids, or play with any toys.”

I told the director, “I’m in over my head here. I have no idea how to handle this.”

As she patted my arm, she said, “Just get Riker close to her. I’ll help Gracie. Let’s see what Riker decides to do.”

As we approached, I saw a tiny, five year old girl. Her hair was in cornrows tipped with beads and tiny bells. Her complexion was dark and lovely. Her eyes were closed but she was swinging her feet under her chair so I knew she was awake.

The director approached Gracie and touched her arm. Gracie stopped swinging her feet and froze.

The director told me, “Bring Riker in close, across the front of her so I can put her hand on Riker’s back.” I did that while keeping a firm grip on the coat and skin on the front of Riker’s neck. He’s a kisser and I didn’t want him to frighten her.

The director placed one of Gracie’s hands on Riker’s back. Riker has a luxurious, thick, silky coat. Gracie pulled her hand out of the director’s and began stroking Riker’s coat. Soon both hands were feeling his coat, her fingers working through the thickness of it, and moving all over his back. She was leaning forward in her chair to reach him but still she was showing no facial expressions at all.

Still, her positive reactions must have caused me to relax my hold on Riker because his head swiveled around and he gave Gracie a big wet sloppy kiss across the face. I inhaled sharply and looked at the director, afraid that I had allowed Riker to spoil Gracie’s moment of discovery. But the director was laughing so hard she couldn’t speak and pointed at Gracie.

Gracie was wiping the sloppy kisses off her face but was smiling!  As Riker kissed her again, she began laughing out loud, rocking in her chair as she continued to touch Riker on his back, shoulders, and even his head.

After a few minutes, the director stopped laughing long enough to say, “That’s why I was waiting for Riker!”

Within an hour, Gracie had already walked around the playroom and with a staff member’s help, found her way to the restroom – with Riker by her side, of course. The the two of them went outside and we watched as Gracie explored the playground with Riker by her side. If he moved too far away and she felt alone, she called him back – not by name as she didn’t speak words at all – but by making a sound. He responded to the sound and pushed his nose under her hand.

Soon, a few other children (who had been coached as to how to act around Gracie) were allowed out on the playground. They approached Gracie and Riker, touching Gracie on the arm, petting Riker with her, and making Gracie feel special. Riker paid attention to each of them, too, of course.

Me? I was unnecessary. I was just Riker’s driver. But I also shed a few tears watching my dog do what he does best: making people feel loved and special.

Normally Riker and I visited this day care center once a week. However, we went to see Gracie on a daily basis for a little more than a week so she could settle in. Then we went back to our regular schedule. Gracie is going to face some challenges in her life but she does have people to care for her. Hopefully, Riker helped her in some small way and we’ll continue to visit her as long as we can.

Photo: Riker by Liz Palika

In my blogging series “The Making of a Therapy Dog,” I said I would keep readers updated on Archer’s progress. Well, Archer is having fun!

When we adopted him, Archer had been through three previous homes as he’d been chosen to live the life of a show dog. His breeder had him for a while, then the handler, then the owner of the stud dog. But he turned out to have a couple of faults so the owner of the stud dog asked us if we wanted him.

Unfortunately, going through so many homes in a short period of time was detrimental and Archer’s attitude was, “OK, these people are nice but I won’t get attached because I won’t be here long.” It really took him a few months before he really bonded with us; then he bonded like, well, the strongest glue made.

Once he did bond, his whole attitude changed. Whereas previously he was somber and serious, now he’s happy, silly, and joyful. Everything is fun and he makes me laugh — oh, he makes me laugh!

His therapy dog visits are going very well. When he’s visiting seniors at nursing homes, he’s very gentle and affectionate. With kids he’s happy and gives kisses.

Recently he visited the local Veterans Administration offices and went through two lobbies and numerous offices, giving loves, kisses and “wiggle butts” as only Australian Shepherds can give them! Big, tough former Marines, Army soldiers and Navy sailors got down on their knees to hug this 50-pound dog, all the while their faces are being washed. It does put a lump in your throat.

Archer is also enjoying his trick training. Long before I wrote my book on trick training, “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Dog Tricks,” I’ve been promoting trick training for therapy dogs. Having a therapy dog perform a few tricks is a great ice breaker.  People who may not feel good, may be depressed, anxious or lonely, may smile and even laugh when a dog bows,  shakes hands, balances a treat on each front paw or on his nose.

So far Archer has learned the standards –  shake with right paw, shake with left paw, touch, catch a treat in the air, leave a treat alone, and sneeze. He knows back up and will back all the way across a room when he does it. His “play dead” is hysterical because he lies on the floor on his side — which is great ==  except he holds all four legs straight out as if rigor mortis has set in. Very funny!

Archer is enjoying his trick training so much I’ve had to add a short discussion of it to my family pet training classes. I always talk about trick training to these classes because I encourage people to keep the dog’s mind as busy as his body–  both are important!  Trick training is also great fun and I want people to have fun with their dogs; it makes the bond that much stranger. But that discussion is usually on the last class.

Archer, though, has moved it up several weeks because he has found out he can make people laugh when he does his tricks. Visualize this scene:  People are sitting in chairs in our training yard with their dogs at their feet. My trainers and I are introducing a new exercise or discussing something with the class. Archer, sitting in front of me, is waiting to demonstrate an exercise.

When he feels I’ve talked long enough, he begins offering behaviors  –  tricks. So I may be talking about dogs jumping on people and Archer is sneezing, playing dead, backing away from me –  and the class laughs. He’s taking advantage of the situation; he knows it and I know it. But that laughter is all he needs –  he turns, looks at the class and looks back at me with a huge doggy grin. He knows exactly what he’s done.

I thought about stopping his behavior and may have to later, but right now I’ve been able to turn it into several lessons –  explaining what offering behavior is and means, why it can be great for your training, the fun of trick training, and the fact that training a very smart dog is not always easy!

My thought right now, though, is that I’m going to put his behavior on cue so that I can tell him to do his entire routine when I want him to do it. That way I can have him perform them all at once when I’m ready for it. Then, too,  if I decide later that I don’t want him to show off like this, I can more easily change it.

But meanwhile, Archer is a happy dog and he makes me, and many other people, laugh. What a great life!

The dog that began my therapy dog volunteer work was an Australian Shepherd named Bear. My sister Mary renamed him Care Bear because he was so affectionate. Care Bear had such a loving soul that I felt the need to share that and therapy dog work seemed the perfect outlet.  Care Bear’s career began in 1984 and continued for ten years.

He was followed by several other dogs who were very good therapy dogs. Chocho, a Papillon, made people laugh. Dax, an Australian Shepherd, took her job seriously and gave love just as seriously. Riker, another Aussie,  is just as affectionate as Care Bear was and I semi-jokingly say that he is Care Bear reincarnated.

With the experience of training and handling several therapy dogs, I’ve had fun watching Archer on his first few visits as he learns what his new job is and how to handle himself. His first visit went very well; his second visit was great; and during his third visit this week I realized that I’m going to have another awesome therapy dog.

Archer is very intuitive and is quickly learning what persona to use with different people. I watched him become happy and bouncy with some people; calm and quiet with others; and serious with a few other people. He’s also figured out how to get people to pet him using a variety of techniques. With some people he rests his head on their knees and then stares at them until they pet him. With a few other people he stands sideways to the wheelchair and leans close. When people are unresponsive he has nosed a hand until the hand is resting on top of his head. And once during this week’s visit, I saw him play bow (head and forequarters low and hips high) and bounce in front of a man in a wheelchair until the man laughed and agreed to pet Archer.

So far, though, Archer is only visited two different facilities. One is a skilled nursing facility and the other is a day care center for seniors. After a few more visits, I’ll begin taking him to other types of facilities so I can see where he really feels comfortable.

Riker, my ten year old Australian Shepherd, visits with kids at an after school day care center for kids. He has a tendency to be a ‘bull in a china shop’ so is too rough for senior citizens or very young kids, but he does great with grade school age kids. He can take their rough play yet will also snuggle and cuddle if one child needs that. He will lie quietly next to a child if someone wants to practice their reading skills by reading to him. But then he’s always more than happy to play ball.

Bashir, my now five year old Aussie, began his therapy dog career when he was young but then I stopped because he didn’t appear to enjoy it. I won’t force a dog to do this work so stopped bringing him on visits. However, this past April a good friend of mine died of cancer and Bashir and I made a last visit to her (that post is the beginning of this series). Bashir made it very clear that he was grown up now and very willing and eager to do therapy dog work so we’ve resumed. I have found that he’s particularly attracted to older people so we’ll be visiting that population; probably at retirement or nursing facilities.

Who knows where Archer’s talents will lead him? I don’t know, and it will be an adventure to watch him grow up. He is obviously very good with senior citizens. He likes kids but I’m not sure how well he can control himself right now if kids get rowdy. That’s something we’ll have to discover. Archer does like to be the center of attention so I’m not sure he would be happy to lie still next to a reading child. Our group visits a physical therapy health center where the dogs take an active part in physical therapy and I think Archer might enjoy that so we’ll check that out.

This is the last of the weekly posts about Archer’s new therapy dog career, but I will post occasionally, especially if something exciting or different happens.  The adventure continues!

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.

I have come to the conclusion that Archer is pretty much bomb-proof.

He was well-socialized before we adopted him at five months of age, and we continued his socialization after that. But after his first week of therapy dog class, Paul and I concentrated on more socialization. In the past week, Archer went to the hardware store twice, the garden center twice and the coffee shop several times. Plus we walked along the beach, walked around Oceanside Harbor and went to the park over Memorial Day weekend. Plus, the artillery was booming at Camp Pendleton all weekend. So when I say he’s bomb-proof, I mean that!

The second week of therapy dog class began with a review of the basic obedience commands needed for the therapy dog evaluation. We practiced sit, down, stay, heel and come. Commands didn’t need to be as perfect as they would need to be for obedience competition, but the dog has to demonstrate that he will do them willingly. Archer doesn’t have any problems with the basic commands so we were fine with that exercise.

The next exercise consisted of practicing social skills. An instructor walked up to each potential therapy dog and owner, and shook hands with the owner, initiating conversation, “Hi, my name is Kate. How are you?” After a few minutes of talk, Kate then asked if she could pet the dog. Although this is very similar to the Canine Good Citizen exercise, the petting is much more thorough. Kate touched all four paws, both ears, rubbed her hands over the dog’s head, and on the body. The idea of the exercise is to make sure the dog will not jump up when the owner is greeted and that the dog is comfortable being touched all over.

Although several of the dogs disliked having their paws touched (and will need to work on that), Archer’s only problem was minor — he got a couple of good licks in to Kate while she was handling him. Kisses are fine but not too many as some people he will visit in the future may not like sloppy doggy kisses.

The instructors then brought out two wheelchairs, a couple of walkers, some canes, crutches and noise-makers. The noise makers included a cane of compressed air that hissed. They then walked the medical equipment around to each dog, rattled the equipment, tipped it over, and shook it. The noise makers were then used. The dogs were encouraged to investigate but were not allowed to show fear or panic. As I said, Archer is bomb-proof.

A friend of ours at Kindred Spirits, Buddy, came in to talk to the class. Buddy is in a powered wheelchair and talked to the class about wheelchair etiquette. He explained that to a person in a chair, especially someone who has been in a chair for a long time, the chair is an extension of themselves. Leaning on the chair, sitting on the armrest, or other wise invading the person’s space is rude. He said that most people also appreciate it when you approach someone in a chair, to do so from the sides or front. Talking to someone in a chair from the rear is very uncomfortable for most people. He said it’s not necessary to lower yourself to the same height to talk to someone in a chair — people in a chair are used to looking up — but if you can sit in a chair near them, that is obviously more comfortable.

Buddy also gave us some pointers about visiting with the dogs. He said that’s it’s always a good idea to ask the person in the chair if their brake is on before approaching with the dog. That will make sure no doggy toes get run over. He also said to never place a dog in the person’s lap (or allow a dog to place his paws in the lap) without asking permission. Many people have fragile skin, poor muscle control, little in the way of muscles or even fragile bones.  Instead, he said, place the small dog in a chair next to the wheelchair, hold the tiny dog, or just have the larger dog stand next to the wheelchair.

After thanking Buddy for his tips, the trainers introduced what Kindred Spirits’ calls the “Go say hi” command. When visiting people, the people being visited want to feel like the dog wants to see them. And that’s what therapy dog work is all about. Yet at the same time, the dog must be under control. If dog owners tell their dog, “Sweetie, stand. Stay.” That sounds (to the person being visited) as if the dog is being forced to do this.

To make sure the people being visited are comfortable with what the dogs are doing, Kindred Spirits teaches a command called, “Go say hi,” which really means, “Put yourself close to the person, stand, and stay.” So I as I walked Archer up to the side of a wheelchair, I told him, “Go say hi!” as I positioned him next to the chair. He was standing parrallel to the chair, with his head just forward of the person’s knee. This made his back easily reached and protected his head from too much thumping, rough petting, or pokes in the eye. As he stood nicely I praised him, “Good to go say hi!” We practiced this on both sides of the chair.

After the entire class got to practice this with the wheelchairs and walkers, we were told that our homework this week was to teach and practice, “Go say hi!” We could practice it with someone sitting in a dining room chair or even the recliner. The key was teaching the dog to stand and stay right next to the chair.

After the second week of class, I’m stoked. Archer is bright, quick, friendly and well-socialized. His tongue is a bit too quick with the sloppy kisses but that’s minor. But I also know there is no such thing as a perfect dog; I’m waiting for the shoe to drop! We’ll see what happens next week.

Image: Kate, a Kindred Spirits intructor, examines therapy dog in training Sailor while owner Mary Moore looks on.