As many of you may know, training a therapy dog and being a therapy dog doesnt mean your dog is great for every setting and meant to do therapy work in every setting. Mom knew this when we were getting started. She did her research; much of which stated that as a therapy dog team getting started and going on down the road you will find which populations and which settings your dog thrives in and which ones they dont and which ones they are not ready for. For example Mom knows that I wouldnt do so good as a youngster that doesnt realize his size in a setting where there are lots of cords and tubes, such as in a hospital. Mom also knows that while I would love to jump onto beds and snuggle with people, because of my size it isnt likely that even if I were super well trained at it that it would really ever go over well. 80 lbs is a lot to handle. I may not be a beefcake with fat rolls, but my size can be overwhelming and easily overpower someone if Mom doesnt handle me right and pay close attention. As you all know I am still pretty new to doing therapy dog work and I am only a year and 7 months old. I am doing really well with it. Todays visit went well but Mom and I learned that Im probably not the best fit right now for a nursing home/rehab setting like the one we went to today. I wasnt very interested and was very distracted and jumpy at times. I do really well around assistive equipment such as walkers, wheelchairs, crutches, and scooters, but the noises and smells in this facility overwhelmed me a bit. I did good with the people and everyone who wanted to meet me loved me, but I wasnt super interested in them and I kept telling Mom I wanted to leave because I wasnt having fun (I grab the leash when I am trying to tell Mom I am unhappy). So Mom is going to stick with her instinct and continue to try to get me set up working with kids because I love them, individuals with developmental and physical disabilities because Ive proven I thoroughly enjoy Riverfront, that population, and that type of setting, group settings rather than room to room for one on ones, and pursue a mental health setting as well. Mom is working on getting me set up with a Read to Rover type of group - it is called Book Hounds through Touching Moments. So hopefully I can do well with helping kids gain confidence in reading. Mom has been working on training me to stay and lay on my mat while being pet and read to while also incorporating distractions. We are hoping this is something I will thrive in as well because it is a great way for me to start working with kids. I hope you enjoyed this Trooper Pupdate!
Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 20:44:52 +0000
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