I hear this question often. I respond: “They are here for you.”

Most of the people we visit don’t know or care much about the training and processes we go through to prepare our dogs to become registered with a therapy dog organization. They just want to touch, pet, and learn about their new furry friends.

“How old? - What breed? - Does he do tricks? - Can she get on the bed with me?”

That’s as it should be; we are there to distract from pain, discomfort, problems, sadness. We are there to lighten the moment, elicit smiles, soften a hard day.

Some of my favorite comments have included: “Your visit has made my day better,” “I forgot about my hip pain while you were visiting,” “Grandad has not looked this happy since he arrived at the hospital a week ago,” and “I needed this.”

But make no mistake - the privilege of this joyful moment is only earned by hours of training, learning, preparation, and responsible actions. And each of us must not only adhere to those responsibilities ourselves, but we need to educate others who wish to join us. Without careful consideration and work, the privileges of helping people in need could be compromised.

For example, there is a small, well-meaning part of the population who believes the sweet, couch-potato dog (or cat, or llama, donkey, etc.) who is a happy creature at home is somehow (without practice) suited to be taken to new locations, with new sights, sounds, and smells, and presented for hugging, petting, and interactions with multiple people they have never met before. Because John Q. Public (and often the average pet owners themselves) fail to understand the body language cues for apprehension, anxiety, and fear in their own pets, they often push the animals into situations that are stressful and difficult for the pets at best, and downright dangerous for the public at worst.

Therapy animal registries exist to carry out standardized evaluations which benefit everyone involved: pets, handlers, and anyone on the receiving end of visits. No one organization is perfect, nor has all the answers, but each of the most-widely recognized has years of experience in providing guidelines and education for the handler interested in sharing their pets. By passing the evaluation and registering with one of these organizations, the handler gains a support system, continuing education opportunities, and limited liability insurance for visitation.

It is important, too, to understand there are different levels of therapeutic dog support. The typical therapy visit is about an hour in length, arranged in advance, and often the handlers and dogs repeat their visits on a regular basis (weekly or monthly), which means the dogs get acclimated to the facility. The activities are social and relaxed, without specific goals except to brighten the day and encourage the person visited. This level is called AAA – Animal-Assisted Activities – and is the “beginner level” for therapy work.

A second level, called AAT – Animal-Assisted Therapy – involves specific goals for the patient or client, and by definition includes someone (usually a physical therapist or other medical professional) who defines the goals, and works with the dog’s handler to make progress toward reaching the goals, and records the process.

Both levels are supported by most of the therapy animal registries, and their training processes and evaluations are geared to identify pets who can succeed doing this work.

As we realize the incredible value in using the human-animal bond for its potential to both motivate people and help them recover, additional levels and/or niches for specialized therapy dogs have developed. One of those areas is responding to crisis and disaster situations – Animal-Assisted Crisis Response.

Crisis work, whether for humans or for dogs, requires a resilient personality and lots of flexibility as well as specialized training. For dogs, especially, it is necessary to evaluate their reliability to maintain desired behaviors under stressful and unpredictable stimuli, and to ability recover from emotionally intense situations. Imagine the difference between a one-hour Thursday afternoon visit to a local nursing home, and flying a couple of hours to meet with a demanding crowd of people who have lost everything they own due to a weather event and who are not sure where some of their family members are.

Recently in Newtown, Connecticut, the desire to help overshadowed some people’s better judgment. There were reports of untrained, unregistered pets, including a four-month old puppy, being brought to spots where hundreds of people gathered in the small town in crisis. A wonderfully friendly dog trained for regular, weekly visits of an hour duration at a local nursing home might not be able to manage its regular calm behavior in the face of hour after hour with all those stimuli. Asking the average pet to endure the massive crowds, noises, and activities might be detrimental to a pet who isn’t ready or whose temperament is not suited for group encounters. And, doing it without insurance coverage might be detrimental to the handler’s financial situation.

Dr. Jeffrey Mitchell, founder of the well-respected Critical Incident Stress Management process, recently spoke to a world congress of critical incident responders in Baltimore. Following a presentation which reflected on best practices after the Newtown shooting, Dr. Mitchell emphatically said: “DO NOT SELF-DEPLOY!” He explained that uninvited citizens arriving at such scene complicate the workload for an already overburdened locality rather than helping.

We can draw an analogy to human efforts. If an average citizen is first to spot a fire well on its way to engulfing a house, is it more reasonable for that untrained person to try to fight the fire, or dial 911 for help? As with behavior consultation, if we are not equipped ourselves to handle a particular problem, we should refer. One the strongest tenets in volunteer work is that we not become a liability ourselves; that we not endanger ourselves in our efforts to help others. That principle must also be applied to our canine partners.

There are organizations whose missions are geared specifically toward crisis situations. These groups have developed specialized screening, evaluation, and training programs which prepare both the human and canine members of the team for the more intense qualities of crisis work. Training for dogs includes experience with equipment used by first responders, various modes of transportation, simulated crisis exposure and role-playing tense situations; for humans it includes training on psychological first aid, listening skills, and self-care after deployment.

To make best use of the human-animal bond with your pet, please investigate registries to find the one that best suits the kind of work you wish to do. As with any training – but especially therapy work because of the emotional quotient involved – you will want to be sure you set your therapy partner up for success, giving him/her time and repetition to master the skills you want while keeping the experiences positive. The length of time that our therapy dogs can work with us is too short by definition of their life spans, so be sure you advocate for your dog to maximize potential.

Some of the better-known organizations for AAA/AAT therapy work:

• Angel on a Leash
• Intermountain Therapy Animals/Reading Education Assistance Dogs® (R.E.A.D. ®)
• Love on a Leash
• Pet Partners Program
• Therapy Dogs Incorporated (TD Inc.)
• Therapy Dogs International (TDI)

Many others listed at http://www.akc.org/akctherapydog/organizations.cfm.

Animal-Assisted Crisis Response organizations and a link for national standards developed for this work:

• Hope Animal-Assisted Crisis Response
• National AACR
• http://hopeaacr.org/animal-assisted-crisis-response-national-standards-released-1/

From a Tawzer video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwloE56H-54

Janet is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer - Knowledge Assessed(CPDT-KA), a graduate of Purdue University’s 2004 DOGS course, and holds a Counseling Certificate from the San Francisco SPCA’s Academy for Dog Trainers. Janet is a Karen Pryor Academy Certified Trainer Partner (KPA CTP). Janet was honored with the “Animals as Other Nations” award at the 3rd annual IAABC conference held in Houston April 24-26, 2009. Janet has gained the respect of veterinary and training professionals nationwide and followed Dr. R.K. Anderson and Dr. Lore Haug as the recipient of this award.

Janet is a past president of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC) and the current chair of its Working Animals division. She is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC) and an Associate Certified Cat Behavior Consultant (ACCBC) with IAABC. Janet has spoken at national training and behavior conferences including the APDT and IAABC. She has also presented at veterinary programs and conferences. Janet has published articles in Off Lead & Animal Behavior, Animal Wellness, and APDT Chronicle of the Dog.

Janet currently teaches puppy socialization classes, basic obedience, Rally, Nosework, and agility through the Dude Ranch Pet Resort in central Virginia. In addition, she offers private behavior consultations and expert witness testimony. She has titled in agility and Rally with her dogs. In addition to living and working with four wonderful dogs, Janet also has a strong feline side. She has been owned by cats since the age of six, and has a special interest in both finding ways to enrich the lives of indoor cats and in helping owners understanding the enigmatic feline. Janet shares her home with Griffin, Puck, and Nisse, and a very understanding husband. Janet is a co-creator of the patented “Come With Me Kitty” Cat Harness and Bungee Leash by Premier Pet Products, where she served as Training & Behavior Education Department Manager for eight years.

We completed general training, learned about good manners for visiting canines, met with a local evaluator for a national organization, and joined a group who had regular appointments scheduled at local adult retirement and nursing homes. The visits were very enjoyable and worthwhile to me, and we were repeatedly told our visits were beneficial to our “clients”, the people we visited.

The 1980s and 90’s were a time of scientific studies that proved the medical benefits of spending time with a dog. Benefits included lowered blood pressure, improved triglycerides and cholesterol in pet owners, reduction of stress, improved feeling of well-being, and even a reduction for some patients in the need for pain medication. Other studies proved the strength of the bond between people and their pets. Many people surveyed reported they felt a stronger bond with a pet than other family members. Other studies showed that children who owned dogs showed higher self-esteem and empathy than children without pets in the home.

Scientific studies brought credibility to the concept for medical professionals. Several national therapy dog registration organizations contributed significantly to developing and promoting standards for training animal therapy teams, resulting in common acceptance for the concept of visiting therapy animals in hospitals. Therapy dog teams were invited into hospitals, and even into ICU units!

Once therapy dog teams were readily involved with medical care facilities, it was inevitable that other groups, organizations and industries would notice the good work being done and find ways to apply the benefits elsewhere.

You may also have an image of therapy dog visits as quiet gatherings at nursing homes—often less than an hour, very unstructured, low-key, pleasant outings. If you are a dog-handler team used to the excitement of agility or other activities, you might think this is too low-key for you.

I, myself, am a creature who enjoys variety and change. I like to find new challenges and reach out to new opportunities. So eventually, I began to look for new activities for Kai and myself. It didn’t take long to find them.

I am happy to report—there’s not just one kind of therapy dog anymore!

You may be aware many dog therapy teams also participate in reading and socialization programs at schools and libraries. Children who don’t read well are often shy and hesitant to speak up in class. As kids read to these loving, non-judgmental creatures, their reading skills and enthusiasm for participating in school activities rise dramatically. When reading is difficult for children, having the dog present reduces stress and adds a pleasant association with the task. I have watched quiet, sullen children open up in the presence of my second Golden, Piper. Piper elicits smiles, grins and giggles along with improvements in their reading skills. This type of work is rewarding for dogs and handlers who enjoy the higher energy level of children.

Always open to new opportunities, our next step was getting involved with Animal – Assisted Crisis Response. This more challenging level of therapy dog work utilizes dogs for emotional support during times of man-made or natural disasters, helping all those affected, from victims to family members to first responders and aid workers. Kaizen and I were among a group invited by FEMA to visit Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, with other members from the HOPE AACR organization (http://www.hopeaacr.org).

AACR dogs must have very stable personalities and must be well-socialized to lots of modes of travel, many noisy and distracting environments, and elevated levels of stress, anxiety and emotions from our clients. In addition, the handlers in AACR work must be trained beyond the experience level of local social visits. Handlers need to understand how to do active listening and emotional support, be prepared for serious emotional situations, and work within the framework of other crisis response organizations, such as the Red Cross and FEMA. We often joke that this is the “Ph.D.” of therapy work, since a dog needs to have a background and experience of basic therapy visitation, and must undergo additional screening, evaluation, and ongoing training to be involved in AACR work.

The crisis response dog team often works for a much longer day than the team making routine visits to locations in their hometown. In AACR, teams often spend several hours each day interacting with clients. Of course, our dogs get frequent breaks, but –especially when we travel to remote locations – we like to provide as much support as we can in the time we are on-site.

AACR therapy teams often travel to locations away from their hometowns to help in areas affected by fires, hurricanes, floods or earthquakes. Handlers should acclimate their dogs to various modes of travel to ensure their success in multiple parts of the country. The places we visit may provide challenges in housing, transportation, and other details of infrastructure.

The latest new frontier of therapy dog opportunity arises from the legal system. Therapy dogs are being used as advocates for children who need to testify in cases of violence they have either experienced or witnessed. In befriending and supporting these witnesses, the dogs often make it possible to obtain convictions or plea-bargains that otherwise wouldn’t happen.

Another use for dogs is to provide a stress-reliever and motivation for people involved in drug rehabilitation. Court officials are finding this interaction leads to more cooperation and less anger in the participants.

Court approved therapy work involves similar “bomb-proofing” – preparing the dogs for as many types of people as possible. Since these dogs are likely to encounter people of all races, ages, personalities and physical conditions, they should be well-socialized in preparation. Like the AACR dogs, court approved therapy dogs must be able to handle traveling to various buildings and courtrooms, and encountering a variety of smells, sounds, and experiences. And like the reading program dogs, court dogs will have to be able to sit quietly for long periods without distracting the proceedings.

Dogs are already in use in court systems in New York, Texas, Florida, Maryland and Washington state.

Isn’t it wonderful to know that dogs and handlers with different interests and activity levels can find their own special niche with an appropriate therapy activity? I hope you have as much fun as Kai, Piper, and I have had. Go out and do some good!

Janet Velenovsky, CDBC-TAC, KPA CTP
Central VA
804-241-8405
http://www.velenovsky.com

Janet Velenovsky is a past-President of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC) and the Chair of its Working Animals division. Janet is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC) and a Therapy Animal Consultant (TAC) with IAABC.

Janet is also a Professional Member of APDT (Association of Pet Dog Trainers) and a Certified Training Partner of the Karen Pryor Academy. Janet is a graduate of Purdue University’s 2004 DOGS Course, and holds a Counseling Certificate from the San Francisco SPCA’s Academy for Dog Trainers.

Janet and her Golden Retriever, Piper, work with a locally based therapy dog group and on a national level with HOPE Animal-Assisted Crisis Response.

Janet also has a strong feline side; she’s always been owned by cat(s) since the age of 6. She has a special interest in finding ways to enrich the lives of indoor cats, and in helping owners understand the enigmatic feline. Janet is a co-creator of the patented Gentle Leader® “Come With Me Kitty” Cat Harness and Bungee Leash by Premier Pet Products. She plans to train her next kitties for therapy work!