Jessica_Vergara by Freestyle Academy

Dog Therapy: An Adorable Stress Reliever By: Jessica Vergara

Dog Therapy: An Adorable Stress Reliever

Written, Designed and Photographed by Jessica Vergara 1

For my family that allowed me to buy Tanner from the rescue shelter.

Acknowledgements I’d like to thank my teachers at Freestyle: Mr. Florendo, Ms. Parkinson, and Mr. Greco for teaching me what I need to know to make this book. I’d like to thank Susan Levin, Bob Jachens, and Carolyn Mar for giving me their time in letting me interview them and photograph their intelligent dogs. I’d like to thank Claire Johnson for letting me interview her and photograph her two adorable dogs. I’d like to thank Alexis Williamson for letting me interview her, you are a beautiful and strong woman. I’d also like to thank my parents for supporting me. I’d also like to thank these special canines: Dante, Benny, Kobuk, Buckley, Abbey and Tanner for being a great support system to your owners and patients.

Above: Therapy Dog owner Susan Levin and her therapy dog Dante. Below: Therapy Dog owner Bob Jachens and his therapy dog Kobuk

Benny, a Kaiser Permanete therapy dog, is not only a good therapy dog, but also a very photogenic one.

Table of Contents 8 Foreword 10 Introduction 12 Born To Be A Therapy Dog 18 Petting A Dog Does What? 22 Indirect Pet Therapy 26 Tanner the Little Beggar 30 Conclusion 31 Works Cited 7

Foreword

My mom was coming out of her department at the Kaiser Permanente at Santa Clara when she walked into a lady walking a dog. My mom stopped and started petting him and asked the lady what the dog is doing here--since dogs are usually allowed in hospitals unless they’re service dogs. The lady told her that her dog is used for pet therapy, a program where they bring pets to hospitalized patients so they can pet them. I thought that was a really interesting program that the hospital had and I wanted to engage in it some more. I interviewed some therapy dog owners and learned about their training and their reasoning for dog therapy. As I shadowed them in the hospital I saw how many smiles those dogs put on adult and adolescent faces. In my opinion, it seemed strange walking around the hospital with dogs. Hospitals feel so quiet, clean, scary and cold places, but when you see these dogs it makes the atmosphere a little warmer and the presence of their big brown eyes and wagging tails make the hospital a little less frightening. I interviewed my classmate about how her dogs are a way she relieves her stress. As I was photographing her dogs, my friend went in her house to get ready for an errand. I was photographing her dogs in her front yard when a woman walking her Labradoodle passed by. Her dogs freaked out and barked at the poor dog. I tried calling after them but they wouldn’t respond. I ran after them and apologized to the lady and as I tried to carry the dogs away I realized that these dogs are not light. I struggled trying to carry one dog with both of my hands and eventually my friend helped me carry her other dog back to the front yard. She then told me that he dogs were deaf and don’t respond to their names. Also since they aren’t properly trained they’re very overweight and on diets. These overweight blind dogs are the most adorable creatures ever, and regardless if they were deaf, blind, normal, or freaky dogs they still are able to provide my friend and other strangers with unconditional love and support.

Introduction

I was 14 and diagnosed with depression. I’ve been through medication, therapists and was hospitalized for a while. My therapist suggested getting a dog for when I’m depressed and don’t have anyone to talk to then I can resort to my dog to help me through it. My family went to numerous dog shelters and the humane society looking at dogs until one day we stopped by a NARF San Jose adoption fair at Pet Club and JMKIUM ÆWWLML _Q\P \PM XZM[MVKM of Chihuahuas, Terriers, Poodles, Maltese and many other breeds

of dogs, but my eyes were set on the that little Maltese that was on its hind legs begging to be adopted. Tan. Curly PIQZML *QO JZW_V MaM[ ) ZM[K]M NZWU I LZ]O LMITMZ <IVVMZ <IVVMZ Q[ \PM ÅZ[\ LWO 1¼^M M^MZ PIL IVL 1 QV[\IV\Ta grew this sort of motherly bond with my dog; he’s my baby that I take care of and he loves me in return. I consider him my own baby that I must care for, nurture and love unconditionally. And how does he repay me back? Well he doesn’t. It’s the same reason why a child never pays her mother from picking them up from school. The same reason why a child doesn’t pay rent to their mother for housing. They provide their mother with their own happiness and love and that brings a smile to the mother’s face. The exact same concept applies to a dog. A dog provides their owner with a smile on their face and an extra boost of happiness, but dogs don’t only provide their owner with a smile; there are dogs whose job it is to make people smile and those are therapy dogs. Therapy dogs distract patients from the “not so pleasant” things that happen to them in the hospital. (Levin, Susan. Personal Interview. 18 February 2012.) They’re the comfort to those who are lonely and a little hope to those who are depressed. Even though there are medications and professional therapist provided for patients use to PMTX \PMU _Q\P \PMQZ TQ^M[ \PMZIXa LWO[ IZM XZW^MV \W JM I ^MZa MNÅKQMV\ \aXM WN [\ZM[[ ZMTQM^MZ Ja LWK\WZ[ XI\QMV\[ IVL LWO W_VMZ[ \PI\ PI^M [MMV I [QOVQÅKIV\ LQNNMZMVKM QV \PMQZ JMPI^QWZ[ _Q\P \PM XZM[MVKM WN \PMQZ LWO

Born To Be A Therapy Dog

Dog therapy has been

around for many years helping strangers, dog owners and patients in hospitals “put smiles on faces [and] bring warmth into the medical center”; (<http://dantethetherapydog.com> Levin, Susan. Web. 7 March 2012.) but at Kaiser Permanente in Santa Clara dog therapy has been around for 9 years and it all started with Dante. Dante is an 11 year-old Border Collie and German Shepherd mix who walks around the surgery and post-surgery rooms, labor and delivery rooms and waiting rooms with his trainer and owner, Susan Levin, and occasionally some other dogs. Kobuk is a 2 yearold German Shepherd who’s been a therapy dog for about a year and walks around with his owner Bob Jachens. Benny is a Welsh Corgi who walks

around the hospital with his owner Carolyn Mar. Dante, Kobuk and Benny are just a few of 15 therapy dogs that work at Kaiser Permanente who come into hospital rooms and their “job is to have people pet them and smile” (Jachens, Bob. Personal Interview. 25 February 2012.) and also be “pretty little distractions.” (Levin, Susan. Personal Interview. 18 February 2012.) Petting a dog helps distract patients from the obstacles in their life that aren’t so pleasant to think about and also keeps families in the waiting rooms from being bored in a hospital. According to Jachens, his dog, Kobuk is very popular in the surgery room waiting areas where the families of the patients need comfort as their loved one goes through surgery. Dante and Benny like walking around the hospital and going into post-surgery

rooms to help soothe patients after they’ve been through a traumatic time in the hospital. They visit post-surgery and pre-surgery patients to calm their nerves and they visit the labor and delivery room to help soothe mothers after they’ve been through the long process or labor and birth. The touch and presence of a dog lifts up the spirits and lowers the stress in people’s lives, but not all dogs can be therapy dogs; they’re born to be therapy dogs. Most dogs discriminate or act differently around people who walk differently, are in a wheelchair or crutches or have a speech impediment, but unlike therapy dogs they must be able to “take that all in stride” (Jachens, Bob. Personal Interview. 18 February # \PMa IZM KWVÅLMV\ and comfortable in their own [SQV IVL \PMQZ KWVÅLMVKM XZWvides an aura of happiness 13

toward the patient. Even though Kobuk is a German Shepherd and there are assumptions that German Shepherds are violent and aggressive, Kobuk cannot and isn’t aggressive because he was born with those traits. “We went through obedience training so that he knows basic obedience commands like sit and stay. As far as training him to be a therapy dog, which is a whole different set of characteristics, he was born with those.” (Jachens, Bob. 18 February 2012.) Any other therapy dogs are not allowed to be aggressive, bark at people or animals, have any disability like deafness or blindness, and they have to be at least a year old. These requirements are strict because if they’re not properly trained or an obedient dog they won’t pass the Canine Good Citizens test and be licensed as a professional 14

therapy dog. (<http://tdi-dog. org> Therapy Dog International. Therapy Dog International. 2012. Web. 7 March 2012.)Therapy dogs know when they have a job to fulÅTT IVL \PMa SVW_ _PMV \PMa can act like dogs. “When he’s got this vest on, he knows the difference he knows he’s working and so there are certain behaviors. He’s got to be calm, he’s got to be comfortable, he’s got to obey the commands, he can’t be a freaky dog.” (Jachens, Bob. 18 February 2012.) Therapy dogs are not bland and boring, they’re dogs that hold that special gift of being able to show compassion towards distraught and helpless peoKobuk, Benny and Dante’s busiple. ness cards

he’s got this “ When vest on he knows

“

the difference he knows he’s working and so there’s certain behaviors. He’s got to be calm, he’s got to be comfortable, he’s got to obey the commands, he can’t be a freaky dog. When that vest comes off, he’s only 2 and a half years old he’s just a teenager, he becomes a puppy again.

Bob Jachens

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We went through be obedience training so that he knows basic obedience commands like sit and stay. As far as training him to be a therapy dog, which is a whole different set of characteristics, he was born with those

people who don’t have a dog. Doctors have concluded that he therapeutic value and people who have dogs do UMLQKIT JMVMÅ\[ WN I LWO Q[ have better health than those most often underestimated. who don’t because having a From Paws and Effects: The dog makes you more active. Healing Power of Dogs by The responsibility of owners Sharon Sakson, Sakson reforces them to walk their dog; veals some data composed by eventually all that mediocre Dr. Cognetta. Dr. Walker and exercise helps with a betDr. Church that show that ter cardiovascular system. dogs can sense cancer cells in Some dogs, such as Dante, a patient’s body weeks before are emotionally connected to IV WNÅKQIT \M[\ PI[ JMMV KWVa patient. They understand cluded. A middle-aged woman their feelings, their pain and went to the doctor when her always try to make them hapDachshund wouldn’t stop py. According to Susan Levin, nudging her breast, it turns “Dante understands patients. out she was developing a He knows their emotions and tumor. Her dog sensed its their pain even when no one owner’s tumor before she was tells him. One day he started showing symptoms, all that licking this boy’s leg and the time potentially saved her mother asked me, ‘how did life. (Sakson, Sharon. Paws he know that his ankle was and Effects. New York, New sprained?’ and I just said, York. Alyson Books. 2007. ‘I don’t know, he just knows Print) There are also those patients.’” “It has been provassumptions that dog owners en that pet owners normally live twice as longer than have less stress and a lower

blood pressure.” (<http://sunsetvideo.org> Homeopathix Therapy. Web. 7 March 2012.) According to an article interviewing psychologist Brenda Reed, who brings her dog to her therapy sessions, “Pet therapy is known to help heart and lung functioning by lowering pressures. This creates a decrease in harmful hormones and lowers anxiety among heart failure patients who are hospitalized. Blood pressure in both healthy and hypertensive patients is reduced.” (<http://l-pawlik-kienlen.suite101.com> Pet Therapy In Psychology. Pawlik-Kienlen, Laurie. 2011. Web, 7 March 2012.) Dog therapy can help someone who has mild or moderate depression by providing them with exercise, which helps with depression, someone to talk to and a friend that is always with you to listen. Dogs also provide companionship

Petting A Dog Does What?

to the elderly folks in retirement homes. When their family abandons them in a retirement home, their life become lonely and boring; until dogs visit them then their loneliness is uplifted. Law students at the University of Arizona have received visits from Delta Society, a pet therapy program, where they brought in their dogs to help them “de-stress”before ÅVIT[ IVL XZWRMK\[ $P\\X" P]NÅVO\WVXW[\ KWU& 8M\ Therapy Aims To Help Students At The University of Arizona Law School De-Stress. +PIV )UIVLI 4 <PM0]NÅVOtonPost.com Inc. 2012. Web. 7 March 2012. ) Following that, Monty, a Therapy Dog International dog, welcomed law students at Yale University. According to their librarian, Blair Kaufman, he portrays that “It is well documented that visits from therapy dogs have resulted 20

in increased happiness, calmness and overall emotional well-being.” (<http://abcnews. go.com> Checking Out Monty: Yale Students Can Reduce Stress With Dog Therapy. Allen, Jane E. ABC News Medical Center. 2011. Web. 7 March 2012.) After those therapy dog sessions, schools provided their students with more alternatives to reduce their stress during stressful periods of the school year. Employees at Harvard Medical School hired Cooper, 4 year-old Shih-Tzu, to work in the library as a professional therapy dog. Employees come in and Cooper greets them with his playful energy or comforts them with his soft fur. Dr. Loise Francisco, a researcher at Harvard Medical School, decided to adopt Cooper when they researched that dogs are “shown to lower blood pressure, improve recovery from heart disease,

and even reduce rates of asthma and allergy in children” and “also improve people’s psychological well-being and self-esteem.” (<http:// health.harvard.edu> Therapy Dog Offers Stress Relief At Work. Harvard University. 2012. Web. 7 March 2012.) A student from Mountain View High School named Alexis Williamson was diagnosed with burkitt lymphoma and was hospitalized for about 3 months. She said her experience was “pretty lonely” JMKI][M [PM _I[ ¹KWVÅVML to one space for two weeks and nothing was just overly exciting.” Since her system was weak she could barely have any of her friends visit her. Fortunately, her Kaiser Permanente had dog therapy. “They’d bring dogs around and then they’d come and lay in the beds with us and we’d cuddle with them and pet them and it actually helped

a lot to be with a companion and man’s best friend.” (Williamson, Alexis. Personal Interview. 22 March 2012.) Her mother was even happy when the therapy dogs would greet her, and even her little brother had a smile on his face when he visited his sick sister.

Right: Alexis Williamson, a cancer survivor, is all smiles as she takes a photo.

“

I love animals and I guess you can have cats and you can have hamsters but there’s nothing like a dog.

Alexis Williamson 21

Indirect Pet Therapy

whether to overdose on medicine or jump off her roof. o if you have a dog, you’re She thought of her dog Bonprobably thinking that you nie and how much it would won’t have to pay any psychi- hurt her dog if she died. She atrist or medication to help thought about who was godeal with your depression ing to take care of him and and anxiety. True, but love love him when she was gone is a two-way street, if you and realized that she was the love your dog then it’ll love only thing in her dog’s life. you as much as you love him. She found a purpose in her Some pet owners don’t even life to be the best pet owner to realize that the love they her dog and be with him until provide their dog effects how he passes away. People also much their dog loves them ÅVL I X]ZXW[M QV \PMQZ TQNM Ja in return, and when you’re caring for their dogs like it’s sad and lonely your dog will their own child. An anecdote always be that loyal friend to in Sakson’s book recalled stay with you by your side. that at a soup kitchen there They help you through the would be this homeless lady hard times when you have that would feed her dog belost someone very close to fore herself. Sometimes when you. Sakson was very young you walk along the sidewalk when she lost her mother and you see homeless people and after her mom’s death her fa- accompanying them would be ther was never there for her a dog. Those dogs provide a to comfort her. She was feelsupport system for that pering depressed and her brain son and helps them continue was contemplating whether on with their lives instead of

ending it. They care for those dogs, feeding them and nurturing them. They could have let the dog go in the street but instead they keep them. Those dogs are the distractions that prevent homeless from becoming depressed IVL ÅVLQVO I _Ia \W UW^M forward in their life. Teenagers who are in middle school and high school should have a dog, or any other pet, to help relieve the stress that school provides them. With \PM [\ZM[[ WN I ÅVIT M`IU WZ a bad grade, and even drama that happens in school, stuLMV\[ \MVL \W ÅVL IT\MZVItives to help deal with their stress. Some teenagers today don’t have that privilege to seek professional help from a psychiatrist and they are sometimes embarrassed to talk to a school counselor or their parents when they start to develop depression symptoms, so they talk to their 23

friends. Sometimes it’s peer pressure, sometimes it’s voluntary, but teenagers resort to the use of drugs, alcohol WZ M^MV [MTN̉QVÆQK\ML XIQV \W help cope with their stress. Society portrays drugs and alcohol as something that makes you cool which often leads to teenagers trying to experiment with alcohol and drugs as early as 12 years old. (<http://teenhelp.com> Teen Drug Abuse Statistics. Teen Help. 2012. Web. 7 March 2012.) Teenagers should know that there are other ways to cope with their stress, and the alternate is dogs. Dogs will always be portrayed as cool in society, so instead of bragging about how you much weed you smoked last night or how messed up you were at that party you can brag about the way your dog gets stuck on its back and can’t get up because he’s so chubby. Instead of resorting 24

to drugs in order to clear your head, you can resort to dogs to make your dramatized life a little less stressful. A student at Mountain View, Claire Johnson has two deaf Cavalier Kings Charles Spaniels who are “they joy and light of her [my] life.” Her dogs are “always happy” and their positive mood lifts Claire’s spirits up. “Whenever I’m so sad or whenever I’m upset or anything I can just come home and cuddle with them, and they just make me so happy they always just cheer me up.” (Johnson, Claire. Personal Interview. 8 March 2012.) Her dogs help put a smile a on her face and encourage her to be the strong and courageous person she is.

I need “ When cheering up

“

they’re always there for me. It’s like, who needs a therapist when you have a dog?

Claire Johnson

to be alone and he obeys. Sometimes he just lies down eing an adolescent in next to me and nudges my middle school was a rough hand until I pet him. I love time for me, I was bullied, my dog and I never want to betrayed, and hurt by a lot of see him sad so I try my best people. I had a problem with to stay happy for him and trusting the people closest to take care of him. He’s my to me with the fear of getdistraction from the stress ting hurt again. I’ve always in my life; he gives me somethought my group of friends thing else to think about. would be there for me, but Sometimes you just need they weren’t. Friends leave, someone to listen and that’s and they sometimes are what I need in my life and the ones that make you dethat’s my dog’s job. Of course pressed. Their drama is your there’s that factor of how drama and that puts stress in adorable he is. His exciteyour life, friends sometimes ment puts a smile on my face aren’t the best support sysand his blunt and unpredicttem. Then I adopted Tanner. able actions always surprise Whenever I enter my home me. He howls whenever he he’s always at the front door PMIZ[ I ÅZM \Z]KS [QZMV 0M with his bright eyes and runs around in circles just besmile. His happiness brings a cause. He loves long runs on smile to my face and the exthe beach chasing those pesercise he gives me whenever Sa [MIO]TT[ 0M ÅVL[ M`KQ\MI take him for a long walk or a ment in hiding his bones in jog refreshes my mind. There the midst of my room. I could are those times where I want go on about the quirky things

my dog does because his cuteness distracts me from the stress that school burdens on me. Back in middle school and early high school I would have a lot of family problems, but with Tanner always putting a smile on my parents, my sisters and my grandma’s faces we always distract our arguments with the presence of our dog.

Tanner the Little Beggar

Various photos throughout the years I have had my dog, Tanner

21 of the therapy dogs that Kaiser Permanente offers patients to pet at the hospitals and sometimes outside the hospital

Conclusion

Not everyone is a dog lovers, some people use their cats, birds, rabbits, reptiles, guinea pigs, or even horses as an escape from their stress. Some hospitals use rabbits in their pet therapy programs and retirement homes sometimes bring in horses and camels for the elderly to pet. Dogs or any animals have a healing touch on humans. Whenever you pet them they can help lower blood pressure and reduce anxiety. They offer companionship to those who are alone and just need a friend by their side to grow old together. They bring joy and excitement to their owner’s lives. “The bond between our dogs and us enriches our world. They honor us by their friendship. They offer us their lives.” (Frei, David. Foreword. Paw and Effects: The Healing Powers of Dogs. By Sharon Sakson. New York, New York. 2012. Print.) Dogs will always be a part of human life whether it’s being a therapy dog, a life-saving dog, a best friend, or even an alternative to reducing stress in your life.

A few pictures of dog owners with their dogs.

Works Cited <http://abcnews.go.com> Checking Out Monty: Yale Students Can Reduce Stress With Dog Therapy. Allen, Jane E. ABC News Medical Center. 2011. Web. 7 March 2012. <http://dantethetherapydog.com> Levin, Susan. Web. 7 March 2012. Frei, David. Foreword. Paw and Effects: The Healing Powers of Dogs. By Sharon Sakson. New York, New York. 2012. Print. <http://health.harvard.edu> Therapy Dog Offers Stress Relief At Work. Harvard University. 2012. Web. 7 March 2012. $P\\X" P]NÅVO\WVXW[\ KWU& 8M\ <PMZIXa )QU[ <W 0MTX ;\]LMV\[ )\ <PM =VQ^MZ[Q\a WN )ZQbWVI 4I_ ;KPWWT ,M̉;\ZM[[ +PIV )UIVLI 4 <PM0]NÅVO\WV8W[\ KWU 1VK ?MJ 5IZKP Jachens, Bob. Personal Interview. 25 February 2012. Johnson, Claire. Personal Interview. 8 March 2012. <http://l-pawlik-kienlen.suite101.com> Pet Therapy In Psychology. Pawlik-Kienlen, Laurie. 2011. Web. 7 March 2012. Levin, Susan. Personal Interview. 18 February 2012. Sakson, Sharon. Paws and Effects: The Healing Power of Dogs. New York, New York. Alyson Books. 2007. Print. <http://sunsetvideo.org> Homeopathix Therapy. Web. 7 March 2012. <http://teenhelp.com> Teen Drug Abuse Statistics. Teen Help. 2012. Web. 7 March 2012. <http://tdi-dog.org> Therapy Dog International. Therapy Dog International. 2012. Web. 7 March 2012. Williamson, Alexis. Personal Interview. 22 March 2012.