FEATURE

HELPING Pets HELPING Pets PEOPLE PEOPLE

huntsville group connects therapy dogs with those in need

Photos and story by Michelle Wulfson

Adog passes by and suddenly the whole world shrinks away, a smile spreads across your face and your hand reaches out for a quick pet.

It’s literally impossible to not break a smile when in the company of a good boy, it’s the rainbow at the end of a bad day and the warm feeling that will keep you floating on cloud nine. It also has the power to heal and a group of Huntsville volunteers are helping bring that cheer to those in need.

In 2003, Huntsville Pets Helping People president Diane Carpenter was at a dog show with her AKC Champion border terrier, Willow, and volunteered to help with Pet Partners testing, which primarily focused on obedience and their comfort with people. Pet Partners is a national organization registering handlers of multiple species as volunteer teams for animal-assisted therapy.

She enjoyed the experience and thought it was an honorable cause, inspiring her to chase a new adventure for her and Willow, bringing joy to those in need.

Carpenter and Willow first joined Delta Society in College Station with Aggieland Pets with a Purpose, however the drive was a bit too much for her and she wasn’t a fan of visiting facilities as a group, noting that she prefers individual visits.

“I like the individual visits because then your dog gets to know these people,” Carpenter said, adding her canine partner, Jake, has become a hit with the local nursing homes.

“Your dog gets to know these people, they get to know the dog, it provides all kinds of stimulation for them,” she added.

Carpenter tested with Pet Partners in 2004 and began Huntsville Pets Helping People with a small team of six volunteers that has grown significantly with time. They have been affiliated with Intermountain Therapy Animals in Utah since 2009.

Therapy dogs differ from service dogs in that they are there to be petted and loved on, bringing emotional comfort to someone in need, though Carpenter says that nearly any pet can be a therapy partner. HPHP can work with rabbits, cats, guinea pigs, potbelly pigs and even chickens, though for obvious reasons, dogs are the most popular choice of partner.

According to Carpenter, it’s the lack of judgment and unwavering love that makes dogs and animals in general, so healing for humans. It doesn’t matter what someone wears, what they look like or their financial status–a therapy dog will always love who they meet, no matter what. However, there is a science as to why being around animals is so uplifting.

The simple act of petting animals releases an automatic relaxation response, promoting the release of serotonin, prolactin and oxytocin–hormonal compounds that can play a part in elevating moods. Animal engagement can also help lower anxiety, provide comfort, reduce loneliness and increase mental stimulation.

“Studies have been done that when you pet a dog, your blood pressure goes down, it even occurs with children, their blood pressure goes down when they’re petting a dog,” Carpenter said. “It enables you to be calm and relaxed, because they’re calm and relaxed. They’re not judging you because you’re in a wheel chair, they just love you because you’re you. They just accept us for who we are and love us for who we are.”

Walking out on the porch of the HPHP facilities to meet the volunteers and their canine partners, five wagging tails are ready to meet their next visitor. Some slowly work their way in for a sniff or a kiss with the gentle sweetness of an older soul, while others are bold in forcing their way into focus, chatting loudly in a language only they’re familiar with, while demanding belly rubs.

“The dogs have to start out with obedience, because you’re taking your dog to places that they’re not familiar with and with a lot of people. They have to be in tune to you, because if you see something happening down the hall in a nursing home, you have to be able to call your dog close to you, move aside and have your dog not freak out. They have to be able to go into rooms with colonoscopy bags hanging from things and they have to trust you,” Carpenter said.

Dianne Hertel and her black mouth cur lab mix, Allie, started obedience training two years ago. Now, she’s in training to be a therapy dog with HPHP.

“She loves kids and she’s just a real people-dog, so we thought she might be a good candidate,” Hertel said.

She’s a hyper pup who craves attention, with no shame or self awareness to the lengths she’ll go to be the center of her audience’s world.

Fellow volunteer, Marilyn Meshell, notes that they were ready to welcome Hertel and Allie as a new team in 2020, however, with the pandemic, they’re not taking new members as of yet, still unable to visit many of the facilities they once did.

HPHP volunteers would regularly visit patients and staff at Huntsville Memorial Hospital, Creekside Retirement Community, various hospice organizations and Huntsville ISD, however, the pandemic has hampered their efforts for the past two years.

“We were getting set to hopefully return to the hospital and visit with patients and the staff, the staff loves the dogs as much as the patients do, but they’re still trying to decide what’s going on,” Carpenter said.

In the meantime, they’ve been teaching basic obedience classes as a fundraiser for the organization throughout the pandemic, along with visits to Sam Houston State University to bring a little joy and comfort to students during the stressors of finals week. However, the volunteers miss the connections they’ve made at their facilities of choice.

“Going to the hospitals, we see the patients and we visit with their families, we visit with anybody that wants a visit, but I see more of it being beneficial with the staff,” Meshell said. “They have a hard job…they enjoy the visits just as much as the patients did.”

Meshell has been a volunteer with HPHP for six years and prefers to

visit the hospitals and schools with her chihuahua pembroke welsh corgis mix, Roxie, a quiet and sweet little pup with the demeanor of perfectly poised royalty.

Martha Waidhofer notes that she also prefers to visit the hospitals with her Siberian husky, Niko, after experiencing first-hand the emotional healing that animals can provide for patients.

“When I was in my 20s, my little brother was diagnosed with spinal cancer when he was 11 years-old, so he was in and out of the hospital quite a bit with surgeries and everything like that. He had this little dog that he missed, so one time, we just smuggled in that dog in a tennis bag and we took him up there and we’d hide him in the bathroom when the nurse came in,” Waidhofer said. “The joy of seeing him brighten up, just lifted his spirits so much and I thought, I have to do that, so when they could legally go into hospitals, that’s when I wanted to do that.”

Her brother passed away shortly after, but the memory stuck with her, leading to her joining HPHP three years-ago since being widowed.

“I just remembered how wonderful it was for him and it blesses me to go to the hospital and see all of those patients and it brightens their day,” Waidhofer said.

Niko is one of four dogs in Waidhofer’s household, however, he’s the only one that serves with her as a therapy dog.

HPHP’s canine volunteers undergo extensive training to be comfortable with the various settings they visit. A mock hospital room in their facilities helps the dogs become at ease with the inner workings of a hospital or nursing home, helping them to become conscious of wheel chairs, IV bags and tubes, breathing devices and bedside behavior.

In the next room over, a library prepares the therapy animals for a trip to school, where they’ll help struggling third graders practice their reading.

Carpenter and her “All American mutt,” Jake, enjoy participating in the READ program at Scott Johnson Elementary School, in addition to visits to Creekside Retirement Community. The reading, education, assistance dogs program allows students the opportunity to choose from a suitcase full of books to find their confidence in practicing their reading skills, reading aloud to a therapy dog during one-on-one visits. The teachers decide on which students could benefit most from the program and depending on the child, will usually last for six-weeks’ time, receiving a free book at completion of the program.

“We don’t teach reading, we simply provide the atmosphere, the comfort zone, where a child can come in and read to the dog. They’re not going to get corrected and if the child wants to ask what a word is, we help, but we don’t correct them. We just want them comfortable and reading aloud,” Carpenter said. “Sometimes it’s because they’re having difficulty reading, sometimes they just moved here and they’re having a difficult time adjusting, but a dog is not judgmental.”

Kay Carlson was an educational diagnostician with Huntsville ISD, and after seeing the effects that a therapy dog had on a troubled student, she was hooked.

Carlson was tasked with conducting assessments on troubled students, however, she could never seem to track down one in particular. She was tipped off by educators at the school that the third grader reportedly never showed up to class, except for when a HPHP dog would visit the campus for a READ visit. She always liked dogs and had her own training in teaching reading, so she made it her goal that when she retired, she would join the program. It’s been about eight years now, that she’s been volunteering alongside her affectionate corgis, Peanut, through HPHP and continuing her mission of making a difference in children’s lives.

“If they’re in the third grade and they’re reading at a second grade level, the dog doesn’t care. They get more relaxed and more interested in reading and also, their attendance comes up because they’re coming to school on the day that the dog is coming,” Carlson said. “Our teachers have said that it has helped the students improve their reading levels and get more of an interest in books.”

However, it’s not just beneficial for the students. Carpenter notes that Jake has been missing his visits to the schools, jumping with joy as she arranges a display with the red suitcase that would typically be filled with books to accompany him on a trip to Scott Johnson Elementary.

They’re unsure of when they’ll be able to be able to go back to work, but HPHP’s volunteers are ready and waiting for when that day comes.

In the meantime, visit the HPHP website at www.petshelpingpeple.com for updates on new obedience classes and ways to volunteer.

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