Volume 1, Issue 1
11-24-09
MICDS
Dogs: More Than Just a Pet Dogs: Versatile Companion And Man’s Best Friend Special points of interest: Having a pet can make you a healthier happier person Harnessing the caring power of a dog Therapy dogs What can you do?
There are approximately 74.8 million owned dogs in the United States(1). Dogs share a special bond with humans, in that they can always cheer us up and are there for us. So, we love dogs. But dogs are more than just pets and companions. Dogs are a special tool that we can use to enrich the lives of the sick, elderly, and disabled. There are many organizations that provide this service to people every day. One of these is Therapy Dogs International. At the end of 2007 TDI employed over 16,000 therapy dogs across the United States and in Canada (2). Volunteers who have joined TDI travel to local hospitals and nursing homes and interact with
the patients. This can be small things like petting the dog. It is impossible to put into data, the effects that dogs have on patients. But nurses and volunteers can say that dogs have helped more than one patient recover. This happened to Lori Shaw, a volunteer with TDI who brings her Golden Retriever to elementary schools and reads with the students. Shaw went to the school one day and the class she normally read to was not there. So Lori visited another classroom. She entered the classroom and her dog headed straight for a boy who was sitting alone and looking rather sad. The entire time the dog sat with the boy, and with each moment, the boy got a
Alex the Golden Retriever.
little happier. At the end of the session the teacher told Shaw how that boy had usually been sad and withdrawn. Lori Shaw and Alex her Golden now visit the boy every week. Stories like these show us the power of dogs.(3)
Inside this issue: History Of The Dog
2
Service Dogs
2
Household Dogs
2
What Can You Do?
3
What Are Therapy Dogs? There are two different types of therapy dogs. The first is called a Therapeutic Visitation Dog. This dog will visit hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living centers, and other places. The dog will do a variety of things depending on what the nurses want. They may
allow the patients to spend some time with the dog and petting it. They may have the dog play fetch with the patients and other games. The dog also can perform tricks for the patients. All of these things help the patient with what they are going through. The second kind of
therapy dog is called a Animal Assisted Therapy Dog. These dogs are more involved than Visitation Dogs. They also may have to go through special training to become one. These dogs would be a part of the treatment and would work with the patient.