Approved! (July 2014)

Hip Hip Hooray!! My proposal was approved!  I could have a therapy dog accompany me to work at the Long Term Care facility in which I worked.  Next steps were to find a breeder and decide on a breed.

I love dogs (and cats!) so choosing a pup to be my 'partner' wasn't going to be easy.  Although my search was narrowed by the sheer fact that some breeds are better than others when it comes to pet therapy work.  As mentioned in an earlier post, our previous dog was a rescue from the SPCA and I did consider this as an option, initially.  However, from research I'd done I felt it was necessary to have a puppy and know the history of the parents temperaments.  Kijiji was another place I looked for a pup both registered and not.  I also spoke to my vet and contacted various registered breeders who's listings I'd found through the CKC.

I spoke to Allison at KENRO about her soon to be born litter of Golden Retriever Puppies. I'd met one of her Golden's when she came to my workplace to give a presentation on Animal Assisted Interventions/Pet Therapy.

Me and one of the KENRO Golden's
www.kenrodogtraining.com

 Golden's are fantastic dogs and very commonly used for therapy work.  I learned that there are 'field' lines and 'show' lines of breeds such as Golden's and Labs and that the higher energy field lines were usually a bit too active for therapy work.  Food for though for sure!

In the end, after researching various breeds, I choose my original desire and decided on a Bernese Mountain Dog .... or a "Berner".  Berner's are loving and loyal like Golden's.  Berners are also commonly used in therapy work due to their calm nature.  They are typically big dogs but have a reputation of being known as "gentle giants".

So, I'd decided on a breed but the task of finding an available puppy was not quite as easy as I'd expected.  There are no registered BMD breeders in Saskatchewan that I could find.  My next best bet was a breeder in our 2 neighbouring provinces of Alberta and Manitoba.  Honestly, I felt like I'd called them all!  Most breeders either did not have puppies at the moment, were not expecting puppies for a while or if they did the pups were already spoken for........

THE RESEARCH PHASE

So, I knew I wanted to have a therapy dog accompany me to work.  The unknowns were how to go about getting the right dog/breed and how to get my goal approved by my organizations managers. I definitely needed by-in from my bosses and from the staff and residents in the facility where I work.  Luckily, the part that made it easier for me was that our volunteer program had a handful of therapy dogs that volunteered in our facility and had done so at one time.  Apparently, several years ago, our facility also had a resident cat who lived on one of the locked units (or neighbourhoods as we call them) with individuals who had dementia.  I was told the residents loved it but that some staff didn't necessarily appreciate all the extra chores that went along with having a resident pet.

I have a soft spot for big dogs and I'd always admired Bernese Mountain dogs from afar.  Although, I'd never known one personally nor did I know much about them.....other than how beautiful and calm they seemed.  As I began reading about the breed the more I was certain that's the pup I wanted. I knew that I definitely wanted a puppy vs. an adult dog.  My past dog was a SPCA rescue and an amazing, gentle guy; However, having young children in my home I couldn't take the risk that a older dog would be okay with the rough-housing, antics, and touches of children.  I knew we needed to start with a puppy.

Admittedly, I'm an emotional lady.  That self-awareness prompted me to research and talk to others involved in pet therapy work.  I didn't want to make my breed choice based on a rash emotional decision.  I needed to be well-informed and as confident as I could be in my choice. It would be easy to fall in love with a cute little pup who wasn't suitable for therapy work. Okay, you can't necessarily know for sure if a pup will be appropriate for therapy work at 6 weeks old when you take him/her home but there are temperament tests that can be done to determine suitability for therapy work.

A colleague of mine works in mental health providing therapy to children.  She was kind enough to share her experiences with her therapy dog/training with me and to refer me to someone who not only was a mental health therapist supervisor engaged in this type of work but who was also a dog trainer and breeder of Golden Retrievers.

Allison was very accommodating and spent some time with me on the phone explaining the work she does, her training and the importance of temperament testing in choosing a puppy. She also offers educational sessions to organizations interested in animal assisted therapy type work.

Up to this point I still was not certain of the dog breed I would choose.  I was still drawn to Bernese Mountain Dogs but I also had a interest in Golden retrievers and labs.
These were all breeds commonly used for therapy work and (typically) known to be gentle and good with children.

In order to continue my search I needed approval to move forward in having my desire for a therapy dog in my workplace approved.  So, I scheduled an appointment with our site leader to discuss.  In the meantime I wrote a proposal highlighting the benefits for our center if I were to have a dog accompany me to work.

I also consulted St. John's Ambulance to discuss the process of having a dog take the therapy dog test. St.John's is the organization most people have their dogs tested with in the area where I live.   Additionally, I continued my conversations with Allison from Kenro dog training and I also engaged a past professor of mine from the Faculty of Social Work who had an interest in animal assisted therapy  and who was able to connect me to research in my area of interest.

Next step was to write a proposal, submit it to my site leader, make a presentation to all managers in our facility, discuss with resident council an detrmine if resident's would like for me to have a dog come to work with me. Above that I organized for Allison B.  and one of her therapy dogs from Kenro Dog training to our building and speak about her work with animal assisted interventions and animal visitations.

If you are interested in viewing Allison's site please visit:   http://m.kenrodogtraining.com

Here is the link to the St. John's Ambulance Therapy Dog Program:  http://www.sja.ca/English/Community-Services/Pages/Therapy%20Dog%20Services/default.aspx

How this all started

Having a therapy dog accompany me to work has been a dream of mine ever since I entered in to the social work profession.  In fact, one of my first social work positions involved working with youth with addictions.  Being a new grad, I got my start working the night shift.  At that time I had a black and white border collie/austrailian shepherd mix named Chance.  He was a SPCA adoptee and the sweetest rescue dog I'd ever met.  

The impact Chance had on the kids was fantastic!  On the day's that I would bring him to work my rapport with the kids increased enormously.  Minus all the hair he shed there really weren't any negatives about bringing him.  Not only did my dog help smooth out the night time routine for the kids/staff but he also helped me get through those long, long nights.  He was such a sweet dog and very loving.  Chance would refuse to go to sleep even though I'd bring his comfy bed.  He'd fight his sleepiness along with me and stare at me with those puppy bloodshot eyes.  

I've had a few different positions within health care, but the timing in my career and the timing in my life didn't allow me to pursue it until recently.  Chance, our old guy, passed away in June of 2014.  He lived to be 14 years old and our family still misses him very much.  Our kids would hug him when they were feeling sad (or happy!); as babies, crawling to the dog was a huge motivator; he'd 'wash' the kitchen floor for me after kids finished eating; loved, loved, loved his walks/runs; and no matter what he was always happy to see me.  Somehow he knew the second I was sad and would offer comfort by a touch, nudge, or laying his head on my lap and looking into my eyes.  That dog loved us and we loved him.....he's forever in our hearts.  

After Chance passed I swore I'd not get another dog and that we were just to busy with work and kids.  However, it didn't take long and I was longing for another fur baby :)  I'd recently started a positon in a long term care facility which allowed volunteers and family members to bring pets in to visit residents.  Apparently, a few years back one of the locked units (or neighbourhood) had a resident cat!

Timing in my personal life and in my career matched up and I begain thinking about how I could move forward on making my dream of working in partnership with a canaine therapist a reality .......