Transcript
WEBVTT
00:00:02.081 --> 00:00:14.775
Welcome to the Starlight Pet Talk podcast, where we'll talk about and explore ways to help pet parents and future pet parents learn everything they need to know to have a happy and healthy relationship with their pet.
00:00:14.775 --> 00:00:22.952
So sit up and stay for Starlight Pet Talk rescue, adoption and pet parenting done right.
00:00:24.521 --> 00:00:28.390
If you're a fan of Starlight Pet Talk, you'll love our new line of merchandise.
00:00:28.390 --> 00:00:33.000
We have t-shirts, hoodies and more, all featuring your favorite podcast logos and designs.
00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:40.000
Plus, we're offering a limited number of Starlight Outreach and Rescue items where a portion of the proceeds go directly to Animal Rescue.
00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:47.000
Our merchandise is the perfect way to show your support for your favorite pet podcast and Animal Rescue at the same time.
00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:48.402
So what are you waiting for?
00:00:48.402 --> 00:00:54.893
Just visit our website at wwwstarlightpettalkcom to order your merchandise today.
00:00:56.023 --> 00:00:57.286
Welcome to Starlight Pet Talk.
00:00:57.286 --> 00:01:09.575
I'm your host, amy Castro, and in past episode we've covered the topic of service dogs and emotional support animals and animals that are just pets, and how each type of animal is a little bit different.
00:01:09.575 --> 00:01:20.375
But today we're diving into a new world and that is the world of therapy animals, specifically dogs, with my favorite dog expert, friend and speaker colleague, sandy Weaver.
00:01:20.375 --> 00:01:55.733
Sandy's been a guest on the show before really kind of when we first started sharing her expertise as a longtime dog show judge and breeder, and she really helped to educate us about the differences between purebred dogs and your you know mutts, for lack of a better term when it comes to pets, and what we're looking for in a lifelong companion, sandy, is the program director at the Center for Workplace Happiness and in that capacity she works with some of my favorite people veterinarians and their teams, as well as leaders in the pet industry to create stronger leaders, stronger teams and more resilient team members.
00:01:56.221 --> 00:02:22.000
When she's not doing that, as if she's not busy enough, she spends her time training her dogs for the things that they love to do, and while training her very gorgeous, a standard poodle, archie, in obedience and rally which you need to go back and listen to that other episode that she was on, because she went into good detail explaining all of that she kind of realized that he didn't love that activity as much as she'd noticed that he loved interacting with children and people who seemed like they were stressed out.
00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:35.548
And on one particular day she realized, like two of her previous Siberian Huskies, that she had the privilege to own and love and share the world with as therapy dogs, that Archie was born to be a therapy dog, so now he is.
00:02:35.548 --> 00:02:38.000
So, sandy, thank you so much for coming back to the show.
00:02:39.283 --> 00:02:40.949
Thanks so much, amy, it's good to be here.
00:02:41.841 --> 00:02:45.164
You know our fellow speaker colleagues Elisa Hayes and Donna Mack.
00:02:45.164 --> 00:02:53.876
They had come on the show and we had a really good discussion back and forth about service animals and what constitutes or doesn't constitute a service animal.
00:02:53.876 --> 00:03:03.979
We talked about guide dogs for the blind, we talked about emotional support animals and actually we talked about the downside of people that fake emotional support animals or service animals.
00:03:03.979 --> 00:03:10.774
So we've talked a lot about different roles that dogs play, but I don't know why it never came up but we didn't talk about therapy dogs.
00:03:10.774 --> 00:03:14.000
So what is a therapy dog as opposed to those other types of dogs?
00:03:14.219 --> 00:03:16.866
Well, the other types of dogs, and this is a great question.
00:03:16.866 --> 00:03:20.894
The other types of dogs are designed to work for one person.
00:03:20.894 --> 00:03:28.468
The service animal is trained up and given over to one human being and they become a team.
00:03:28.468 --> 00:03:32.173
The dog is not working for or with anybody else.
00:03:32.173 --> 00:03:33.033
It is.
00:03:33.033 --> 00:03:34.836
Those two are teamed up.
00:03:35.039 --> 00:03:39.752
Okay same thing with an emotional support animal true emotional support animals, real ones.
00:03:39.752 --> 00:03:44.983
And boy, we could do a whole show on the people who fake it Sadly, there are a lot of people who do.
00:03:44.983 --> 00:03:55.000
But true emotional support animals are actually have a prescription from a medical professional written to that person that says you need to have an animal with you at all times.
00:03:55.000 --> 00:04:06.000
And the emotional support animal receives a specific kind of training, not as much as the service animal, but it is with that person and by prescription, so it's working with that person.
00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:09.704
Therapy animals, on the other hand, live with me.
00:04:09.704 --> 00:04:13.147
I am their person, or whoever is their owner.
00:04:13.147 --> 00:04:14.569
We're their person.
00:04:14.569 --> 00:04:22.959
But they're meant to work for other people and they're meant to be with other people and to assist other people in a bunch of different ways.
00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:34.172
And so you can kind of think of what your dog's personality is and think about who would benefit from a dog with that personality.
00:04:34.211 --> 00:04:41.980
So if you're thinking about having a therapy dog, what I knew about Archie is that he doesn't like a lot of raucous, crazy behavior around him.
00:04:41.980 --> 00:04:44.285
He's sort of the rule dog.
00:04:44.285 --> 00:04:45.406
He's the fun police.
00:04:45.406 --> 00:04:48.673
If there's too much fun going on, he's pretty sure it needs to calm down.
00:04:48.673 --> 00:05:02.000
So I knew he's not the one that's going to go to a playhouse or a summer camp or situation like that where it's likely to be a bunch of kids running around, because he's not going to like that very much.
00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:04.903
He loves working in a library.
00:05:04.903 --> 00:05:07.548
He loves working in a really quiet situation.
00:05:07.548 --> 00:05:14.178
He loves men in the nursing homes that we have visited, doesn't love the women in nursing homes so much.
00:05:14.178 --> 00:05:15.000
He's really an interesting dog.
00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:21.000
I'm still learning about him, so figuring out the positions to put him in and the positions to not put him in.
00:05:22.122 --> 00:05:22.903
Yeah, that's a good point.
00:05:22.903 --> 00:05:32.000
I guess I always kind of thought about and not that I've put a ton of thought into therapy dogs, but I did at one time, and I may have told this story on the show before, but I'll give you the brief version.
00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:34.886
So I had this beautiful Doberman pincher.
00:05:34.886 --> 00:05:36.689
I had worked really hard to train him.
00:05:36.689 --> 00:05:44.504
He did have some issues with dog aggression, with strange dogs, and so we had gone through a lot of different training.
00:05:44.564 --> 00:05:59.790
We went to the Canine Good Citizen Assessment and I literally had the pass paper in my hand when he turned around and saw a boxer charging towards him and went rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, and the guy took it right out of my hand and took it away.
00:05:59.790 --> 00:06:07.773
I had a friend at the time that had Dobermans that she brought into hospitals and nursing homes and I thought, oh, that's going to be the perfect thing for us.
00:06:07.773 --> 00:06:19.774
And I think it's interesting that you say it's not about just being a therapy dog, it's about finding the right situations and people that are a good fit for that dog, because it's not going to be every person in every situation.
00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:24.326
Exactly, and with the therapy dog work, most of the time there's not another dog around.
00:06:24.326 --> 00:06:31.939
So if you can pass the therapy certification, you just never put your dog in the position of having another dog around.
00:06:31.939 --> 00:06:39.110
You visit at nursing homes, you visit at hospitals Well, hospitals, sometimes there will be another dog around, but you visit at nursing homes.
00:06:39.110 --> 00:06:44.862
Typically there's one dog in the place and it's the one you bring in, so what made you?
00:06:44.942 --> 00:06:45.865
I mean, you're so busy.
00:06:45.865 --> 00:06:48.088
You're running around the world as a speaker.
00:06:48.088 --> 00:06:49.651
You know you're a dog show judge.
00:06:49.651 --> 00:06:55.000
I see you're doing training classes for people who want to show, which that's a whole another great subject we should talk about sometime.
00:06:55.000 --> 00:07:00.000
But what made you decide to now take on another project with Archie and with your other dogs?
00:07:00.802 --> 00:07:03.206
Well, archie is my third, as you mentioned, so thank you.
00:07:03.206 --> 00:07:08.939
He is my third therapy dog and the first one I just I wanted to share her.
00:07:08.939 --> 00:07:16.000
She was really special and she'd finished her championship and she'd finished an obedience title and she'd finished her agility career.
00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:21.973
She was about eight or nine when we started doing therapy work and she was pretty much retired from everything else.
00:07:21.973 --> 00:07:30.000
But I love doing things with her and I thought what can I do with her that she would like that doesn't take a whole lot of training, but she would like it.
00:07:31.942 --> 00:07:36.891
And about that time a friend of mine asked me she has golden, has always had golden retrievers.
00:07:36.891 --> 00:07:41.000
She said I'm thinking about getting her current golden retriever into being a therapy dog.
00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:43.492
What do you know about therapy work?
00:07:43.492 --> 00:07:45.000
I said I don't know anything, let's learn together.
00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:54.000
So we did and we went and took the training class together and we took the test together and we joined the same organization together and we never saw each other again.
00:07:54.000 --> 00:08:00.007
So in our therapy partner work because she went one direction and I went another direction with Chapin.
00:08:00.007 --> 00:08:10.000
But it was really fulfilling and it was wonderful to watch her know exactly what each person that she interacted with needed.
00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:19.055
Chapin was intuitive like that Not normally a trait that one thinks about when one thinks about a Siberian Husky, to be perfectly honest, but there are a lot of them that are.
00:08:19.055 --> 00:08:24.786
I mean, first of all, they're very smart breed, but she was really tuned into people.
00:08:24.786 --> 00:08:33.000
And then, several years later I had another one who was really tuned into people and so when I saw that with Archie, I realized what it was.
00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:34.822
I'm going to digress a moment.
00:08:35.384 --> 00:08:39.350
I had a thought as I was working with him in a parking lot one afternoon.
00:08:39.350 --> 00:08:47.624
I was doing training with both of my dogs, we were getting ready for a trial coming up, I think, and I was training him and he was working with me and he was being really good.
00:08:47.624 --> 00:08:58.898
But every time somebody would walk by with like a shopping cart or a mom and a kid in a stroller, a kid in her hand, he would break off his focus on me and look at them and it was really sweet the way he was doing it.
00:08:58.898 --> 00:09:00.756
I mean, the energy felt really sweet.
00:09:00.756 --> 00:09:02.095
It was like he was curious about them.
00:09:02.095 --> 00:09:06.477
It popped into my head one of these days he's gonna make a really good therapy dog.
00:09:06.477 --> 00:09:10.859
But I don't have time now, but one of these days, this dog will make a good therapy dog.
00:09:11.289 --> 00:09:15.778
And then later that day my friend with the Golden's called me and said I'm thinking about doing therapy again.
00:09:15.778 --> 00:09:17.355
Can you point me in the right direction?
00:09:17.355 --> 00:09:18.052
So I did.
00:09:18.052 --> 00:09:24.738
I gave her the organization that I'd worked with with my previous dogs, because the one that we had worked with together had folded.
00:09:24.738 --> 00:09:36.296
And then a couple of days later somebody out of the blue emailed me and said I'm really interested in getting a therapy dog to work with the children in my school, and I know you're really into dogs, so can you help me with therapy dogs.
00:09:36.296 --> 00:09:40.351
And it's like okay, fine, whoever it is that's up there, I get it.
00:09:40.351 --> 00:09:44.636
Now is apparently Archie's time, because therapy doesn't come up like that.
00:09:44.636 --> 00:09:51.437
I bet I hadn't heard the words therapy dog in a sentence in a year and then three times within three days.
00:09:51.437 --> 00:09:55.214
So apparently Archie was meant to be a therapy dog and I was meant to do it now.
00:09:55.214 --> 00:09:57.229
So that's what we're doing.
00:09:58.192 --> 00:09:59.397
Yeah, there's your sign right.
00:09:59.929 --> 00:10:00.572
Yep, pretty much.
00:10:00.572 --> 00:10:01.451
Thank you, bill.
00:10:01.451 --> 00:10:02.431
Involve, I'll take.
00:10:02.431 --> 00:10:03.514
Here's my sign.
00:10:04.350 --> 00:10:04.855
Exactly.
00:10:04.855 --> 00:10:11.678
So what exactly does Archie do in his role as a therapy dog in a library with kids?
00:10:11.678 --> 00:10:12.937
I mean, he's obviously not reading books.
00:10:14.173 --> 00:10:15.008
Yes, he is.
00:10:15.311 --> 00:10:15.532
Is he?
00:10:15.552 --> 00:10:16.115
reading books.
00:10:16.115 --> 00:10:17.317
That is the illusion.
00:10:17.317 --> 00:10:19.177
Yes, that is the illusion.
00:10:19.177 --> 00:10:38.895
This is an advanced level of therapy work that we had to do some additional training and mainly the training was for me and then he had to do a supervised visit to make sure that he was gonna be appropriate with the kids and patient and able to lay still and behave himself and stay focused on each of the four children who came in as we worked.
00:10:38.895 --> 00:10:49.696
So we did that and he really likes kids and he really likes laying down, he likes really low key environment.
00:10:49.696 --> 00:10:51.495
So I taught him to read books.
00:10:51.889 --> 00:10:58.615
But the whole concept of the read program and it is a nationwide program, you can do it from anywhere.
00:10:58.615 --> 00:11:00.014
You just have to contact.
00:11:00.014 --> 00:11:16.878
You know it's R period, e period, a period, d period and it's inter-mountain therapy animals, I think out of Salt Lake City, utah, created it and licensed it for use all over the place and the whole concept is you work with first, second and third graders one on one.
00:11:16.878 --> 00:11:30.933
So I'm there with Archie and there's a child there with a book that they've chosen and they're reading the book to Archie and it's to help kids get more confident in their reading skills because if they get out of second grade and they still can't read.
00:11:30.933 --> 00:11:34.755
They are way behind and they will probably not catch up.
00:11:34.755 --> 00:11:43.437
So this read program can be done in schools, but the school commitment is typically once a week and I could not make that commitment.
00:11:43.437 --> 00:11:50.517
So I work with local libraries and we go in two times a month and sit down, and one at a time.
00:11:50.576 --> 00:11:57.038
A child comes in, picks out their book, reads the book to Archie and I ask them to hold it so that they can see the pictures.
00:11:57.038 --> 00:12:06.575
And if they wanna explain some words or explain the pictures or Archie might ask a question, I have to ask it because Archie wants to know what color that ball is.
00:12:06.575 --> 00:12:10.432
Archie wants to know how many things are wrong in this picture.
00:12:10.432 --> 00:12:14.017
You know, if it's that kind of a book, there's 12 things wrong on this page.
00:12:14.017 --> 00:12:16.136
Can you show Archie all the wrong things?
00:12:16.136 --> 00:12:17.495
He wants to know all the wrong things.
00:12:18.169 --> 00:12:21.195
And then a good way to help the child when they're struggling to read.
00:12:21.195 --> 00:12:26.177
There's a rule that if the child misses five words on one page the book is too hard for them.
00:12:26.177 --> 00:12:30.676
So Archie says he doesn't understand a lot of the words in this book.
00:12:30.676 --> 00:12:34.417
So can we pick a different one that he might understand a little better.
00:12:34.417 --> 00:12:36.738
So you're not telling the child they can't read.
00:12:36.738 --> 00:12:39.378
You're telling the child the dog doesn't understand.
00:12:39.378 --> 00:12:43.075
Archie loved the training for this to pay attention to the book.
00:12:43.075 --> 00:12:54.515
You take a book that I picked up at Goodwill and I tucked training treats in between the pages and I sat down and opened up the book and Archie's looking around like I don't even know what we're doing here.
00:12:54.710 --> 00:13:00.315
This was before he'd done anything, and so I'd start reading the book out loud and then I'd say Archie, look.
00:13:00.315 --> 00:13:04.778
And I'd point to the page and he'd stick his nose down there and there was a treat.
00:13:04.778 --> 00:13:12.633
So now when there's a really cool picture, I can just go Archie, look, and he puts his nose down at the book and the kids are just.
00:13:12.633 --> 00:13:16.913
They're completely convinced that they're reading the book to Archie and he's understanding.
00:13:16.913 --> 00:13:18.956
So they're helping him learn how to read.
00:13:19.549 --> 00:13:20.914
I need to see some video of that.
00:13:20.914 --> 00:13:29.264
I bet it's adorable, because he's such a beautiful dog too and, just you know, I could just picture his little face or his big face, because he's a big boy, he's a big dog, yeah.
00:13:29.649 --> 00:13:47.894
Yeah so when you said he was a therapy dog, I'm glad I asked the question about what he did, because I made a lot of assumptions about what a therapy dog is and I envisioned you guys were going to nursing homes and Archie was, you know, sitting with residents in wheelchairs or, you know, front feet up on the bed so they can pet him.
00:13:47.894 --> 00:13:53.798
So it sounds like there's a lot of different types of therapy work that therapy dogs can do.
00:13:54.409 --> 00:13:56.738
Absolutely all kinds of therapy work.
00:13:56.738 --> 00:14:13.397
There are physical therapy places that use canine-assisted physical therapy so your dog can receive special training for that and if they are okay around that kind of situation or physical therapist wants to do canine-assisted or animal-assisted physical therapy, they can work in a setting like that.
00:14:13.397 --> 00:14:16.658
They can work in a school, they can work in a nursing home.
00:14:16.658 --> 00:14:19.597
They can become staff members at a hospital.
00:14:19.597 --> 00:14:24.216
The local children's hospital of Atlanta has staff member golden retrievers.
00:14:24.216 --> 00:14:31.796
Now obviously it's their person that's on the payroll, but they have regular rounds that they are allowed, I believe even in the ICU.
00:14:31.796 --> 00:14:36.135
As a therapy team we can visit, but we can't go into patient rooms.
00:14:36.135 --> 00:14:43.934
The patients have to come to us in a common area at the hospital but the staff dogs can go anywhere in the hospital and they are there all the time.
00:14:44.850 --> 00:14:59.177
Yeah, I've even seen a couple of articles over the years of therapy dogs being brought into workplaces after tragic situations, or even colleges during exam time to help students with stress and anxiety.
00:14:59.177 --> 00:15:11.657
So it just goes to show the power of our bond with animals and how much of a positive impact they have on our lives, especially in situations where we're ill or we're struggling or we're under stress.
00:15:11.657 --> 00:15:13.114
It's pretty amazing.
00:15:13.929 --> 00:15:18.277
It's astonishing to me how intuitive all three of my therapy dogs have been.
00:15:18.277 --> 00:15:26.312
I've had Siberian Huskies for 44 years, I think this year, and they're all different, they're all unique, they're all individual.
00:15:26.312 --> 00:15:27.476
They're all really wonderful.
00:15:27.476 --> 00:15:41.796
But I've had two Siberians and one poodle who are really intuitive dogs and that's the characteristic that I saw immediately in Archie was that he can just read people and know exactly what they need.
00:15:42.269 --> 00:15:45.995
Well, and we all know, poodles are super, duper smart, as are Siberian Huskies.
00:15:45.995 --> 00:15:57.138
That brings a question and I think I know the answer already, but I wanna make sure that our listeners know this as well, because you've talked about Siberian Huskies, your standard poodle golden retrievers.
00:15:57.138 --> 00:15:59.857
You see any mutt therapy dogs out there?
00:16:00.070 --> 00:16:03.498
Absolutely yeah, and they're AKC all kinds combined.
00:16:03.498 --> 00:16:04.933
I stole that from the theory, but yeah.
00:16:04.933 --> 00:16:12.441
I don't love the mutt word because people say it and they feel like it's either less than or a badge of honor.
00:16:12.441 --> 00:16:13.472
But it's not.
00:16:13.472 --> 00:16:14.476
All dogs are AKC.
00:16:14.476 --> 00:16:17.357
They're either third, or they're all kinds combined.
00:16:17.357 --> 00:16:18.100
It's okay.
00:16:18.100 --> 00:16:21.717
As long as the dog is loved, then the dog has what it needs and it doesn't matter.
00:16:21.970 --> 00:16:47.333
But yes, there are many, many, many mixed breed therapy dogs, yeah, and I've seen all the shapes and sizes too, from little bitty dogs, because I've often thought my little tinky, my little six-mall chihuahua, of all the chihuahua's I've met in my life and I've met a lot of them, of all the chihuahua's I've met in my life, and I've met a lot of them Kindest like, not afraid of strangers, kindest like, you know, just good with everybody, not afraid of strangers, little kids, she's just good with everybody, just because she's so cute and sweet.
00:16:47.354 --> 00:16:52.274
She would be great going around, but visiting with people just because she's so cute and send me the hate mail.
00:16:52.274 --> 00:16:53.278
Don't send it to any.
00:16:53.278 --> 00:16:53.972
Send it to me.
00:16:53.972 --> 00:16:55.875
Are you sure she's a chihuahua?
00:16:57.735 --> 00:16:59.759
No, that sounds like a wonderful personality.
00:16:59.759 --> 00:17:11.673
So, as far as the training goes because obviously your random person's not gonna just start running into a library with their dog what kind of training is required to get certified as a therapy dog?
00:17:12.776 --> 00:17:22.494
So the first thing that you need to think about when you're thinking about wanting to do therapy work with your dog is Do you and your dog have the right personality for it?
00:17:22.494 --> 00:17:33.741
And by that I mean you've got to be a people person, you've got to like people and you've got to like dealing with people, because they're gonna want to go after your dog and you're gonna have to intercept sometimes.
00:17:33.741 --> 00:17:38.434
And can your dog handle it if you can't intercept fast enough?
00:17:38.434 --> 00:17:50.545
Because sometimes people just come charging at dogs even adults who should know better come charging at dogs and they want to pet the dog and they got to touch the dog and they want to hug the dog, and we all know how dogs love hugs not.
00:17:50.545 --> 00:17:53.924
Yeah, no, no, no, no.
00:17:53.924 --> 00:17:55.795
One of the best ways to get bitten is to hug a dog.
00:17:55.795 --> 00:17:57.781
So you have to think about that.
00:17:58.324 --> 00:18:01.555
And then most people don't consider the legal aspects of it.
00:18:01.555 --> 00:18:14.424
If you are putting your dog in a position where any dog with teeth can bite that, it might bite somebody who might be likely to sue you for everything you own, it might be a good idea to make sure you have some insurance coverage.
00:18:14.424 --> 00:18:25.426
So the best advice that I have if you want to do therapy is to look at the national therapy organizations Like ATD, association of Therapy Dogs I think they are therapy dog org.
00:18:25.426 --> 00:18:29.006
It's easy and that's the one I'm with and have been with for my other two dogs too.
00:18:29.006 --> 00:18:40.575
So you just go there and you register yourself and you register the dog that you're going to be working with and in order to even complete their training, you have to pass a background check.
00:18:40.575 --> 00:18:50.174
So they do a criminal background check on you to start with, because you're going to be Representing that organization and for their insurance coverage to cover you, they need to know who you are.
00:18:50.615 --> 00:18:56.489
So you have to be okay with having a background check and having people ask you some potentially uncomfortable questions.
00:18:56.489 --> 00:19:05.115
Then you'll work with a local tester and you'll go with that person with your dog and they'll do an initial test before they take you anywhere.
00:19:05.115 --> 00:19:16.414
And then typically there are three or four visits that you have to do before they set you free and say, yes, okay, you're a card carry, an ATD member, because you actually get a card for the dog.
00:19:16.414 --> 00:19:20.402
It's a little red heart-shaped tag and on a visit they have to have that on.
00:19:20.402 --> 00:19:24.349
But the test is like a CGC on steroids.
00:19:24.349 --> 00:19:27.545
So it's a CGC test which has ten elements.
00:19:27.545 --> 00:19:28.178
You know.
00:19:28.218 --> 00:19:29.886
Your dog has to walk nicely on lead.
00:19:29.886 --> 00:19:31.315
Your dog has to sit calmly.
00:19:31.315 --> 00:19:34.555
It has to greet a friendly dog and greet a friendly stranger.
00:19:34.555 --> 00:19:40.230
Let a stranger touch it anywhere, including pick up its feet, brush it three minutes separation.
00:19:40.230 --> 00:19:42.075
And your dog has to remain relatively calm.
00:19:42.075 --> 00:19:47.759
They can worry a little bit but they can't stand there and incessantly bark and shriek and lunge and try to get to you.
00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:48.742
That will fail you.
00:19:49.324 --> 00:19:51.127
And then there are a few other elements.
00:19:51.637 --> 00:20:04.560
They have to be okay with somebody coming by with a wheelchair and they have to be okay with somebody doing a startling thing from behind, like suddenly opening an umbrella right behind them or Dropping something that makes a clanging noise right behind them.
00:20:04.981 --> 00:20:14.724
And, depending on the organization that you're testing through, you might also have a really yummy plate of food put down on the floor and the dog is allowed to start eating the food.
00:20:14.724 --> 00:20:24.038
And then they take a yard stick with a stuffed gardening glove and they take the food away from the dog and the dog cannot attack the glove, cannot?
00:20:24.038 --> 00:20:31.126
It can be a little resentful like and it can try to guard, but it can't do anything that looks aggressive at the glove.
00:20:31.126 --> 00:20:33.644
So there's those kind of fun things.
00:20:33.644 --> 00:20:41.446
There's dog has to have a good recall from 30 feet, though I don't know why in the therapy situation you would ever let your dog be that far away from you.
00:20:41.446 --> 00:20:43.680
Four-foot lead is the standard.
00:20:43.680 --> 00:20:45.826
They've got to stay close so that you're in control.
00:20:45.826 --> 00:20:50.335
But if you can pass that, then you can go that is a lot.
00:20:51.038 --> 00:20:54.734
That's why it's like a CGC with a few extra elements.
00:20:54.734 --> 00:21:01.949
So you can get your dog ready by just going to any local CGC training class, and most dog training places have a CGC class.
00:21:01.949 --> 00:21:16.335
So it's eight weeks and on graduation you take the CGC test as your last element and you either pass or you don't pass, and if you don't pass, they help you out, you know, giving you ideas on how to work on the things that didn't quite go as well as you had hoped they would.
00:21:16.335 --> 00:21:23.894
So, speaking about intuition, my groomer is a hundred percent convinced that Archie has missed his calling and doesn't need to be therapy dog.
00:21:23.894 --> 00:21:34.462
He needs to be a seizure alert dog and he's been going to this particular groomer for nearly two years and she's fabulous, she is wonderful and she loves him.
00:21:34.462 --> 00:21:36.347
They have a co-love affair going on.
00:21:36.347 --> 00:21:40.711
She says he is so bitable he will do anything she wants him to do.
00:21:40.711 --> 00:21:41.714
He stands on the table.
00:21:41.714 --> 00:21:57.611
She brushes him out, she does his nails, he, when she asked him to jump off the table, he jumps off the table, walks to the bathtub, waits to be put in the bathtub, stands there, gets his bath, waits for the towel to, you know, to dry, and then she takes him out of the bathtub, takes him back to the table.
00:21:57.611 --> 00:21:58.515
He's up on the table.
00:21:58.515 --> 00:22:00.160
He stands there till she's finished with him.
00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:02.465
She she says he's just a dream.
00:22:03.016 --> 00:22:14.934
Well, on his last grooming session he would not quit staring at one of her dogs and he was staring at her and missy thought it was funny and said oh well, here's what we'll do.
00:22:14.934 --> 00:22:18.494
We would let you guys have puppies, except neither one of you has the parts for it.
00:22:18.494 --> 00:22:21.183
But she is really pretty and the two of you would make pretty puppies.
00:22:21.183 --> 00:22:24.747
She just thought he was falling in love with her, but he wouldn't get off the table.
00:22:24.747 --> 00:22:36.450
When she said get off the table, and she had to drag him to the bathtub because he wanted to stay with that dog and In the bathtub he started thrashing around trying to get out of the bathtub and then she heard another thrashing.
00:22:36.450 --> 00:22:38.035
Her poodle was having a seizure.
00:22:38.035 --> 00:22:44.445
Her Poodle had not had a seizure in six years and Archie had never misbehaved before.
00:22:45.248 --> 00:22:47.978
And so Same thing on the same day.
00:22:47.978 --> 00:22:49.441
I don't think so.
00:22:49.441 --> 00:22:51.244
Yeah, it's not a coincidence.
00:22:51.244 --> 00:22:53.388
He knew, he knew something was up with her.
00:22:53.388 --> 00:22:58.295
And so now I think back and I I feel like the worst dog owner ever.
00:22:58.295 --> 00:23:07.718
I think back on the times when I thought he was misbehaving and now I wonder what I was missing, because he was probably Kied into something.
00:23:07.718 --> 00:23:10.484
And now I'm a little more attentive with him.
