7 Future Assistance Dogs

Seven puppies will be flying in style to Phoenix as part of a special service dog mission.

Volunteer pilot, Jeff Stewart, who is also the owner of Blue Star Gas, will be flying seven puppies to Phoenix on his personal plane. Three of the pups will stay in Phoenix while the other four will continue on to New Mexico.

Volunteer “puppy raisers” will provide care and training for the dogs until they are able to become assistance animals through Canine Companions for Independence.

The group provides free assistance dogs to people with disabilities.

Canine Companions says they generally rely on commercial airlines to help transport puppies across the country, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, that’s become difficult. They’re now using the help of a nonprofit organization that connects volunteer pilots and plane owners with animal groups that need animal transportation.

So far, private pilots have flown 50 Canine Companion puppies from California to other states.

Service Dog Changed Boy’s Life

When Canis first tentatively allowed Homo to touch it some 30,000 years ago, neither could know that their friendship would grow and change into a relationship that would save lives and nourish souls.

Fast forward to 2020 and meet Crew Field and his dog, Boo. Crew is a 10-year-old boy who has suffered from epilepsy his entire life. Boo, a 2-year-old Goldendoodle (golden retriever and poodle mix), is helping Crew manage his seizures.

“The seizures were frequent and uncontrollable,” said Crew’s father, Chad Field, a surgical instrument company representative from Meridian. “We tried everything. We even took him to the University of Oregon for evaluation.”

The Oregon doctors recommended CBD oil, but it didn’t work, Field said. He and his wife, Lindsie, kept looking for anything to help their son.

Finally, a medical professional suggested they look into getting a service dog.

“Service dogs can serve many roles,” said Adam Gerson, assistant program manager for therapy dogs at Helping Idaho Dogs, Inc. The nonprofit organization’s motto is “Strengthening the canine-human relationship through education and compassionate interactions.”

But not all helping dogs are the same, according to the nonprofit’s website.

“Our organization is mostly made up of therapy dogs, not service dogs,” Gerson said, in a recent interview. Gerson has a black, 100-pound standard poodle named Stanley. “Service dogs are especially trained for specific tasks, whereas therapy dogs can fulfill many roles.”

Helping Idaho Dogs volunteer, Jennifer Rankin, and her dog, Cody, a white, 12-pound, 6-year-old Maltese and Shih Tzu mix, make rounds at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center on Curtis Avenue in Boise every Tuesday.

“Cody lasts about an hour, 90 minutes at most,” Rankin said as she checked in at the front desk in the lobby. Cody warms up by visiting staff in the oncology unit before heading into the outpatient infusion center.

“Some days we will go to the ICU visitor waiting room or the peds unit if he’s feeling up for it,” Rankin said. Cody clearly puts a lot of effort into his weekly rounds, trotting from room to room and patiently sitting still while being petted.

While checking in at the infusion unit nursing station, a nurse told Rankin that one of the patients was willing to have a picture with the dog.

Diane Markus wore a scarf over her head and her gown draped off of her right shoulder, exposing an infusion port just above her breast. “I just love dogs, even this little guy, even though I don’t know him,” she said, smiling as Rankin lifted Cody into the chair with her.

Helping Idaho Dogs’ Gerson is also the point of contact with Saint Alphonsus for scheduling therapy dog visits. He is a volunteer in the Healing Paws program, which develops and trains health care teams for animal assisted therapy and assistance in daily activities.

Gerson said it’s more complicated than it first appears. Dogs, and other animals such as cats and miniature horses, have different training for emotional support, assisted therapy, assisted education and assisted activities.

“I have always wanted to help people beyond my OSHA role as a compliance officer,” Gerson wrote in a recent email interview. “Working with HID allows me to do this.”

Darcel Pecyna started with Helping Idaho Dogs in 2012 and is the current director.

“For years I had wanted to be able to share my dog with other people to bring them the joy that only a well-behaved and trained pet can do,” Pecyna said in a recent email interview. “I’ve always believed in the powerful connections that happen between a person and a dog or other pet.”

Helping Idaho Dogs’ Gerson is also the point of contact with Saint Alphonsus for scheduling therapy dog visits. He is a volunteer in the Healing Paws program, which develops and trains health care teams for animal assisted therapy and assistance in daily activities.

Gerson said it’s more complicated than it first appears. Dogs, and other animals such as cats and miniature horses, have different training for emotional support, assisted therapy, assisted education and assisted activities.

“I have always wanted to help people beyond my OSHA role as a compliance officer,” Gerson wrote in a recent email interview. “Working with HID allows me to do this.”

Darcel Pecyna started with Helping Idaho Dogs in 2012 and is the current director.

“For years I had wanted to be able to share my dog with other people to bring them the joy that only a well-behaved and trained pet can do,” Pecyna said in a recent email interview. “I’ve always believed in the powerful connections that happen between a person and a dog or other pet.”

Kids Read To Therapy Dogs

A fun program in the D.C. area gives kids the opportunity to read to therapy dogs.

The D.C. nonprofit People Animals Love (PAL), switched from in-person to virtual meetings, and sessions are booking up fast. To meet demand, PAL is adding 120 reading slots next week.

Sessions are free and done over Zoom. In Bethesda, 8-year-old Zac Wancjer and his mom Dana told News4 the sessions give them something to look forward to.

“Zac is a huge dog-lover,” his mom began to say.

“And a huge reading lover!” Zac interjected.

“So the combination of the two has made it the perfect activity,” Dana Wancjer continued.

Before the pandemic, PAL visited 30 D.C.-area libraries. The nonprofit coordinates about 500 individually owned dogs, and a few cats, to provide comfort to people in places including hospitals, schools and prisons.

Now children are practicing reading virtually. Sessions start with introductions involving the entire group. Then each child goes into a virtual breakout room and reads to a therapy dog and their handler. After about 12 minutes, they switch and read to another dog.

“Dogs are not critical when kids make mistakes. So, I think it helps give them confidence, and it’s also a lot of fun,” Dana Wancjer said.

PAL Volunteer Kerri Schepers says the sessions have been rewarding and give parents a much-needed break.

“They don’t have to be responsible for 30 minutes of a 16-hour day, in this time of COVID. So, I think for them, it gives them a little bit of relief and their child learns something at the same time,” she said.

Therapy Dog For Students

Pet Power

Don’t tell Karma — who, like all cats, thinks she’s the bee’s knees, but the truest friend among feline kind was Sasha. (No disrespect, Cameron fans, to Sammie The World’s Greatest.)

As a young woman I had a condition with chronic pain. Somehow Sasha always knew. Without prompting she invariably cuddled close, ever so gently avoiding the painful area, until I felt better.

That kind of compassion isn’t the only benefit of the pets gracing an estimated 68 percent of American households. Beyond easing loneliness, scientific studies funded or reported by the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control suggest pets help decrease stress and lessen pain, lower blood pressure and cholesterol, improve heart health, help children develop life skills, and much more.

A mere piddle (hey, they can’t help it) in the ocean of pet benefits, here are 10 ways relationships with pets can make life better:

1. Longevity

The 2017 study “Dog ownership and the risk of cardiovascular disease and death” followed 3.4 million Swedish dog owners for 12 years. The researchers found that single-person householders with a dog were 33 percent less likely to die and 36 percent less likely to have cardiovascular disease. Another 2019 review (of nearly 70 years of research) published in the journal Circulation found that dog ownership generally lowers the risk of death from any cause by 24 percent.

2. Better immunity, less stress

While those with allergies to pet dander can really suffer, having pets in early childhood may actually help. A 2018 Danish study published in the Journal of Allery and Clinical Immunology followed nearly 400 children from birth to 12 years and found that newborns who live with cats actually have a lower risk of asthma, pneumonia and bronchitis, as well as fewer pet allergies later on.

A 2016 study in the New England Journal of Medicine found Amish and Hutterite farm children are less likely to have asthma, due to exposure to certain beneficial bacteria in livestock.

Later in life, even petting a pooch can help boost the immune system and reduce harmful stress. The 2004 study “Effect of Petting a Dog on Immune System Function” compared college students who petted a real dog for 18 minutes with those who petted a stuffed dog or simply sat quietly. The dog-petters’ blood had increased immunoglobulin levels (an immune defense).

Modern frenetic lifestyles seem to create more stress than ever, which increases the risk of all kinds of health problems. Too many studies to list indicate regular contact with pets can counteract that by lowering stress hormones (e.g., cortisol) and heart rate, which increase calm feelings.

3. Heart health

There’s a double meaning here, as pets so readily shower us with love. Studies reported by the American Heart Association concluded dog owners have a lower risk of developing heart disease, as well as decreased risks for patients who already have it (Levine et. al. 2020).

Not to diss cats. A 10-year study in the Archives of Internal Medicine found cat owners were also 30 percent less likely than non-cat owners to have a heart attack, and 40 percent less likely to die from one.

4. Making friends

Four-legged friends can make people more approachable. In a 1988 study in the Journal of Psychology, people in wheelchairs who had a dog experienced more smiles and conversations with passersby than did those without one.

That’s good news for single guys: In one study (Guéguen and Ciccotti 2008) the same man got more women’s phone numbers when he had a dog (28 percent) compared to attempts without the cute pooch (9 percent).

5. Dementia, healing

Pets must be a special comfort to people suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia, if the increasing number of pet therapy programs in assisted living and hospitals are anything to go by. Canine caregivers can be trained to assist at-home dementia patients with fetching medication, reminders to eat and guiding them home if they’ve wandered. Many assisted-living facilities now have resident pets or offer therapy animal visits to support and stimulate patients.

Some hospitals, including Kootenai Health, have trained pet therapists who visit patients during their stay. Studies have linked creature companions with improving behavioral issues, better healing outcomes, and just making people feel better.

6. Autism

According to the CDC one in 54 American kids are on the autism spectrum, a developmental condition that can make it more challenging to communicate and interact socially. Animals, who have less complicated social expectations than people, can help. A 2015 Purdue study found children with ASD talked and laughed more, cried less and were more social with peers when guinea pigs were around.

ASD animal-assisted therapy programs have recently grown, featuring everything from dogs and dolphins to alpacas and chickens.

7. Depression

I found multiple studies, the most recent in Australia (Powell et. al. 2019), which unsurprisingly found having a pet eases loneliness.

Pet therapy is well recognized by the National Institute of Mental Health. A 2018 review of 17 studies in the journal BMC Psychiatry found evidence that animals can reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety, and long-term mental health conditions.

8. PTSD

Since our veteran son got his specially trained pooch, he says he feels happier and less troubled by his demons. People haunted by effects of combat, personal assault and other traumas are particularly vulnerable to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The above-cited review and other studies have shown the boost of oxytocin (a neuropeptide released when experiencing affection) pets provide can alleviate the flashbacks and feelings of numbness, sadness and anger associated with PTSD.

9. Cancer

Pets and animal-assisted therapy may help cancer patients heal emotionally and physically. Preliminary findings of a multi-year clinical trial by the American Humane Association indicate therapy dogs not only erase loneliness, depression and stress in kids fighting cancer, but also motivate them to eat and better follow treatment recommendations.

10. Pain

Millions of Americans live with chronic pain, which apparently animals can soothe by helping them relax and stimulating feel-good chemicals. In one study (Marcus et. al. 2012), 34 percent of fibromyalgia patients reported pain relief, better mood and less fatigue after spending 10 minutes with a therapy dog, compared to only 4 percent of patients who didn’t. In another study (Havey 2015), joint replacement surgery patients who had daily pet visits needed 28 percent less pain medication than those without animal contact.

Sasha and Sammie know all about that.

Nurse Took Care Of Guide Dog

In mid-March, Joe Tasby, who is blind, walked into the emergency room of Southern Hills Hospital in Las Vegas with his guide dog Cupid. He thought he had torn a shoulder tendon lifting weights. “I thought I’d be able to just walk out in three days, but it ended up being 20,” the Vietnam veteran told CNN.

But when doctors examined the 70-year-old, they discovered lung disease and heart arrhythmia. He was admitted immediately with Cupid by his side.

Tasby began losing his vision five years ago, the result of glaucoma and diabetes. Guide Dogs For the Blind set him up with Cupid last year.

During the first few days in the hospital, Tasby’s daughter Tiffini came to feed and walk Cupid. But while he was there, the coronavirus pandemic hit. Southern Hills Hospital locked down, banned visitors and Tasby’s first worry was how to care for his yellow Labrador retriever.

That’s when Barbara Borbeck, a nurse at the hospital, came into the picture. “Barbara stepped up and said, ‘You don’t worry about that. I will take care of that for you,’” Tasby recalled.

For nearly three weeks, Borbeck walked, fed and cared for Cupid. She even enlisted other hospital staff to help out on her days off. “With the kind of work Cupid does, it’s important that he’s not getting ill and that we maintain his normality,” said Borbeck.

When the yellow Lab ran out of his specialized dog food, the animal lover went on a mission to find it. Not an easy task due to barren shelves from panic buying. The nurse took a 40-minute drive to a specialty store to find the right stuff.

That certainly was good news for Cupid, because he was on double-duty. With the hospital on lockdown, therapy dogs had not been allowed to make their rounds. On some of her daily walks, Borbeck visited other hospital departments with Cupid, which she says brought lots of smiles during the pandemic.

Tasby and his Lab finally headed home April 1. “It was emotional,” said Borbeck. “Joe is such an amazing man and Cupid — he’s my buddy. We are happy they are going home, but I’m so looking forward to visiting Joe and Cupid again when things open back up.”

Tasby says it isn’t just the physical healing he is grateful for — it’s the compassion of the heroes among us. “If you find somebody at the right time doing the right thing, that’s Barbara,” Tasby made clear.

“Being a Vietnam veteran, I recognize heroes when I see them,” he said. “We have so many frontline heroes. When a frontline individual goes above and beyond like that, you feel it deep inside your heart. What do you say to a person who goes above and beyond like that?” Tasby wondered.

“I spent a lot of time volunteering and helping veterans, and when I see something like this turn back towards me, it leaves me speechless.”

Nursing Homes Activities

COVID-19 has affected our lives in many ways. It’s also affected the activities nursing homes, or skilled care facilities, provide for residents.

“We’re a very social center. Our residents are big on crafts and there’s a group that loves to bake. They make cookies and brownies—it reminds them of what they did for their families,” said Kim Rocheleau, administrator at Lebanon ManorCare. The facility in Lebanon has 159 beds, but Rocheleau said there’s an average of 150 to 156 residents.

While those activities as well as others such as bingo and visits with therapy animals and have been discontinued due to COVID-19, Rocheleau said the facility’s staff has found creative ways to adapt some activities and continue to engage residents. Instead of bingo with residents gathered in one room, there’s hallway bingo to allow residents to participate from their own room. Daily visits from a therapy dog have morphed into “pony window visits.” She explained that a therapy pony visited the window to each resident’s room.

Families and friends can’t visit in-person, but they can do video chats. The recent Mother’s Day holiday was a busy one for video chats between families and residents.

“Families can also drop items off for their loved one in our lobby,” Rocheleau said, “We had a number of flowers delivered by families for Mother’s Day. Local florists have also provided flowers for staff and residents for both Mother’s Day and Easter.”

And while residents can’t gather to bake their own treats, community members and businesses have provided treats to both residents and staff. She said the community has been generous in its outreach and support of staff that are caring for residents.

“As caregivers, they’re at risk, too,” Rocheleau said.

She added that residents are doing well and have adapted to the changes. “They understand why we’ve had to make the changes,” she said.

Therapy Dogs In Zoom Sessions

For years, children who have been intimidated to read in front of others have at times turned to therapy dogs to act as their audience and help build up their confidence. But with the coronavirus making it impossible for these real-life reading sessions to occur, one organization has turned to Zoom.

People.Animals.Love,  a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit that matches therapy dogs with community members, including children, is using the video-conferencing platform to help kids hone their reading skills during stay-at-home orders.

PAL hosts 30-minute sessions three days a week with a handful of children — often between the ages of 5 and 10. (Prior to the self-quarantine mandates, the company would hold meetups at local libraries where kids has the opportunity to read aloud to dogs.) Each child gets paired up with a dog and can read to the pup for 12 minutes before rotating and meeting another pooch.

“We think part of the awesomeness is to see the dog on the screen,” James Haworth, the executive director of PAL, told The Washingon Post.

For many children, the virtual reading sessions have been a nice change to their everyday routine.

“He’s enjoying meeting the different types of dogs, and he gets excited when he recognizes a name,”  Alissa Gaiani, proud mom to Nicholas, 6, told the outlet. “He’s just been happy to read to someone other than his parents. It’s been a really good outlet for that.”

She added, “He’s really proud that he can read. It’s really given him a platform to show that off a bit.”

Hospital Therapy Dog

Bassett Healthcare Network announced Monday the passing of Duncan, an 11-year-old golden retriever who served as A.O. Fox’s first official therapy dog.

“Duncan crossed the Rainbow Bridge peacefully last week, with his most faithful friend, Jake, and other close friends by his side,” the organization said in a May 18 Facebook post.

Duncan was a regular at Fox facilities for several years, alongside his owner, Duane “Jake” Jacobs, a retired teacher from Gilbertsville, according to Gabrielle Argo, Fox’s regional marketing, public relations and community engagement manager.

“Duncan was a beloved member of the Fox family,” Argo said. “Everybody would have treats waiting for him in their desks for his Wednesday visits.”

Duncan had been ill for a while, Argo said, but outlived his vet’s expectations and continued his rounds right up until the facility closed to visitors in March amid the coronavirus outbreak.

A card-carrying therapy dog since 2013, Duncan was certified by Therapy Dog International. He graduated from a two-month training program at Hinman Hollow Kennels in Hartwick, under the instruction of Teresa Powers.

“There was just something about Duncan,” Argo said. “He was an angel long before he got his wings.”

Meredith resident Sammantha Vredenburgh remembered Duncan easing her anxieties as she started cancer treatments last fall.

“He made me feel less nervous when my name was called to start my ‘cancer journey,’” she said.

The night before Vredenburgh started chemotherapy, she said she had a dream that a therapy dog would be in the session with her.

“I remember telling my mom about it, thinking it wouldn’t really happen, but it would be really awesome if it did,” she said. “That day, my mom, husband and I were waiting in the waiting room to be called back to meet my oncologist for my first treatment when Duncan walked in and came right over to me, out of everyone in the room.”

Vredenburgh said she asked Jacobs if she could pet Duncan “and of course he said yes.”

“It was like an instant sign of relief because I knew I’d be OK,” she said. “I knew he was there for me and to comfort me. Duncan being there was a great help for me that first day, as I am sure he is a great helper for those in the community as well.”

East Worcester resident Christopher Jones said he only met Duncan once, during a March 2016 stay at A.O. Fox Hospital for an intestinal blockage, but the dog left a lasting impression.

“My wife and I still talk about Duncan,” he said. “Now she wants to get a golden retriever.”

Jones said he underwent a painful procedure to have a tube inserted through his nose and into his stomach, which the doctors told him was one of the worst procedures to experience while awake.

“When Duncan came to the door, I went from being 42 years old to 5 years old,” Jones said. “He brought my anxiety down and for a little while, I felt normal in an awful situation.”

“He was just the sweetest dog, and definitely the best part of my experience,” Jones continued. “You don’t realize how much that means to you until you’re in that situation. He was extraordinary.”

Jacobs told The Daily Star in 2017 that he would not continue his hospital visits after the eventual passing of his partner.

“There will never be another dog like Duncan,” he said.

Therapy Dog Does Virtual Sessions

Animal-assisted therapy has been known to provide comfort to people in pain, both physically and mentally.

Dogs are a great option for this kind of work due to their accepting, non-judgmental personalities to help reduce the pressure someone might be feeling.

But due to the coronavirus pandemic, most of those visits have been halted.

However The Rebound Arizona found a way to keep the smiles going, even if it is through a screen.

A golden retriever named Laney is still available for those therapy sessions virtually!

One person taking advantage of the unique service is Jimmy Harris.

Harris is a huge dog lover. For him, seeing Laney immediately brings comfort.

“She’s really good at responding to anything you’re saying,” Harris said. “And she even watches you on the camera, which is cool.”

Harris served the United States in the Army National Guard, even traveling to Egypt.

“Some vets… you will see horrible things in the military and in combat,” Harris said. “It can mess with someone’s mind. I think just the connection with an animal just helps brings a calmness over the person’s mind and they get to forget about whatever trouble’s their having.”

Aimee Galicia Torres is Laney’s owner. Together the pair work with the Osborne Head and Neck Foundation’s Paws for Patients program in California.

“The typical sessions kind of vary based on the person that Laney is meeting, whether it’s kids or adults,” Galicia Torres explained. “Some kids just want to see the dog and sometimes they want to see her do stuff. But Laney, as a therapy dog, her main skill is to provide compassion and empathy and to be intuitive to the patient or the people’s needs.”

Laney was actually getting ready for her first medical mission just before the coronavirus pandemic. The trip was cancelled. However, Galicia Torres knew that Laney was still needed.

“A lot of the times… patients need some sort of distraction or they’re feeling a lot of pain, so Laney is a great way to distract them in-person,” Garcia Torres said. “And what we’ve noticed virtually, it’s pretty much the same thing. You know, you have this therapy dog on web cam and you get to interact with it. She’s pretty interactive on camera.”

For kids and adults, Laney can be a listening ear. Some read to her. Others ask her to do tricks in her many costumes.

“People are kind of losing touch with what really matters is that inter-personal connection,” Galicia Torres said. “So I think what’s great with Laney. She’s able to make people build those connections that they may have lost touch because of COVID-19.”

For Galicia Torres, she knows how special it is to create that connection – even if it is on a screen.

“Dogs have always gotten… given me hope and help during difficult times,” Galicia Torres said through tears. “And so I wanted to be able to bring that to people.”

She hopes anyone will reach out to try the service and see how it might make a difference. The session is free because OHNF is donation based.