Service Dogs Are Essential During This Pandemic

In the midst of this global pandemic, service dogs are more essential as many who utilize their services battle with Post-Traumatic Stress, Traumatic Brain Injury and/or Military Sexual Trauma.

K9s For Warriors says social distancing and the economic stress caused by COVID-19 may trigger negative feelings or actions.

Service dogs will assist in alleviating any negative energy caused by the pandemic.

K9s For Warriors Relations Manager Mike Drafts says service animals help ground their owners and give them focal point outside of what they are.

“It gives them a reason to you know I can’t self harm or I can’t do this because I have to take care of this animal at the same time as it takes care of me,” stated Drafts. “It gives them that relationship that they need to help sustain themselves to stay safe.”

K9s for Warriors currently has 16 people in Georgia waiting to be paired with service dogs and 32 people from the state who have already been paid with a service dog through the organization.

Therapy Dogs Ease Anxiety

When Terry Gallogly trained her first therapy dogs, she had a simple goal: to bring joy to her little niece.

Lily was born in 2009 with a developmental disorder called lissencephaly, in which the brain does not have the usual creases and folds. The condition, also called “smooth brain,” affects her ability to grow, move and speak.

“There really wasn’t too much I could do for her,” Gallogly, of Smithtown, New York, told TODAY. “It was pretty severe.”

Even as a baby, there were moments when Lily seemed to light up, like when she saw her toddler big brother. That spark started Aunt Terry thinking about other ways to brighten Lily’s days.

“For her to smile, that was a huge thing, that was a huge movement,” Gallogly said, “and her brother could make her smile. I just felt that the energy of dogs and … small children were similar and I said I was going to get therapy dogs and visit her.”

Gallogly bought and trained two goldendoodle puppies named Ken and Barbie. At a year old, Ken was certified for “animal-assisted activities,” often referred to as dog therapy. She said it took six more months before Ken was allowed to visit then-4-year-old Lily in the hospital, but her reaction was instant.

“She’s in a wheelchair and I took her hand and put it on Ken’s head and she started processing right away,” Gallogly told TODAY. “We’ve been visiting … every week since.”

Ken, and later Barbie, started visiting other children at St. Mary’s Hospital for Children on Long Island, too. They play fetch and receive pets from the kids, some of whom Gallogly said had never interacted with a dog because they’d always been in the hospital. Lily is now 11 years old, surpassing estimates for kids born with smooth brain. Gallogly was touched by the response the children had to Ken and Barbie and wanted to be able to bring the therapy dogs to kids who went home. In 2016, she started the nonprofit Therapy Dogs of Long Island, which now brings certified dogs to people with physical or mental health challenges at private homes, schools and senior care facilities, in addition to hospitals. Animal-assisted therapy has been shown to help with psychological well-being in some studies, including for people in long-term care.

About three years ago, Victoria Gentile, a teacher at Fort Salonga Elementary School, called Gallogly to have her visit her special needs class. Many of her students have autism or learning delays and she thought the dogs could put them more at ease to help them progress.

This time, Gallogly brought her tiny-but-mighty shichon named Pumpkin. Gentile’s classes started with learning to line up when Pumpkin, and sometimes other small dogs, came. Eventually, she had them work on reading.

“When you read to a dog, they’re not judgmental,” Gallogly said. “It takes away that fear and it’s also the comfort of holding a dog when you’re reading or petting a dog while you’re reading … (the kids) actually think they’re reading to a dog.”

Studies in progress suggest that dog-assisted therapy might be a way to help kids with autism achieve goals and tasks, though more research is needed. Gentile said some of her students overcame their fear about reading time after therapy dog visits.

“Reading to dogs … has really made them feel much better about reading out loud,” Gentile told TODAY. “It decreases their anxieties.” One of the hallmarks of a therapy dog is an easygoing nature in many different situations. The dogs have to interact and respond in positive ways, even when people they are visiting are loud, accidentally step on them or have other behaviors that can scare dogs. That, Gallogly said, isn’t always something you can teach.

“It’s really the temperament of the dog,” Gallogly said. “Then it’s just regular obedience training, ‘sit, stay, come, leave it, off.’ They have to walk on a loose leash, so they have to be under control.”

At the senior care facilities, her dogs are ready to cuddle and play, even when the people are in wheelchairs or can’t speak or move quickly. The residents often laugh, hug and kiss the dogs and sometimes respond more to them than they do to other humans.

“What other instance can you go over to something that’s living and breathing, get love from and pet them, hug them,” Gallogly said. “They don’t care what your mental capacity is or what your physical or looks are … it’s that unconditional love and non-judgment I think that brings the most joy.”

Teens who are facing a lot of anxiety, and sometimes trauma, have been receiving visits, too. Nearly 32% of teens 13 to 18 years old experience anxiety, according to the National Institutes of Health, and nearly 5% have post-traumatic stress disorder. Many public schools have state mandates to increase mental health resources for their students.

After a teen from Freeport High School, in Freeport, New York, was killed last year, some students appeared to be struggling and Rosa Medina, a senior at the school, requested the therapy dogs. Gallogly and other volunteers began regular visits with groups of students.

“There was people in my class that were mourning, visibly, and the whole school just had that kind of feel to it,” she told TODAY. “There seems to be a stigma around mental illness, especially with … teenagers who don’t know much about it. So, I was thinking of a way to make mental health resources more palatable and so I thought of therapy dogs.”

The nonprofit now has 18 volunteer dog handlers, in addition to Gallogly, to manage the growing requests. They also train and certify therapy dogs.

“I feel totally blessed,” Gallogly said. “If you can bring joy to anybody, and you could, why wouldn’t you? And the dogs do that. I have that ability. I have those type of dogs that will go visit and bring joy.”

Nation’s Most Popular Purebreds

America’s dogs are having their day as the coronavirus keeps many people at home more with their pets and spurs so much adoption and fostering that some shelters’ kennels have emptied.

But while much is changing for people and pooches around the country, here’s something holding as steady as a dog with a favorite toy: Labrador retrievers remain the nation’s most popular purebreds for a record-extending 29th year, according to American Kennel Club rankings being released Friday.

The rest of the top 10 includes German shepherds; golden retrievers; French bulldogs; bulldogs; poodles; beagles; Rottweilers; German shorthaired pointers — and, for the first time, Pembroke Welsh corgis.

Some highlights and lowdown on the canine charts:

RANKINGS EXPLAINED

The rankings indicate the relative popularity of different breeds among the 589,868 purebred dogs, mostly puppies, that joined the nation’s oldest dog registry last year. Registration is voluntary.

The list includes the 193 breeds that the AKC recognizes — no Labradoodles, puggles, Yorkipoos or other “designer” hybrids, at least for now. Breeds sometimes get added over time.

The chart also doesn’t reflect the everyday mixed-breed dogs that make up a vast share of the estimated 77 million or more canines in U.S. homes.

THE CORGI CHARM

Pembroke Welsh corgis (not to be confused with somewhat larger, longer-tailed Cardigan Welsh corgis) have a long history of herding cattle and sheep in their native Wales.

But Pembrokes have become best known as companions of their most famous fancier, the U.K.’s Queen Elizabeth II. Another Pembroke was California’s social-media-friendly “first dog” for a time during former Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration in the 2010s.

The short-legged, long-bodied breed is known for being spunky and sociable.

“They’re really darned cute … and they’re just fun to be with,” said Bobbe Lord of Boonton, New Jersey, a longtime owner and breeder.

Lord surmises Pembrokes got a boost in recent years from some popular, corgi-focused social media accounts and the Netflix series “The Crown,” which chronicles Queen Elizabeth II’s life.

Lord appreciates the interest in her beloved breed but also worries about inexperienced people thinking they can make big money by breeding trendy puppies.

“If you’re doing it right, that doesn’t happen,” she said.

THE SCARCEST BREED

The English foxhound is the rarest breed in the new rankings. The sizable, high-stamina and vocal hounds have a long history in the U.S. but aren’t often found as purely house pets. Fans tend to deploy the dogs for their traditional, pack-hunting purpose.

“It’s a beautiful breed. I just don’t think people see them enough to know about them,” says AKC spokeswoman Brandi Hunter.

PUREBREDS, MIXED-BREEDS AND NEW POPULARITY

For years, animal-rights advocates and some humane groups have complained that the popularity of purebred dogs leads people to buy pedigreed puppies instead of adopting mixed-breed pets that need homes.

And for years, the AKC has countered that breeding helps pair dogs with owners who want to know what to expect in a canine, whether the priority is fugitive-tracking acumen or an activity level that matches the household’s.

Now, those on all sides of the debate have something to cheer in common: The coronavirus crisis has prompted more people to seek out dogs, every which way.

The New York-based American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals says it has gotten over 1,500 online applications to foster dogs and cats since March 15, six times more than the same period last year. Seventy percent more animals have actually gone into foster homes in recent weeks, compared to last year.

“During this period of great uncertainty, one bright spot has been the incredibly compassionate response from people willing to open their homes to adopt and foster vulnerable shelter animals,” CEO Matt Bershadker said. The ASPCA doesn’t currently need foster homes right now but notes that could change as kitten season continues.

Dog breeders are also getting more inquiries: Lord says she’s been fielding five to seven a day lately, though she has no puppies available.

The AKC urges purebred-seekers to research breeds for the right fit and to plan ahead for pet care for when — someday — people return to more normal routines.

“We are in a very unique situation being at home all of the time,” Hunter notes. “For many of us, that will not always be the case.”

Office K-9 Unit

While the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in the temporary closure of Goodwill Manasota’s stores and offices, its Corporate Campus was instrumental in a recent law enforcement exercise. The facility played host to a group of officers and service dogs from the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit to train the dogs to sniff out “drugs” and “bombs.”

Canines are used in law enforcement for searching wanted or fleeing suspects; apprehending fleeing suspects; crowd control; and public relations demonstrations for local schools and community organizations. The K-9’s and their handlers receive intensive training to become certified to perform their assigned duties. Canines are also assigned to narcotics detection. Prior to being put into service, canines used for narcotics detection are trained and certified in locating hidden quantities of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.

For the recent exercise at Goodwill, officers planted the smell of drugs and bombs within the facility, waiting 30 minutes, and then sent the canines in to find the location of each.

CAN’T BAN EMOTIONAL SUPPORT ANIMAL

A 14-year-old girl with Type 1 diabetes and mental health disabilities will be able to keep her dog after the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal ruled her strata’s bylaw banning dogs discriminated against her human rights.

In the decision April 29, B.C. Human Rights Tribunal member Devyn Cousineau said the girl needed her dog because of her disabilities and the strata’s pet bylaw contravened the B.C. Human Rights Code and discriminated against the 14-year-old based on her disability.

The names and the strata’s location have been anonymized in the decision, which says the girl’s mother had requested the strata make an exemption from its no-dog bylaw to support her daughter’s mental health. A motion was put forward at the strata’s 2019 Annual General Meeting to make an exception to the bylaw but was defeated by the strata council. The mother then filed the human rights complaint.

Condominium Home Owners Association of B.C executive director Tony Gioventu told iNFOnews.ca the tribunal’s decision may be the first official decision concerning emotional support pets and a strata corporation.

“There is an obligation for strata corporations to accommodate owners and residents for a variety of reasons, it could be health reasons it could be emotional support reasons,” Gioventu said. “We’ve just never really had an official decision about this, but that has always been the recommended advice.”

According to the decision, the daughter’s mental health and escalating depression and anxiety impeded her ability to manage her diabetes. Throughout the 2018/19 school year the daughter’s mental health declined to the point of her having suicidal thoughts. Her stress and anxiety caused erratic fluctuations in her blood sugar levels and on several occasions paramedics were called after she became unconscious.

The 14-year-old told her doctor she thought a dog would help her and the doctor agreed and wrote to the strata explaining the situation.

In July 2019 the daughter got a dog and her condition improved almost immediately, says the decision.

In a letter submitted to the tribunal by the daughter, the 14-year-old says the dog has helped with her anxiety and diabetes.

“Sometimes if I am sad or crying in my room she looks at me and leans on me and sometimes, believe it or not, I talk to her about things that I don’t talk to anyone about and it feels like she is listening to me with her eyes locked in mine,” reads the letter.

“The effect of the strata’s no-dog bylaw, if enforced, would be to cause a disability-related adverse impact on the daughter,” the Tribunal member says in the decision.

Ultimately the Tribunal ruled the strata’s pet bylaw prohibiting the daughter from having a dog discriminates against her based on her disability.

Gioventu said he didn’t think the ruling would change anything, but it did solidify his organization’s position that stratas had a legal obligation to accommodate their members.

“It’s frustrating when strata councils get… entrenched in positions where they don’t want to accommodate or act reasonably with their members, it just results in conflicts where they often lose,” he said.

THERAPY ALPACA VISITS

Leave it to alpacas to bring a smile to people’s faces during a pandemic.

On Tuesday, residents at the Boulder Creek Post Acute Assisted Living Center in Poway, Calif., got a visit from a pair of the animals, separated by a safe social distance, of course. As part of the Helen Woodward Animal Center’s Pet Encounter Therapy program, the duo of alpacas — named Kronk and Kuzco after the 2000 Disney film The Emperor’s New Groove — traveled by van to help boost the elderly humans’ morale.

“In the many years I have worked with this program, I have seen the unique gifts each animal can bring to this type of therapy,” said program manager Robin Cohen in a press release. “… These alpacas are some of our funniest characters. They make us laugh every day and we knew they’d be the perfect key to inspiring smiles right now.”

The seniors viewed the animals through the dining hall window.  Alpacas aren’t the typical animals enlisted for the program, which allows people to cuddle with pets like dogs, cats, bunnies, and guinea pigs to help lower their stress levels and provide other health benefits.

Since the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has temporarily ended in-person therapy pet visits, Helen Woodward Animal Center decided the larger four-legged farm animals would bring joy from a distance.

According to the Helen Woodward Animal Center, the check-in was such a hit with the residents and staff at Boulder Creek Post Acute that they are working on scheduling a followup, as well as stops to other facilities in the area.

“This has been a very challenging time for all of us, and it’s particularly hard on individuals who are inside facilities without visits from their regular friends and family members,” Cohen said. “The one thing I know from my work is that animals have a magical way of healing.”

Added Cohen: “I am so happy to be a part of providing a little bit of their magic.”

DOG TRAINING PROGRAM

In June 2019, the Joint Regional Correctional Facility began the Dog Handler CARES Program, which allows inmates to train young dogs in basic obedience skills before the dogs go on to more specialized training to become service dogs.

Since then, not only have the very first program dogs labradoodle Jericho and yellow Labrador retriever Vizer — graduated from the JRCF program and gone on to receive more specialized training and be assigned to an owner, but now 12 others have, too.

Facility personnel met up with Canine Assistance Rehabilitation Education and Services founder and CEO Sarah Holbert April 21 outside the Visitor Control Center to transfer yellow Labrador retriever Mallory, golden retriever Copper and black Labrador retriever Mutsu into their next phase.

In exchange, three new dogs — golden retrievers Molly and Perry, and black Labrador retriever Jersey — will join the other five dogs still being trained at the facility.

When the dogs arrive at the JRCF they range from 8 weeks to several months old, which wasn’t the case in the beginning when only older dogs entered the JRCF program, but Sgt. Christopher Samson, Dog Handlers CARES Program noncommissioned officer-in-charge, said adding puppies into the program has gone well, and the program has only continued to expand. “We definitely had to figure out some logistical issues at first, but we … figured out the issues we were going to have and got it all smoothed out,” Samson said. “Now we’ve actually expanded more. Before dogs were only on our agriculture program, and since then we’ve moved on to having one dog in our library detail and one more dog is in our textiles program. Slowly we’re starting to spread them out, so they can be all throughout on different vocational programs throughout the facility.” The facility is also taking on dogs that have completed their basic training at other facilities and are waiting to move on to their next phase of training.

Samson said more expansion is expected in the future with an increase from eight dogs to 12, which will allow more inmates to participate in the program because each dog has one handler and one alternate.

Holbert calls it a win-win situation.

“It gives the inmates a purpose and they will tell you by far it is one of the best jobs in the facility,” Holbert said. “I have several guys that have been in it for years that have told me that it has affected the way that they parent, the way that they interact with their wives or significant others because they learn correction and praise, they learn communication skills and nurturing that maybe they didn’t have before.

“For us, we have puppies or dogs that go in and they are with their person 24-7. They get the basics down and that is just critical because what dogs learn in the first 16 weeks of their life stays with them, and that’s the foundation for their life,” she said. “If you have a dog that’s in a kennel until they’re six months old, you’ve lost a very valuable window of time to work with them and imprint on them, and these dogs as working dogs, that’s how they’re life is going to be. It is going to be 24-7 with their person, so that part of it is really important, and it gives us a great start.”

The JRCF is one of seven facilities in the United States that CARES partners with for the basic training of service dogs. Services the dogs are trained for upon learning the basics include mobility service; medic alert for conditions such as diabetes and seizures; therapeutic service for conditions such as autism and post-traumatic stress disorder; and professional therapy where the dogs work alongside doctors, counselors and other professionals, Holbert said.

TOP DOGS

Wagging tails. Wet noses. Soft, warm bellies. It’s not surprising that getting a visit from a therapy dog while receiving cancer treatment boosts the spirits. But these visitors do more than put smiles on the faces of people with cancer — they may actually help some people heal.

“Getting up and moving around after surgery is important to the recovery process, but it’s hard for many people to do,” says Jane Kopelman, who runs the Caring Canines therapy dog program at Memorial Sloan Kettering. Sometimes all it takes is a nudge from a four-legged friend. “I see patients who are willing to get out of bed, and even take a walk down the hallway, just so they can spend more time with one of the dogs,” she says.

Over the past 12 years, MSK’s Caring Canines have become a fixture in almost every area of patient care. The program started on a single floor with seven dogs. Now, about 50 therapy dogs and their handlers, who are all volunteers, make the rounds throughout MSK. Both handlers and pups sport identification badges so that passersby know that they are the real deal.

In addition to visiting inpatients, therapy dogs also make regular visits to MSK’s outpatient locations, including its regional sites. When MSK’s newest facility, the David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, opened to patients in January 2020, the Caring Canines were there.

Ms. Kopelman and her mixed-breed dog, Wally, were one of the first volunteer pairs to come to MSK when the Caring Canines program launched in 2007. She quickly realized she wanted to get more involved, and she officially became the Caring Canines consultant in 2014. “It was clear that the program was going to grow a lot, and they needed someone to safely run it,” she says.

Safety is important, especially because many people being treated for cancer have compromised immune systems. Therapy dogs need a host of vaccines and frequent health screenings. They also get bathed and groomed right before visiting MSK. To make sure they don’t tire out, there are limits on how many hours the dogs can work in each shift.

In addition to their work as cheer bringers, some of MSK’s Caring Canines have taken part in published research. This got them one step closer to earning their white lab coats — and maybe eventually, their PhD(og)s.

In April 2018, a team led by Pamela Ginex, who was then a nurse researcher at MSK, published a study in the Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing (CJON) that looked at the benefits of therapy dogs for people recovering from surgery on the 15th floor of Memorial Hospital. At the time, Caring Canines were not yet visiting this floor. People who’d had surgery, as well as their family members and the nursing staff, completed questionnaires on their levels of stress and sense of well-being before and after the visits. This was the first-ever published study to also look at whether therapy dogs can improve job satisfaction for hospital staff in an inpatient setting.

It takes a rare breed to make it through the rigorous training process that qualifies a dog to work in a medical setting. Not literally, though. Ms. Kopelman says that any dog is capable of becoming a therapy dog, from the tiniest Chihuahua to some really big woofers. The traits required are more about an individual dog’s personality and temperament. “You need a dog that can roll with anything,” she says. “You don’t want them to get flustered and start barking.”

Their handlers also need to complete rigorous training. They are sometimes brought into situations that are emotionally difficult, such as visiting people who are receiving intensive care or those who are at the end of life. “The dog handlers are a vital part of the team,” Ms. Kopelman says.

“Currently, the demand for therapy dogs is much higher than the supply,” Ms. Kopelman concludes. “We would love to have more dogs and volunteers. The most common thing we hear from patients when we arrive at their bedside with a dog is ‘I’ve been waiting all day for this visit.’ ”

THERAPY DOG SUPPORTS

Jake is often a welcome support when students face discussion of serious medical issues.

Therapy animals are becoming increasingly recognized by medical science for the benefits they provide – and some Gannon University nursing students need only step into their classroom to agree.

For three semesters, Charlotte Riddle, D.N.P., has taught a senior-level nursing class that often involves heavy discussion around mental health disorders. She brings her therapy dog, an English cream golden retriever named Jake, to classes on these days to offer support to her students.

“Having a therapy dog in the room is an alternative way of managing and dealing with stress,” Riddle said. “These students are walking into a course that covers topics like mental illness, substance abuse, suicide, depression and sexual assault, and they have to finish the course to graduate.”

For some students, these discussions can invoke emotions from personal experiences.

Sara Gillespie, a senior nursing student in Riddle’s class, said Jake’s presence is a comfort when discussing heavier topics.

“Jake can tell when the class is getting somber,” Gillespie said. “He will walk around to everyone and allow us to pet him. Being able to pet Jake makes everything OK no matter how hard the subject.” Gillespie added that Jake was also helpful on testing days by calming the nerves in the room.

For senior Katie Thompson, Jake is a reminder of her own English cream golden at home. Thompson said she doesn’t get to visit often, so having a “Jake fix” is a bright spot in her week.

Riddle said having a dog in the classroom helps to buffer some of the stress students go through in a week that could affect their learning outcomes as future nurses. “For every student who sits in a classroom, we only know a piece of their story,” she said. “Jake opens the door to conversations that might otherwise not take place.” The CDC outlines many health benefits of a dog including decreased blood pressure, cholesterol levels, triglyceride levels, as well as an ability to manage loneliness, depression and stress.

Many students on Gannon’s campus have attested to these health benefits, thanks to Riddle and her dog. The pair frequently attend campus events including a pancake breakfast before finals week and Send Silence Packing, a public education exhibit to raise awareness of mental health and suicide on campuses.

Riddle said bringing a therapy dog into the classroom also gives students a unique perspective on how nurses can take a more holistic approach to promoting well-being among patients.

“Preparing future nurses with knowledge about mental health helps us provide the best care possible to our future patients,” Thompson said.

Riddle recalls one particular moment that has remained for her a testimony of Jake’s impactful work. She was teaching an especially heavy topic, and Jake was laying in front of the class as he often did.

“Fifteen minutes into this class,” Riddle said, “Jake stood up, walked to the very back of the classroom, wrapped himself around the chair of a student, and didn’t move the rest of the three-hour class. When class ended, the student walked him back up to the front and asked a single question: ‘How did he know?’”

Riddle said she left the room ingrained with a message of hope: “There is something that helps for whatever you need to get through in life. We all experience things that we need to work very hard to overcome. If it’s just Jake’s presence that a student needs to overcome something and be able to achieve goals and dreams, that’s what’s important,” she said.

DOG-ONLY CUSTOMER

Over a rousing game of table tennis, cheered on by a pack of four shelties, heads bobbing back and forth with the ball, Jason and Katie Ast reached a pivotal decision. They would open their new pet retail business as a just-for-dogs endeavor. The couple wanted to stand apart from the competition by providing a stellar customer experience with focused knowledge and a progressive offering of product and services.

This was no spur-of-the-moment undertaking; a year of due diligence included plenty of research.

“We created our business on paper first, which was more than just a simple business plan,” says Jason Ast, co-owner with wife Katie of Just Dog People in Garner, N.C. “It detailed how we would operate, how we would manage, how we would train our staff. We wanted to forge our own way of doing business.”

However, throughout the process, the couple grappled with the range of possible services and offerings. As the plan evolved, a sticking point persisted—whether to cater to multiple species or to stand by their canine passion. No strangers to cutting-edge concepts, the Asts felt a strong pull to open an establishment focused on and catering to area dog lovers explicitly.

Lobbing a ping-pong ball over the net, Katie’s sage observation sealed the deal, “We are just crazy dog people.”

Jason and Katie brought unique skills and expertise to their vision. Neither were strangers to taking a leap of faith: For 12 years, Katie had owned and operated the first boarding and day care facility in the town of Garner, a rapidly growing area just outside of Raleigh, N.C.

“Katie was ahead of the curve,” Ast says. “Today, there are about eight such places within 20 miles of us. We had a large, local following because of her business.”

Jason, a self-described serial entrepreneur, had operated multiple businesses over the years but longed to shed his tie and enjoy life.

The duo’s goal was realized in 2016, when the doors to Just Dog People opened in 3,800 square feet of space, sited at the busy intersection of Garner’s two main highways.

The Asts’ sheltie family has since grown to five as Zoe, Olive, Bea and Veda recently welcomed puppy Wren. While they originally served as shop dogs and greeters, store traffic has increased and the pups now take turns going to work with their owners, hanging out in the store office.

In the beginning, the concept of a dog-only store was met with resistance from vendors, who advised that offering products for the feline set was essential. The couple listened, and products for cats were initially added to the mix, only to be eliminated after a year or so.

“Obviously, dogs-only was a bit of a risk, but we realized that is who we are. I can’t talk to people about cats, and it’s difficult enough to train staff on one species, let alone two or more. It’s easy to find dog people,” Ast says. “So, we are highly targeted to one species.”

Today, at Just Dog People, or JDP, canine enthusiasts browse an array of theme-grouped display tables.

“One of the things we hated about the larger pet stores were the aisles, so we wanted to use our space in a more interesting way,” he says. “We use tables, set up so customers meander around, viewing all four angles. Because our focus is dogs, we are able to bring in products that people don’t even know exist.”

Staff members are trained to step in and offer explanations or assistance should they notice customers’ confusion when observing an unusual item.

“Our store is made for shopping, and for fun, so there are interactive items on each table,” Ast says.

For instance, when St. Patrick’s Day rolled around, a cookie-filled pot of gold at the end of a rainbow enticed shoppers to try their luck with a cookie purchase, some of which revealed $5 or $10 gift certificates.

The entire store gets spooky during JDP’s Howl-O-Ween soiree, where pets quaff pumpkin spice lattes, dig for bones in a graveyard concocted of kiddy pools and mulch, and parade in their costumed best.

“Howl-O-Ween is one of our favorites,” Ast says. “Katie started it back at the kennel with a parade of day care dogs, so it goes back probably 16 years. It’s just so much fun.

“We always try to offer the unexpected around every turn, that is the most unique thing about us,” he says. “We get to see people every day that are just happy to be with their dog.”

To that aim, JDP is, first and foremost, committed to presenting customers with an exceptional experience, and Ast notes that staff members, or JDP ambassadors, are vital to that outcome. For this reason, the company looks for candidates with strong communication skills, confidence and a mindset of hospitality.

“Because service is No. 1, we look for people who understand the humility of serving others,” he says. “That takes confidence.”

This self-assurance is bolstered by assigning problem-solving autonomy to staffers from day one.

“If met with a customer issue or complaint, no matter the problem, we don’t want our staff members running around trying to find someone to make a decision for them,” Ast says. “We want our people to make things right, on the spot, and they will never get in trouble for a mistake. When you empower people, especially young people, they respect that and want to keep that trust.”

For this reason, employee training is extensive and supportive.

“Everyone starts as a rookie, with 30 work days to accomplish a set of classes, tasks and proficiencies,” Ast says. “At that point, they reach ‘First Paw,’ which is a level of training. Within this time, they learn to open and close the store, cash out, do inventory, check things in and do returns. It takes a lot of effort and time, but the whole team helps out.”

Rookies study nutrition in a Food 101 class.

“We try to break it all down to the ridiculous: how to look at food and how to get through general conversations,” Ast says. “Should they become stumped, they can call on us.”

When associates master a new level, or “Paw,” a bonus and an hourly pay increase is awarded. In addition, with no managerial positions, a roundtable concept finds senior staffers helping out newcomers.

“It’s kind of a kick-back program where those that came before are responsible for teaching the rookies, who, in turn, will teach the next rookies,” he adds. “It builds these unbelievable employees.

“We have three rules: One is to give your teammates a better work day than they would expect; two is to give the customer a better experience than they expect; and three is to always make it right for the customer,” Ast says. “That’s the bar that we have set, and we don’t accept anything else.”

The regularly updated JDP training manual provides additional and extensive training and information.

Pet owners select from a broad range of foods, including kibble, canned, dehydrated, freeze-dried and raw. A body-parts bar presents an array of processed parts, while the raw bar offers unprocessed selections. These offerings also provide an opportunity to discuss clean feeding, Ast adds.

Bakery treats are also in the mix.

“We are amazed at how many treats we sell,” he says. “We have a nice cookie display built into our cash wrap. We do all the holidays, special events and birthdays.”

While raw is the food of choice, customer preference is always respected.

“We don’t pooh-pooh anybody’s feeding plan,” he says. “We feed raw, our employees feed raw, but we don’t ‘sell’ raw; we allow people to reveal a need, or we wait for them to come and ask us about it. We have big, beautiful freezers in the middle of our store for everyone to see. Our raw sales are up in huge amounts, but we are careful how we present it to the public.”

One-on-one food consultations are available, with behavior and eating habits taken into consideration when finding the right food to meet the nutritional needs of each individual dog.

“I probably talk to three or four people randomly each day, on top of scheduled appointments,” Ast says. “We also do intolerance testing, which is closely tied to food. I just love nutrition—the before and after, how dogs behave when we finally find the right diet. So I spend the majority of my days talking to people about food and nutrition.”

In this way, Just Dog Wellness Services assists customers in navigating feeding issues, often related to food intolerances.

“Typically, allergies and intolerances are two different things,” he says. “If a consumer sees signs of what they think is an allergy, there is a very high likelihood it is an intolerance. We use this tool to find out.”

As a result of this analysis, and in partnership with 5Strands Affordable Testing in Georgia, pet owners are provided paths that assist in monitoring their dog’s nutritional reboot, bringing them closer to clearing up these issues.

Education also includes seminars, such as Introduction to Raw Feeding, which has replaced the Food 101 seminar for customers. These workshops are presented to customers and private groups.

“I have found that talking openly and honestly to the general consumer about dog food often leaves them feeling like bad pet parents,” Ast says. “I’ve tried to tailor this discussion, but there’s just not a way to leave people feeling good, so we have replaced Food 101 with Intro to Raw, because these people already know there is a better way.”