National Dog Award
A Maine service dog is up for a prestigious national award for the work she has done with her owner.
Amy Sherwood, of Naples, said her 4-year-old black lab, Dolly Pawton, is a trustworthy service dog.
“She’s telling me that there’s a medical issue that I need to address, that I need to take medication or I need to transfer over and lie down,” Sherwood said.
Sherwood’s medical issues include mobility and heart issues, as well as emotional complications caused by years of domestic abuse.
Sherwood has taught Dolly to recognize them and help ease them.
“I don’t know what I would do without her. I mean, she’s been in the ambulance with me. She’s been to the hospital. She goes everywhere with me. She’s definitely alleviated a lot of my stress and keeps a good eye on me,” Sherwood said.
Because of her hard work, Dolly is a semifinalist for the Hallmark Channel’s Hero Dogs Award. Sherwood nominated Dolly in hopes of shining a light on the role service dogs play in people’s lives.
“I wanted the world to be able to know what she can do and what other service dogs can do,” Sherwood said.
While Dolly has mastered many skills, it is her companionship and the comfort she provides that Sherwood said is most meaningful.
“She allows me to trust people. With her by my side, I’m able to let people in a little bit more,” Sherwood said.
Pet Therapy Program
When experienced pet handler Linda Dunn moved to Jacksonville, she approached numerous hospitals about starting a pet therapy program. When she shared this vision with Wolfson Children’s Hospital leaders, they saw it as an innovative way to improve patients’ experiences. Dunn promptly joined the Wolfson Children’s Auxiliary, established the program, and made the hospital’s first pet therapy visit in May 1995 with her Labrador retriever, Jenni.
In May 2020, the Wolfson Children’s Hospital Pet Therapy Program celebrated its 25th anniversary. In that time, pet therapy dogs and handlers have visited thousands of patients and families to provide emotional support during their hospitalization. To commemorate Pet Therapy’s contribution to Jacksonville’s children and families, Mayor Lenny Curry proclaimed May 15, 2020, to be Wolfson Children’s Hospital Pet Therapy Day.
Today, the auxiliary has a roster of 13 certified pet therapy teams, each made up of one handler and one dog, with one more duo in training.
“Our Pet Therapy Program is a unique and important part of how we care for our patients,” said Michael D. Aubin, FACHE, president of Wolfson Children’s Hospital. “These remarkable dogs and owners reduce anxiety for and bring comfort to our patients, their families and our team members the moment they walk in the door. The bonds our patients and therapy pets form are evidence of how important the program becomes to them during their stay.”
Pet therapy is an evidence-based way to support children’s healing, no matter the reason the children are in the hospital. Studies show that spending time with a certified therapy dog triggers the release of endorphins, which eases pain and discomfort, lowers blood pressure, and reduces levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. When patients need to practice their motor skills or learn to walk again, providers can call on therapy dogs to motivate them to practice walking, petting, and reaching to tug or toss toys. Wolfson’s pet therapy teams not only visit patients, but also provide support to nurses, physicians, and other providers during special events, like Nurses Week. Baptist Health also offers pet therapy visits at two of its locations thanks to 15 handler and dog volunteer pairs.
Pet Therapy Chair and volunteer handler Jeanne Shober said she and her dog Bear have seen the benefits of pet therapy firsthand.
“Nearly every child we visit has a beloved pet at home that they miss terribly,” Shober said. “Sharing our dogs with the children, their parents and the staff helps to bring smiles and a touch of happiness to their day. Sharing our pets is also rewarding to the handlers and their dogs. It’s such a privilege for us to be a part of this wonderful hospital.”
Emotional Support Animals
In 2017, Marlin Jackson boarded a cross-country flight. When he got to his row, another passenger was already in the middle seat with an emotional support dog in his lap.
According to Mr. Jackson’s attorney, “The approximately 50-pound dog growled at Mr. Jackson soon after he took his seat…and continued as Mr. Jackson attempted to buckle his seatbelt. The growling increased and the dog lunged for Mr. Jackson’s face…who could not escape due to his position against the plane’s window.” Facial wounds requiring 28 stitches were the result.
Untrained emotional support dogs don’t just attack people. They attack highly trained service dogs, as well, sometimes ending their working lives.
I can relate. I am a visually impaired person partnering with my fourth guide dog over a 20-year period. In the past decade, I have increasingly needed to cope with clueless handlers allowing their pets to interfere with my dog’s work.
As a professor of ethics, I teach students to consider first the needs of the most vulnerable. I wish I could teach the same lesson to those who risk public safety with their ill-trained dogs, most of whom are emotional support animals, a category not recognized by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Over the past decade, purported emotional support animals have increasingly appeared in stores, restaurants and airports. While peacocks, pigs and kangaroos make the headlines, almost all the animals found in no-pet zones are dogs. Dog biting, barking, growling, urinating and defecating are top complaints, with one airline reporting an 84% increase in dog-related incidents from 2016-2018.
The influx of inappropriate dogs has also generated unwarranted suspicion toward the approximately 10,000 Americans who, like me, partner with legitimate, trained guide dogs.
Animal public access in the U.S. is currently governed by a patchwork system of inconsistent laws, creating confusion for people with disabilities, citizens and, particularly, gatekeepers – the store managers, restaurant owners and building supervisors tasked with deciding which dogs should be allowed in their no-pet spaces. In other countries, IDs are issued only to professionally trained service dogs who have demonstrated the ability to behave in public. In the U.S., there is no such validation. As a result, pet owners have become increasing brazen in fraudulently claiming their animals warrant legal public access.
The Department of Justice, which enforces the Americans with Disabilities Act, allows people with physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual or mental impairments to have public access with service dogs who have been individually trained to perform tasks that mitigate their owners’ disabilities.
The Department of Transportation and Department of Housing and Urban Development allow service dogs on public transportation and in housing, respectively, but also grant access to people with mental and emotional disorders accompanied by emotional support animals – untrained animals who need only to contribute to their owners’ emotional well being, as any good pet would.
Technically, the individual seeking access with an emotional support animal must have certification of a mental or emotional disorder, which is a much lower standard than the disability requirement of DOJ.
Some mental health professionals have been willing to attest to an individual’s “need” for an emotional support animal without having a professional relationship with them. And none vouches for the appropriateness of specific animals.
ADA service dogs may legally accompany their handlers almost anywhere. Emotional support animals may not. For example, emotional support animals currently allowed in aircraft cabins are not legally permitted in airport shops and restaurants. Emotional support animals allowed to live in college dorms may not go with their owners to class or the cafeteria.
Online purveyors of official-looking letters, vests and patches guaranteed to get dogs access in pet-free zones to take advantage of the confusion between service dogs and emotional support animals, liberally mixing the classifications. They also fail to mention that the individual seeking such accommodation must have proof of a mental disorder. This omission, itself, is an ethical problem. It is cheaper and easier for gatekeepers to just hope that questionable dogs don’t put patrons at risk. Airline attendants face an unenviable dilemma, as passengers cannot escape aggressive or stressed dogs in the tight confines of an airplane.
There are recent signs that DOT and HUD are moving toward DOJ’s more stringent regulations. On Feb. 5, 2020, DOT opened a 60 day public comment period for a plan that would reclassify emotional support animals as pets and restrict free aircraft cabin access only to service dogs. HUD recently posted new guidelines to help housing providers better determine animal access.
In my view, more federal intervention is needed. Medical documentation of disability should be the entry point for service dog access, just as it is for handicapped parking permits. Offering a nationally recognizable ID for service dog owners who voluntarily provide documentation would eliminate some fraud.
Ideally, a dog’s ability to behave appropriately in public should be proven prior to access and affirmed annually by testers, who use a public access test to verify a dog’s manners and handling of disability-specific tasks, such as that developed by Assistance Dogs International or those performed by all U.S. guide dog schools.
Some argue documentation and testing are burdensome or a violation of disabled people’s civil rights. But physicians, who diagnose ADA-defined disabilities, already provide their patients’ verification for state and federal benefits. Behavior tests assure handlers their dogs can work in stressful situations. And ensuring public safety protects the civil rights of all people.
Canines For PTSD Sufferers
In the service dog world, Odin, a 5-year-old Siberian Husky, is an outlier.
Perceptive, intelligent, social and the foundation of Above the Clouds Siberian Service Dogs, Odin is trained to quash the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder.
“We had no idea he was going to be a good service dog,” said Barrett T. Leary-Stensgaard who, with her husband, Tim Stensgaard, breeds and trains the dogs in Woodland Park. “Our trainers were just flabbergasted because Siberians have a bad reputation.”
Most service dogs, she added, are Labradors, German shepherds or Golden retrievers. “We got passionate about Siberians when we found that Odin has superior genetics – his line goes back 400 years to Siberia,” she said. “They are working dogs.”
The couple opened the business with Siberian rescue dogs but changed focus when results were disappointing. “We decided to start breeding, to take control of the genetics and the temperament,” she said.
Yet Odin is the star Siberian for Stensgaard, a U.S. Army Special Forces Green Beret, who served in six combat tours of duty. Only recently did he acknowledge his PTSD. “I just ignored it as a possibility,” he said. “Even now I’m reluctant to talk about my PTSD — most vets are; it takes a lot to come to grips with that.”
When Stensgaard starts feeling anxious, Odin goes to work. “He’ll start getting on me, distracting me,” Stensgaard said. “He reacts to anxiety before I pick it up.”
Dogs that graduate from Above the Clouds Siberian Service Dogs help those with PTSD, mobility/stability issues, blindness, seizures or autism, for instance. “We have different training methods for different issues,” Leary-Stensgaard.
For people with mobility issues in addition to those with special needs such as autism, the couple relies on Cindy Pixler of Grand Junction, a home health-care nurse.
Each dog is certified as a Canine Good Citizen by Lisa Lima, a dog trainer and animal-assisted therapist and owner of My Life Unleashed in Woodland Park, or her business partner Eric Rice. “I can’t certify my own dogs,” Leary-Stensgaard said.
Once purchased and trained, the Siberians head out to destinations around the nation. For instance, at a year old, Raven is trained and ready to be picked up by the new owner, Nahkee Augusta, who is driving in from Wisconsin to pick up the dog.
“The research is that dogs bond better when they go home in a year,” she said. “I’m pretty good at matching the right dog with the right person.”
Therapy Dog Bruno
As many pet parents can agree, our four-legged friends are really more like family. Our pets, from the moment they enter our lives, become family members who love us unconditionally — there truly is no kind of love like the one of a pet. Sadly, like those in our human family, time eventually runs its course and those pets pass on. One Hoboken pup who has recently passed away is Bruno — a local therapy dog known around the town. We got the chance to speak with Bruno’s mom, Lauren Gurtman, who told us all about his life and work here in the Mile Square, and the legacy that he has left behind.
This pet-friendly love story begins after Lauren had recently lost her mother. After watching her bother battle uterine cancer, Lauren was deep in mourning. One day, however, her husband brought her home a “present” to cheer her up — Bruno.
“From the moment Bruno entered my arms I knew he was special,” Lauren shared with Hoboken Girl. At the time, Lauren and her husband lived in downtown Hoboken and one dog named Willie, who was a certified therapy dog. With one already in the house, it felt right to pass the baton on to Bruno.
“[I knew] he had found his calling as a therapy dog,” Lauren shared.
Working with therapy dogs wasn’t something new to Lauren. In fact, she’s the founder and director of Kids Communicate, a clinic that specializes in “outpatient clinic providing comprehensive speech, language, orofacial myofuncational evaluations, feeding evaluations, as well as individual tailored therapy,” according to its website. Lauren regularly utilized pet-assisted therapy with her patients to ensure they received the best {and fluffiest} care they needed.
“Practicing and engaging with animals during therapy has so many benefits,” Lauren said. Naturally, this role for Bruno fit like a glove. Training a therapy dog, however, is no small feat — it’s a daily activity.
“I have worked with private trainers and also took him to group classes where he received his American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizen award. He also was certified through Therapy Dogs International in his younger years,” Lauren said.
All of those training sessions ended up paying off.
“I always say working is a choice for my dogs, which meant they could be in the therapy room with patients or not,” Lauren said. “Bruno always chose to be a part of therapy sessions when he was invited which was often. “Sometimes this meant just being present for greeting or a goodbye. Sometimes it meant sitting on a child’s lap or in a sensory swing. My patients always loved reading to Bruno or showing him a newly acquired speech skill.”
Lauren says that it was his calming energy that made Bruno have that unique, special quality to work with little ones. “His eyes always let children know they were safe.”
Working with other humans daily {especially for our four-legged friends} mightbe exhausting, but for Bruno that wasn’t the case.
“Bruno always knew when he was needed and when to back away. He was always able to read a child’s cues,” Lauren shared with HG. “He had endless patience and never flinched if a child got too excited. Bruno could always make children smile.”
Over the years, Bruno shared many special moments with his clients. Lauren shared that “Boo/Bruno” was actually a first word “approximation” for lots of children at her practice during his time there.
Beyond little ones, this pup also worked with the elderly. Although Lauren’s practice is primarily for babies, children, and teenagers, Bruno made regular visits to seniors in his Mile Square neighborhood. He truly got to know every one of every age in his hometown.
“He helped so many children learn to love dogs and helped others overcome their fear of dogs,” Lauren shared. “He also helped many children mourn the loss of their family pets.”
When he wasn’t helping his own set of clients or visiting local seniors, Lauren shared that Bruno loved spending time with his family, which included Lauren, her husband, 10-year-old twin boys, a 14-year-old girl, and other fur siblings. He spent his days people watching from the family home’s front step, visiting Cornerstone Pets, and taking trips to Hoboken Pets.
Unfortunately, Bruno passed away on May 18th of this year. This beloved therapy dog, after touching and impacting many lives across the Mile Square, has left behind a wonderful legacy and two fur brothers who are following in his footsteps {or pawprints}.
“His greatest legacy is our 12-year-old Bichon named Jake and an eight-month-old puppy named Benny. Training the three dogs together daily was always a joy” Lauren shared. “Benny and Jake learned from Bruno and carry on his legacy of helping children every day. Bruno has left such a large paw print in so many lives. He will never be forgotten.”
Service Dog Independence
Some children are afraid of the dark, but darkness in complete silence is especially frightening. Just ask Annie. When she was a child, Annie would often sleep on the floor just to feel the vibrations of footsteps, or the opening and closing of windows and doors. Annie would wake up sore from the hard floor, but it made her feel safe.
Annie received her first set of hearing aids at 18 months old. “I received a diagnosis of Usher Syndrome from my eye doctor. This means I was born with a severe to profound hearing loss, and I am gradually losing my peripheral vision,” explained Annie. Still Annie dreamed of going to college and living on her own. Although excited when Annie was accepted to the University of West Florida, her mother was concerned for Annie’s safety. To be honest, Annie was a little scared too. “I was ready to be on my own, and I didn’t want to depend on my parents anymore,” said Annie. “But I had hope that I could live an independent life.”
Since then, Annie has had three Hearing Dogs from PAWS. Her first was Kip, a Terrier mix that was rescued from a shelter in Chicago. Her second was a black Lab named Bubbles who served her beautifully for almost 15 years. Her current dog is Pilot, a black Golden/Lab mix.
Annie shared, “Pilot alerts me to the doorbell, door knock, cell phone, alarm clock, microwave timer, oven timer, carbon monoxide detector, fire alarms, an intruder, and when someone calls my name. This is important because if someone is behind me and needs to get my attention, I rarely hear them.” Pilot alerts her to these sounds at home and in public by nudging Annie with his nose. She asks him, “What?” orally or in sign language, and he brings her to the sound. With an intruder and fire alarm, he has learned to take her to the nearest exit. Pilot also knows his basic commands in sign language.
“When Pilot and I are out in public, I often hear that my Service Dog is better behaved than some children,” said Annie. “I have been in situations in which people were completely unaware that Pilot was under the table until I get up to leave with him. They are amazed at how quiet and well-behaved he is when he’s with me.”
But Pilot does so much more. “Not only has Pilot helped alert me to sounds, he has helped me deal with many of life’s struggles,” explained Annie. “Pilot came when I really needed him.” He was there to support Annie after the deaths of her mother and Bubbles. “Pilot was in mourning with me,” said Annie.
Today, Annie teaches Special Education at Blue Angels Elementary. When she first brought Pilot to work, they were thrilled by how appropriate his name was for the school. They created a special welcome sign for him, featured him on the school news, and printed his image on their Science Olympiad team shirt.
What’s so amazing is that Pilot is bringing joy and comfort to so many more people than just Annie. One of Annie’s students with epilepsy had a seizure in class. After it concluded the student asked for Pilot who rarely leaves Annie’s side. But Pilot went right to her and rested his head on the student’s lap while she recovered from her experience. Annie has a long-standing relationship with PAWS and is so grateful for the Hearing Dogs she has had to help her navigate through life. Her dream of independence was certainly achieved many years ago when she longed to go away to school. Now she has the privilege of teaching young people who have dreams of their own; and, while doing so, she has Pilot by her side.
Dogs Celebrate At Senior Center
The fourth of July is right around the corner and this afternoon a few of our furry friends in Clemson decided to celebrate early.
Volunteers from the Alliance of Therapy Dogs hosted a pup parade for seniors who are living in isolation at Clemson Heritage Senior Living center.
“We haven’t been able to go into nursing homes and they really miss us. For a lot of these assisted living homes they had to give up their pets to come here. So we bring a little bit of joy and remembrance of what it was like to have a pet,” Jerri Megenity, Paws2Care volunteer, said.
The pups and volunteers were dressed in their patriotic best, some were seen wearing tutus and red white and blue hats.
They were paraded around the courtyard by their owners who were waving and holding signs, all to make the patients at the center feel happy and loved.
“We want them to remember that we love them. That even though we’re not able to come visit, we love them and miss spending time with them as well, ” Lisa Mckinne, regional director at Providence Care Hospice, said.
Before the pandemic, Alliance of Therapy Dogs made routine visits to the senior living center and schools around the Upstate, but since they were unable to for weeks due to closures their dogs were eager to make folks happy again.
“When COVID-19 wasn’t here our group would go to many facilities, so we are very busy normally so this was great because my dog was missing visits,” Jerri Megenity said.
Teacher Awarded Doctorate
At the beginning of the school year in 2018-19, Greensboro Elementary School had something to happily bark about with certified therapy dog Molly, owned by the Baury family, working in Tamra Baurys’ second grade classroom. Molly’s job was to create a positive experience for the students every Tuesday when she arrived with a wagging tail.
Baurys, was recognized at the May Board of Education meeting for receiving an Educational Doctorate Degree (Ed.D.) in Educational Leadership from Wilmington University.
Baurys, who joined the meeting virtually, thanked Superintendent Dr. Patty Saelens for permission to conduct the research for her dissertation, which was on therapy dog use in the classroom. She also thanked the Board for being supportive of continuing education for staff through tuition reimbursement.
Molly proved to be an asset to the children she worked with and the GES staff. She is a patient and gentle soul who is content to accommodate anyone in need of a hug. When asked where Molly likes to be petted, Baurys’ response is, “Anywhere! Molly does not ask for much. She loves human touch and is happy to help out any child or teacher in need.”
Therapy dogs must undergo training and in some areas, pass the Canine Good Citizen test and certification test. The training includes a basic manners/obedience class which exposes the dog to a variety of people and situations.
According to Baurys, research has shown that therapy dogs are able to provide physical, social and emotional benefits, and serve as family in place of, or in addition to “our human pack.” GES tracked specific data the school year to gauge whether the presence of a therapy dog provides a benefit to the school.
Therapy Dog Returns
A Tampa family is overjoyed to be back with their dog, Sully.
When he went missing, his owners launched a widespread search with the help of dozens of community members. Just as they thought the situation was hopeless, Sully showed back up.
It was the reunion everyone was hoping for after the 1-year-old Bernedoodle therapy dog was being dropped off at a Tampa groomer Saturday morning but got loose and disappeared into a wooded area.
Squeals of excitement could be heard Monday when Sully reunited with his family and his best pal, 7-year-old Liam, who is a pediatric brain tumor patient. Sully helps him with anxiety by attending chemotherapy treatments and doctors’ appointments with him.
“The dog helps to calm him down and the dog is trained to lay on him much like he’s doing to me right now, such to provide that calming nature,” Liam’s mom, Laura Holland said. “Knowing Florida and knowing what’s in the woods, that was scary. He’s a little dog and trained therapy dog for our family and I honestly didn’t think he could survive in the woods.”
Holland quickly got to work posting pleas for help on social media. Soon, dozens of community members joined the search effort. She also contacted trappers who instructed her to use the family’s scent to attract Sully by leaving behind something you wouldn’t expect.
“We actually put traces of urine in the location, which again, I thought it was crazy. We put it in a bottle and we just drizzled it along the shoreline to try and give him a path to come back and it worked,” Holland said.
Monday, Sully made his way back to the very spot where he ran off three days earlier. However, when people tried to grab him, he ran off again. A driver passing by was able to stop and grab him, putting an end to the search and ultimately making the Holland family whole again.
“I looked up and it was like out of a movie. This man was walking back holding my dog in his arms. It couldn’t have been more of a dramatic, but happy ending for this whole thing,” Holland said.
Right now, the family says they’re focusing on helping Sully settle back into normal life and recover from severe dehydration. When he was found, his paws were burned as well, but he is healing well and the family says he’ll be back to normal in just a few weeks.
Animals In War
The Lady Haig Poppy Factory in Edinburgh has been making the wreaths since its ex-servicemen finished four million red poppies for this year’s remembrance events during lockdown.
Horses and dogs were used during World War One and World War Two.
Animals are still involved in conflicts across the world.
Factory manager Major Charlie Pelling said: “From leading the cavalry charge into battle; pulling heavy artillery and supplies to the front lines; travelling over mud-drenched landscapes destroyed by constant bombardment; coming under attack from killer hawks whilst delivering intelligence information to being tasked with the killing of rats and mice in the filthy flooded trenches, animals have been used in war.
“They have been forced to check for poisonous gases, have been taken from the familiarity of being a much-loved family pet and been forced into service.”
Major Pelling said these animals had also suffered from cold, fatigue, infection, bullet wounds and shell-shock and many had suffered premature deaths because of rationing and restrictions imposed on families in wartime.
“They have also been put to work amidst the screaming air-raid sirens to search for signs of life and bodies at the risk of being buried alive,” he said.
“They have been transported to the most unpleasant and obscure surroundings to provide comfort as a pet to armed forces amidst the bloody and brutal horror of war and have been thrown from an aircraft in terror to land in a battlefield only to then have to guard against the enemy and walk amongst the minefields.
“The role of animals in service can never be underestimated.”
Major Pelling added that the animals and their handlers forged strong bonds of loyalty and trust that were tested to their ultimate limits.
In 1942, in response to a government call for dogs to help with the war effort, the Railton family from Tolworth in Surrey handed over their German Shepherd for service.
He was accepted into the War Dog Training School and known as War Dog 147.
A dog with “a remarkable level of skill and intelligence”, he joined the 6th Battalion Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) and was teamed up with his handler Lance Corporal James (Jimmy) Muldoon, from Strathaven in Lanark.
He was named Khan after the Indian soldiers serving alongside the British.
During a night-time landing on Walcheren Island in Belgium their landing craft was attacked by heavy artillery on their way to the shore.
Both Jimmy and Khan were thrown into the water and as Khan swam ashore, Jimmy, unable to swim, was floundering and struggling in the water with the weight of his heavy pack.
Khan went back for him amid the continued artillery attack before dragging him to shore by his collar.
It was witnessed by other soldiers who insisted “the heroic act that saved Lance Corporal Muldoon’s life” should be recognised.
Khan was promoted to “Rifleman Khan” and on 27 March 1945 he was awarded the PDSA Dickin Medal in an honorary parade before the battalion commander.
After the battalion was demobilised, Jimmy went home to Strathaven and Khan was returned to the Railton family in Surrey.
In 1947, Barry Railton wrote to Jimmy and asked if he would attend The National Dog Tournament to parade Khan alongside other dogs who had also been awarded the PDSA Dickin Medal.
On seeing Khan reunited with Jimmy after two years, Barry made the decision that Khan should live out his days with him in Scotland.
Major Pelling said: “The intelligence of the smallest animals to the largest imaginable and their ability to work as part of a team, to risk life over loyalty and assert diligence over fear knows no bounds.
“In modern-day conflict the role of animals serving in our armed forces is as crucial now as it has ever been – especially dogs in their ability to detect bombs, weapons and drugs provide frontline assistance and protection to our armed forces.”
