# Surprised at the level of non-interest in receiving pet therapy visitors



## Faith's mommy (Feb 26, 2007)

we are finishing up our pet therapy classes soon (no, it's gotten no better) and the instructor asked us to do some homework and call a few local nursing homes to discuss whether they would be interested in having any of the graduates visit.

i've been so surprised at the lack of interest by the recreation directors i'm speaking to. 

first call i made, when i explained why i was calling the woman made like a tsk-ing sound and said, "no, we're not interested in any more visitors. we've already got cats and dogs and even a llama. so, no" ok, so i get what she was saying, but she could have been a little nicer about it.

4 of them haven't called me back. i'm just so surprised. i guess i thought it was going to be better received that it seems to have been.

i did call one today and she was quite excited and knew all about the training i'm in and was like "when can you come?" i explained we had to graduate and pass the test, etc. she said, "call me back as soon as you're ready" it was really nice to talk to her.

for those that do therapy visits, have you encountered the same thing?


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

I am not involved in pet therapy, but I have been so surprised by how many non-animal people there are are out there.

I recently had to have my company look for corporate housing for me. They had a very hard time finding it. The different people that I talked to were kind of snooty about "OH, you have a dog." in a tone that I expected them to say YUCK afterwards.

Non pet people just assume all dogs are dirty and have germs.


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

IMO, teh best bet is to see if you can find a Delta or TDI group in your area. When I did therapy work, the group I was with had a waiting list of locations that wanted therapy teams.

As for not getting a call back, just keep in mind that the places you're callng are likely understaffed with over-worked employees! You may need to call a few times before you can catch someone who can find the time to call back.


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## beargroomer (Jan 2, 2008)

I've only had positive feedback so far, whenever I've told anyone that Gibson is in training to become a therapy dog. 
I visited the community center (without my dog) where our trainer volunteers for the READ program. When the trainer introduced me to the program director and told her that Gibby is a puppy in training to become a therapy dog, she was really excited and encouraged me to bring Gibby to meet the staff and the children there so Gibby can start getting used to the place and practice, too. I went back with Gibby and we had a great time. Everyone there seemed really enthusiastic about the therapy program and said they wished more dogs participated.

Too bad the people you spoke to weren't very nice or helpful. I hope you'll meet a lot of nice, welcoming, enthusiastic people as you start your work. Let us know how the graduation visit goes! I'm sure Faith will do great!


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## MurphyTeller (Sep 28, 2008)

Here's the thing...class graduate is not the same as a certified therapy dog through Delta, TDI etc. Anyone can hang out their shingle and claim to be a dog trainer - we all know that various programs have different degrees of value - those facilities have no way to measure the quality of the training you have had over the phone...I don't quite understand why if your trainer is offering this therapy dog class she hasn't made some kind of agreement with a facility (or whatever) to get her class in for some practice (when they are ready). It concerns me that you are paying for a class and then told to cold-call facilities to get in some training...something isn't right in denmark me thinks...

Any director would be taking a gamble on you as a team and accepting the liability of inviting you in. If you are certified through an organization it's expected that you have a certain degree of handling skill - someone has seen your dog in a therapy related session and determined that you are a good team to represent the organization. You are certified, pay the membership fee and are covered by their insurance. Many facilities in the northeast are affiliated with various centers already and are pretty loyal to the groups that can commit to visiting with regular frequency.

The other thing is that while I've never talked to you on the phone, met you or met your dog in the post above you've already mentioned that the class isn't going well. If you're having doubts about how well the class is going - if the class isn't going well perhaps you aren't ready to visit facilities yet and you're telegraphing that in the phone calls and voicemails.

I'd recommend that you find a way to get connected with Delta or TDI - they will be able to facilitate the process for you. Has your instructor talked about what groups are active in your area? Our group almost always has more requests for visits than we have available teams.

Erica


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## Faith's mommy (Feb 26, 2007)

FlyingQuizini said:


> IMO, teh best bet is to see if you can find a Delta or TDI group in your area. When I did therapy work, the group I was with had a waiting list of locations that wanted therapy teams.
> 
> As for not getting a call back, just keep in mind that the places you're callng are likely understaffed with over-worked employees! You may need to call a few times before you can catch someone who can find the time to call back.


we are getting Delta certified. the instructor is a Delta trainer / tester and she encouraged us to make these calls in order to help us get some ideas as well as to add to the database she maintains of locations who want to have pet visits.

and, the one nice phone call really made up for the not so nice one and the no call backs (so far).


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

How about nursery schools and daycare settings? There are so many children that do not have pets. I believe it is important to introduce them when they are young. Even though Brady is not a therapy dog, my husband would bring Brady to pick up my kids at daycare. All the children had to come and hug him! It made their day.

My sister-in-law is one of those people that thinks that dogs have germs and never let her kids near them. The oldest is now 12, and she is terrified of Brady (even when he was 3 months old). She will not even get out of the car when they come to my house. I really think she did her children a disservice.


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## Faith's mommy (Feb 26, 2007)

To clear some stuff up – sorry this will be long!

We are getting certified through Delta. 

You are right; I remain concerned about this class. We’ve now had 10 weeks of “training” and in that whole time we’ve only spent 5 – 10 minutes near any medical equipment. 

These classes have been basically basics classes, and bad ones at that. As in, how to get your dog to sit, stay, walk nice on a leash, etc. She currently wants us to be able to maintain a 3 second stay. Are you kidding me? I needed a 1 minute stay for her CGC and she’s worried about only a 3 second stay?!

In my opinion, you should have been required to pass a CGC-ish test to be accepted into this class and the ten weeks should have been focused on things you will encounter and practicing for them, not basic obedience.

For last week’s class we spent 40 minutes listening to prior graduates discuss their experiences now that they are out doing visits. One of them mentioned all the noises in nursing homes – as in buzzers when a patient gets up from their wheelchair or bells when certain doors are open. The whole time I kept thinking – why on earth are we not practicing with the amount of noises we’ll encounter?

All of the graduates who spoke all talked about the orientation they go through at the facility before they are allowed out on the floor. Well, heck, why aren’t we hearing this now too? I think it would be extremely useful information.

The remaining 20 minutes discussed teaching your dog tricks to perform for the clients and she showed us how to teach bow. Faith happened to be the practice student and she didn’t do so well – she kept throwing herself at the floor in a down. lol

We are not cold calling these facilities in order to obtain training. We’ve been asked to call them so the instructor can build on her database of places looking for volunteers.

When making these calls, I’m not representing myself as an already certified person. I’m letting the recreation directors know that I’m part of the class and that as part of our homework we’ve been asked to call to see if they’d be interested in receiving visits once we pass the tests. I’m also not letting my feelings for the instructor or our training come through in my voice. I’m not some kid who hasn’t figured out how to mask their real emotions yet.

For us, I’m not sure kids are our best patient group to work with. Faith’s not used to kids and gets shy and nervous around kids that are running around, screaming or running up behind her.

My original plan was to work in a facility that did rehab. I’m interested in helping stroke victims work on their physical therapy in a more interesting way – as in, having them throw the ball for the dog or grooming her to redevelop their muscle control.


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## Jackson'sMom (Oct 13, 2007)

When I did pet therapy with my TDI dog Casey, and managed the program for a large humane society, we couldn't keep up with the demand, especially for daytime, weekday visits. That was years ago, but we never had enough volunteers.


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## MurphyTeller (Sep 28, 2008)

Faith's mommy said:


> We are not cold calling these facilities in order to obtain training. We’ve been asked to call them so the instructor can build on her database of places looking for volunteers.
> 
> When making these calls, I’m not representing myself as an already certified person. I’m letting the recreation directors know that I’m part of the class and that as part of our homework we’ve been asked to call to see if they’d be interested in receiving visits once we pass the tests. I’m also not letting my feelings for the instructor or our training come through in my voice. I’m not some kid who hasn’t figured out how to mask their real emotions yet.


It sounds like you're already trying to work through a class that isn't providing what you need...that's a tough situation to be in and it's really hard to be successful in that kind of situation. I still don't think it's OK for the instructor to ask her students to build her DB of volunteers - regardless of the intent I don't think it's good for the organization that she represents to have several calls from people not yet affiliated with an organization make a potentially first contact with a facility. It just has the potential to rub people the wrong way - not your call personally - but if every 6 weeks or so they're getting 2-3 calls from people doing "homework" it becomes something to the effect of "stop wasting my time".

I'm really surprised that someone would take class time to hear from former students - maybe a meet and greet before or after a session - but to use 40 minutes of class time for that? Nah, not OK in my book. Have you called the instructor and just put your concerns out on the line? If the class is all over the map it makes it difficult for the class to progress effectively unless the instructor is very good at setting individual goals and individualized instruction during the class - some people are good at this - some aren't....

Is there anyone else in the area that is actively doing therapy work or therapy dog classes?

Erica


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## AcesWild (Nov 29, 2008)

Question....does the TDI still require 2 minutes with a stranger? Cause I know Moxie won't do that but still...


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

It does sound like you have an instructor who is inexperienced. In our classes, we constantly practiced weaving in and out of a moving wheelchair, crutches and all kinds of tempting treats on the floor. Plus the instructor dropped things that were noisy. We practiced walking past a "resident" (the instructor) and keeping the dogs out of the way or asking them if they wanted to pet our dog. And how to handle rude rejections so that we weren't taken by surprise when someone didn't want to pet our dog. And how not to snub that person, even if it was because of surprise.

Then we tested in a retirement home, going from room to room and getting real life experience. It was wonderful!


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## Gwen (Aug 9, 2007)

I DO know what you mean by the number of non-dog people out there and those who don't feel that dogs can help. I'm going to be doing Nyg's CGC & TT (Temperment Testing) next weekend. I have already approached many different "organizations" to see if there is interest for dog participation. At the present time, the only use of dogs is for a weekday one-hour visit once a month to the local old age home. I have approached the Children's Aid Society and have received positive feedback for the use of dogs in settling children when they are taken from very stressful situations - They're checking into the liability issues. I've checked with schools regarding "Paws for Learning" & they haven't gotten back to me. The most positive contact was with a womens' resource centre who run a program for teenaged girls who have been abused (mentally, emotionally & physically) These girls have no self esteem and no trust. The counsellor who operates the program feels that the girls could benefit greatly from contact with animals through gaining trust with a non-judgemental sole - a dog. We're meeting next week to discuss our participation. I have also met with a day care centre who have programmes for challenged children and they're very interested in involving the dogs. I have already done puppy visits @ this daycare when Nyg was a puppy.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that there are LOTS of those in need - we just have to find the ones who would appreciate our assistance and one that meets are needs as well. Keep trying and you will find your niche because we believe!


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## Noey (Feb 26, 2009)

I found this, but they do say it's a long application process, lower part of the page mentions therapy dogs: http://www.ccmckids.org/help/volunteering.asp.

Maybe joining a group like this would help? http://www.tailsofjoy.org/

I know in VA we have a ton of senior communities, I bet you have to get to the right person.


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## Faith's mommy (Feb 26, 2007)

fostermom said:


> It does sound like you have an instructor who is inexperienced. In our classes, we constantly practiced weaving in and out of a moving wheelchair, crutches and all kinds of tempting treats on the floor. Plus the instructor dropped things that were noisy. We practiced walking past a "resident" (the instructor) and keeping the dogs out of the way or asking them if they wanted to pet our dog. And how to handle rude rejections so that we weren't taken by surprise when someone didn't want to pet our dog. And how not to snub that person, even if it was because of surprise.
> 
> Then we tested in a retirement home, going from room to room and getting real life experience. It was wonderful!


 
It's really quite strange - the instructor is highly qualified, runs many therapy programs, volunteers a ton of her time, etc. but, we haven't done any sort of practicing like you mention.


and, i should update - i'm feeling more positive today. i've now spoken to 2 recreation / residential directors who are thrilled to have teams come in. they'd prefer we start like, this minute. :bowl:


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## Faith's mommy (Feb 26, 2007)

Noey said:


> I found this, but they do say it's a long application process, lower part of the page mentions therapy dogs: http://www.ccmckids.org/help/volunteering.asp.


thanks so much for the links! 

however, i'm not sure that kids are the best patient population for Faith. she does better in quieter environments, so i think we're going to stick with seniors for now.


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