Here's a tail with a happy ending: Area therapy dogs help bring smiles

By Nick Kosmider
Herald/Review
Published: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 2:56 AM MST

Thirty-three years later, spawned by that visit, Kempe’s organization, Therapy Dog International, is certifying dogs in 50 states and Canada in order to provide people in need a chance to see a furry face and a wagging tail.

The volunteer organization, headquartered in the Garden State, works to bring canines into hospitals, nursing homes, hospices and other places where the attention they give helps ease suffering.

“It brings so much joy to people who wouldn’t have it otherwise,” said Nancy Parker, a dog evaluator for the organization who works out of Phoenix. “Alzheimer’s patients who haven’t talked in months will talk to a dog. The joy (the dogs) give to the people they visit is just heartwarming.”

Becoming a therapy dog with TDI requires the canine, which must be at least a year old, to undergo an evaluation with a certified evaluator. The handler must then fill out an application and submit it, along with the evaluation, to the group for review.

Kempe said an “outstanding temprement” is vital for any dog a handler hopes to have involved in therapy work. Equally important, she said, is a dog’s desire to do the task.

“Just like you can’t force a person to work in a profession they don’t like, you can’t force a dog to be a therapy dog if they don’t want to,” Kempe said.

Linda Lambert has been evaluating dogs at TDI for 10 years, and joined the program after a rottweiler named Rocky paid her a visit in the hospital. At the time, she had been entering Katie, her Austrailian cattle dog, into dog shows. Lambert thought it might be time to give her pet a chance to do something new.

“She was starting to get burnt out on shows, and I thought, ‘Maybe she could be a therapy dog.’ ” Katie soon began working in nursing homes and became certified with TDI.

Lambert, who estimates she has reviewed more than 300 dog/handler teams in her decade as an evaluator, has been involved in a program of TDI called “Tail Waggin’ Tutors.”

Once a week, Lambert brings her dogs, Skye and Cody — also Austrailian cattle dogs — to Barnes and Noble in Surprise (a Phoenix suburb), where they sit in a room with kids while they read.

“While they read to the dogs, kids are in a completely nonjudgmental enviornment where they can build their confidence,” said Lambert, who travels across the state to give evaluations.

She said some kids participating in the program once a week have seen an entire grade-level improvement in a three-month period.

Lambert said while her pets Skye and Cody are fond of working with the young readers, Katie — who passed away from old age — had a special talent for working with autistic children.

“Every therapy dog has its own gift,” she said. “It’s up to a handler to help the dog find its gift.”

Taking a Chance

Chance, a standard poodle, has a gift for putting people at ease, said his handler, Linda Snyder. Snyder had Chance certified through Therapy Dog Incorporated, a similar organization which had an evaluator, Mary Jackson, working in the area.

Several years ago, Snyder and Chance joined a therapy dog group in Sierra Vista started by Alicia Buckingham, who also had a doggy day care here. The dogs and their handlers would visit hospitals, hospices and assisted living homes. But the group disbanded after about a year when Buckingham moved to Indiana and Jackson retired from evaluating.

But Chance is still doing his part to bring smiles to people in need of a reason to grin.

“It is a great opportunity for older people who are alone,” said Snyder, a retired teacher whose passion is to work with animals. “Chance just puts his head on their lap and it brings smiles to their faces.”

Snyder brings Chance to Casa de Los Montanas, an assisted living home, and plans to make visits to Prestige Assited Living in the upcoming weeks.

With her background in teaching, Snyder also plans to have Chance help students with reading at Sierra Vista Methodist Church.

Anne Faust, Reflections program coordinator at Hacidenda Rehabilitation and Care Center, used to have a group of therapy dogs visit the center. While that certified group of canines hasn’t visited Hacienda in a few years, man’s best friend has still been hanging around.

Faust’s dog Bud, a German shepard, accompanies his owner to work often, and the patients couldn’t be happier to see him.

A friend of Faust’s also brings a dog to the center.

“It’s just wonderful to see the faces light up,” Faust said.

Get your dog certified

Linda Lambert holds two evaluating sessions per year in Tuscon that can lead to that certification with Therapy Dog International. The next will take place at Himmell Park Library on Nov. 8. She said handlers who hope for their pets to become therapy dogs should put them through an obedience class before scheduling an evaluation. Pre-registration is required, and Lambert can be reached at (623) 388-2262 or by e-mail at ktlkate@wydebeam.com.

Information about ceritification through Therapy Dog Inc. can be found online at therapydogs.com

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