Service and Therapy Newfs

[911Newfs]

As suggested, moving this topic here - Whew!!

While I do not have a service dog, I do take my girl to visit nursing homes on occasion for therapy visits. I am always interested in learning more about how others train with their service and/or therapy dogs. I do believe a solid foundation is required, such as CGC, basic obedience, and maybe even Novice obedience.

Some of the books I have and certainly recommend are:
- The Canine Good Citizen by Jack & Wendy Volhard
- A Dog Who's Always Welcome by Lorie Long
- Dog Language by Roger Abrantes
- Therapy Dogs by Jacqueline Crawford
- Teamwork I and Teamwork II by Stewart Nordensson (these books also have accompanying DVDs available - excellent information on training service dogs).





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[sendchocolate]

Poppy is not a service dog, but she definitely has some jobs that she performs. When my youngest is melting down, it is Poppy's job to go and lie down next to her, provide moral support and deep pressure by putting her head in her lap. Poppy helps Jasmine calm down, and feel secure. She also lies there while Jasmine, who really needs all the practice she can get, reads to her.

It is our plan to have Poppy certified as a therapy dog, but she isn't ready yet. Still working on training and getting her to calm down. I am confident that she will get there.

 

[newflizzie]

Whew, like the new topic!

I have never worked with/trained/or had service dogs. I have friends who are puppy raisers for CCI and a friend involved with Canine Assistants. They are both amazing programs and one day I would love to be a puppy raiser. I have yet to meet a newf service dog but I would love to - I have met one basenji service dog (trained by owner) and who would have thought, but he was an amazing little guy.

Lizzie is my first therapy dog. She passed the CGC at 6 mos and TDI 6 days after her first birthday (she's 16 months now). She has been working with TDI's Tail Waggin Tutors reading therapy program and she LOVES it. I plan to get her involved at hospitals and such but I'm waiting for her to mature a bit more. She has an amazing temperament, which with 3 little kids I was looking for in our first newf, but I'm beginning to realize over the past year that she has a wonderful temperament even for a newf.

My next door neighbors have a 3 yr old little boy who was born with hydrocephaly. About 9-10mos ago, his mother and I were walking around the block with him (Austin) and my same age daughter (Natalie). I was holding Lizzie and, oddly and for the first time, Lizzie started acting weird with him. She was whining and wouldn't leave his side, when he went inside his house she tugged and tugged to follow. I had no idea what was up with her, and put it off to her being a puppy. Not long after we were in our house - fire trucks and an ambulance come flying into their driveway - Austin was in the midst of a seizure and didn't appear to be breathing. He was okay and went off to the hospital. Dh and I were like - she knew something was wrong. She knew. Since that day Austin has severe seizures during his growth spurts and Lizzie has no less then 2 other times acted up around him before it happened. Because of her behavior they are considering looking into a seizure dog if he doesn't outgrow this (there is some thinking he will). I don't know if she detects the seizure (apparently it gives off a citrus scent dogs can smell), but I am now convinced she does know something is wrong.

Newfs are amazing creatures - I think that life saving instinct makes them extra sensitive to human needs.

 

[Newfs Forever]

Good girl, Lizzie!

 

[R Taft]

I already did a lot of Therapy work with my dogs, due to the fact that we are quite heavily involved with Riding for the Disabled. Dogs always came along and one thing leads to another. And it has not always only been our newfs. Our Australian Kelpie working dogs were great dogs to have along as is Tessa. Mostly with Down's Syndrome, intellectually handicapped and severe forms of Autism. And each dog has found where they work best. Katy with the rough and tumble and Annabelle with the quiet and with drawn. Tessa happily adjusts to either, She is really god at a lot of things

BUt I am now at the end of a Assistance/Service Dog Training Course with incredible Trainers and I have had the most amazing opportunity to learn under some incredible Trainers. On how to train Assistance/Service dogs and even Sniffer dogs

Before that I also spent a lot of time with Delta Trainers and anyone else who was happy to have me and show how to train.
The interest in training started, because we took on Annabelle, who was people and dog aggressive. And my thought was if she could become a Assistance/Service/Therapy type dog she would get past all of that. And it has worked.
Through finding solutions for her, I found trainers, who trained Assistance dogs, Sniffer dogs and other work dogs.
The people I now work with have also started on working with Epilepsy dogs and diabetes dogs. I am not presently involved with that, but we hear a lot about it.
They get a lot of dogs from the pounds and shelters, that is the part I love. the dogs are on Death-row and become valuable, loved and needed dogs

Improving Mental
Health Through
Animal-Assisted
Therapy

Liana Urichuk with Dennis Anderson

This is a book you can Google and down load for free (I think)

Volhard is an amazing system..........It is what I used to pick Katy and her temperament cannot be faulted, even in the most stressfull situations

 

[Windancer]

that is what I am interested in...any stories of what newfs have done in the line of service/assistance spontaneously.....I really believe they have this ability..great story about the seizure alert.....My friend Sally who has lung /breathing problems goes into convulsions due to not being able to expell the carbon monoxide... Somehow the dog knows when this is about to happen. Alerted her once in the bathtub and probably saved her life.

 

[NessaM]

Nanook and Pooka are both certified therapy dogs...and they do their jobs and are proud of it.

But on one occasion, Nanook surprised me. He was supposed to be listening to a succession of at-risk readers read, but he was ignoring the kids in favor of paying attention to one of the moms. I actually got a bit annoyed at him, because he really wasn't helping the kids the way he normally did, but he was adamant that he needed to be in this woman's lap, licking her face, playing with her hands, and in general drooling all over her like she was made of liver. It was a very frustrating two hours for me, as his handler, trying to redirect him to the kids who were there to read to him.

At the end of the session, I was rolling up his blanket and putting away his brush. The mom that he'd been all over came up to me to say thank you. I started to apologize for Nanook, saying honestly that I'd never seen him act like that before I was sorry he hadn't paid attention to her daughter reading...the mom cut me off.

She said, "Please don't apologize - I needed him more than my daughter did. You see, I've got cancer..." I hadn't noticed that underneath her ball cap, she had no hair. She bent down to hug Nanook goodbye, and I heard her whisper "thank you" to him, and I had to turn away and get very busy packing up Nanook's visit bag because she was crying, and I didn't want her to see that I was, too.

 

[janices]

There was an article some time ago on Buddy back in 2000 in Newf Tide
http://www.ncanewfs.org/working/service/buddy.html

Buddy's owner was a friend before passed away. Buddy definitely thought for himself, was a problem solver and very self-confident. Seen Buddy get Dick back up when he cramped up and come to his aide many a time.

Truly fantastic and amazing newf.

 

[KodysGrandma]

My Kody understood those kind of things too. He was a Delta certified therapy dog and also READ. As Ronnie pointed out many breeds of dogs have skills in this area. One of our mixed breeds many years ago alerted my husband three times that he was going to have a heart attack. The first time he ignored her, the next two he listened and called 911. She would climb up and sniff his breath and if she didn't like what she smelled she would paw at him vigorously.

 

[Tula]

Phoebe passed her Delta test, but was afraid of elevators and stairs....so we didn't pursue therapy visits. I bring her to my pre-school ( I'm the director) and she loves the kids. We had a staff member diagnosed with ALS last year......very sad. It was her desire to finish out the year teaching, with support from colleagues. When the school day was finished, and we were closing up classrooms etc., I would fret about leaving the area where this teacher was. Not too worry......Phoebe planted herself by her wheelchair.....and kept her company. She just instinctively knew she was needed.

 

[Windancer]

amazing stories...! I just love them....

 

[R Taft]

that is what I am interested in...any stories of what newfs have done in the line of service/assistance spontaneously.....I really believe they have this ability..great story about the seizure alert.....My friend Sally who has lung /breathing problems goes into convulsions due to not being able to expell the carbon monoxide... Somehow the dog knows when this is about to happen. Alerted her once in the bathtub and probably saved her life.

Annabelle, who was not a Service dog or Therapy dog was finally able to be taken out in public, when we took her to the RDA with us every weekend. Annabelle would mostly sit quietly with one of my friends, whilst we took kids out for rides on our two horses.

When I came back one day for lunch, a lovely lady with her son, who has the type of autism where he does not talk and does not like anyone to touch him was sitting nearby. She asked if her other son was allowed to say hello to the dogs. Tessa was happy to comply with him and he started throwing her bumper. The other boy was just watching Annabelle and shuffled nearer to her. She ignored him, I was watching closely. But she was neutral. Suddenly he shuffled near her, but not touching and she stayed where she was.
The Mom, was amazed, because her son, she told us, never moved towards anyone or anything. Finally they sat side by side , but not touching. I always found it incredible that Annabelle made no move towards him as she would with others......I twas left at this, we all went home.
The next weekend, we were early and the dogs were loose, the mom with the two kids headed to the same spot. Annabelle went to them and sat next to Nicholas, no touch......
This just was all they did again.
The next day, because we were back, Nicholas came over to Annabelle and sat opposite her and touched her and sat closer.
This can be long winded, but after about five weeks, Nicholas came up to Annabelle and petted her and gave her a hug and his Mom burst into tears. We had no idea until then, that he never touched or showed any emotion. Anyway Annabelle licked and they would now lie together and even walk together. Which made me just a little nervous, because of her history. So I stayed aside with them. he also started talking to her and apparently he also did not talk, except to himself and now Annabelle and also Tessa.

To cut a long story short, I have helped get this family their own Assistance dog for Nicholas. he is a lovely Golden from the Group I work with. Nicholas is not suddenly able to chat and so forth, but he interacts through his dog. he will even talk, using the dog, Milo, as the reason he has to talk. We still see them and he still likes Annabelle a lot.
Dogs have opened up Nicholas and helped him. I think Annabelle has helped. Annabelle is better with all the Autistic children we meet. I think, because she is quieter and very sensitive. unlike Katy who loves to be "pulled apart" by the rougher kids, mostly Down's Syndrome where we go. Tessa cruises in between, she is quite exeptional, though not a newf

 

[sarnewfie]

One of my puppy people trained his girl to do many things. Turn off the light switch on the wall, retrieve things for him, Many things, including sleeping alongside him to alert the family if anything was "off" with him.
We all know Newfoundlands have a "sixth sense" They are almost human, and in many ways "wolf like" in that they can telepathically communicate or anticipate our feelings. Ok now you can call me a whacko. But, many times over mine have anticipated what i was gonna do, even if it included one of them going with me on errands, that "one" newf KNEW they were going and i did nothing to tell them that. They are truly amazing.

 

[blstarke]

Gosh, where do I begin? I have done therapy work with my dogs all my life.
My latest is with Gunny, crisis response for missing children. Probably, my most memorable since he was on the news for missing child Haleigh Cummings.
Gunny also visits the nursing homes, promotes the Stanger Danger Program for the children and also the reader dog program.
He is also in the book of Haleigh Cummings.

 

[Amy6978]

Nanook and Pooka are both certified therapy dogs...and they do their jobs and are proud of it.

But on one occasion, Nanook surprised me. He was supposed to be listening to a succession of at-risk readers read, but he was ignoring the kids in favor of paying attention to one of the moms. I actually got a bit annoyed at him, because he really wasn't helping the kids the way he normally did, but he was adamant that he needed to be in this woman's lap, licking her face, playing with her hands, and in general drooling all over her like she was made of liver. It was a very frustrating two hours for me, as his handler, trying to redirect him to the kids who were there to read to him.

At the end of the session, I was rolling up his blanket and putting away his brush. The mom that he'd been all over came up to me to say thank you. I started to apologize for Nanook, saying honestly that I'd never seen him act like that before I was sorry he hadn't paid attention to her daughter reading...the mom cut me off.

She said, "Please don't apologize - I needed him more than my daughter did. You see, I've got cancer..." I hadn't noticed that underneath her ball cap, she had no hair. She bent down to hug Nanook goodbye, and I heard her whisper "thank you" to him, and I had to turn away and get very busy packing up Nanook's visit bag because she was crying, and I didn't want her to see that I was, too.

OMG! I was totally crying reading this. Your dogs are truly the best. There is something about them. I swear. They make me smile every time I see them.

I know this is a few years off, but I want to consider a service dog for Ally. As much as I love Darlabear, she just isn't a match. And my desperate wanting for her to be isn't going to make her be. Zuko is doing great with Ally, but at times his anxiety gets the best of him, as well as his obsessive licking, which Ally loves... Anyway, Zuko is almost 9. Darlabear is going to be 5. So I have some more years with them. But Ally LOVES her dogs. I know a service dog will help her.

For those of you who don't know, Ally has Down Syndrome. I am going to need a breeder who will know me AND Ally to help us pick the right dog for us. I have never worked with a breeder before, all of my pets are rehomes or rescues. How long before you want a pup do you start looking for a breeder? Since we prefer our next dog to be our only dog as we feel two dogs is too many for us, we are probably going to wait quite a while, so like I said, this is a while away. But is it good for the breeder to also know our current dogs and what we struggle with with them so they can also help us choose a better match?

 

[Windancer]

This is that amazing sense that only the newfoundland breed has......I have many stories too ( and Taft,,yours was not EVEN too long) of therapy dogs gravitating to the most withdrawn of patients at a military hospital (Susan A. ?) And other related incidences.....I don't know where this comes from,

 

[Windancer]

taft..which one of the four in the avitar is Annabelle ? upper left?

 

[R Taft]

Annabelle is top left......Katy the "mad" girl is top right Ronnie

 

[suse]

When I was a public high school special education teacher, I would take Seamus to school when there were periods of stress, ie. death of a student, family in turmoil, emotionally disturbed student going through a rough time, etc. Seamus had the knack of determining who needed him most and that is who he'd sit by. Just having a big fluffy dog in their presence calmed down the atmosphere, but being able to pet big fluffy dog did wonders for so many. These big kids would sit on the floor with him, lie on him and Seamus was ever so patient. I don't think he's an exceptional dog (well, I do, but not for this). I think this is what makes him a newf....they are born to comfort people. And this is why I love the breed so very much.

 

[Windancer]

JUdy...on the Heleigh Cummings...that never did get solved, did it? and Taft..I thought I knew who she was just from her facial expression...