Bideawee Tails from a Volunteer
A Therapy Dog at College Teaches Important Lessons by Florence Scarinci
Therapy dogs. They comfort sick children in hospitals. They assist physical therapists in rehabilitation centers. They spark the memories of Alzheimer's patients in nursing homes. They help reluctant readers in elementary schools gain confidence. They help children with special needs settle down to learn the day's lessons. The list of the ways in which therapy dogs can be valuable assets to doctors, nurses, teachers, and therapists keeps on growing. Here is the latest addition: helping college professors teach newly arrived immigrants to speak and write English.
I was on my way to a meeting at the large community college where I work as a librarian when one of the English professors, Kristen, stopped me. Kristen teaches in a language immersion program designed specifically for immigrants who have recently arrived in the United States and who need to improve their English language skills before they can take college level courses. The students, who come from every corner of the globe, spend four hours a day, five days a week, in class. They read material selected for its interest and appropriate reading level and then they discuss what they have read and write about it. Kristen told me that they had been reading articles about how dogs assist humans as therapy and service animals. She knew I had a therapy dog, Penni, and thought that meeting Penni and having the students ask me questions about how she serves would be a good motivation for them to practice their spoken language skills. With great pleasure I agreed and we settled on a mutually convenient time.
When Penni and I entered the classroom, I was greeted by 30 students. I looked out at them and saw the nations of the world. These were people who had left everything they knew to pursue what they hoped would be a better life. Penni would play a miniscule role in helping them achieve that dream. There was a pretty girl wearing a veil and a middle-aged man wearing a turban. A teenager from Central America removed a New York Yankees baseball cap and a young woman from India rearranged her colorful sari. I introduced myself and Penni then asked them to introduce themselves. There was Park from Korea, Agniez from Poland, Barnabas from Uganda, Edwige from Haiti, Yazmin from Jamaica, Carlos from the Dominican Republic, Lorena from Argentina, Anna Maria from Italy, to name just a few. Then Kristen explained what they had read and encouraged them to ask me questions.
At first the questions were simple three or four word queries, asked hesitantly. Eliza raised her hand, "How old is Penni?" Felipe then asked, "Where is she from?" Martine wanted to know what Penni does as a therapy dog. Ahmed asked the difference between a service dog and a therapy dog. Pei, who comes from a culture where calling attention to one's self is frowned upon, shyly asked, "How was Penni trained to be a therapy dog?" Luis wanted to know if she had to pass a test to be a therapy dog. Nikolai's question, "Can she do tricks?" resulted in demonstrating Penni's repertoire: "shake", "give me ten," "over", "my lap", "where's your tail?" Of course the students wanted to try making her do the tricks and Penni obliged the request. What a fun way to learn to speak English!
Whenever I take Penni on her therapy visits, I never plan in detail what we are going to do or say. Somehow, unanticipated things happen and teachable moments occur. Such was the case that day. Eventually the students moved the topic from therapy dogs and dog tricks and focused on dogs in general. This gave me an opportunity to accomplish one of Bideawee's goals -- namely, to educate about responsible dog ownership.
Jorge asked, "Where can a person get a dog?" I started to talk about shelters and reputable breeders. Then Kim raised her hand and asked, "What is a puppy mill?" I talked about what that term meant and what life was like for dogs in puppy mills. Priyanka wanted to know how to avoid purchasing a dog that had been bred in such a place. Then I told them about a dog I had owned long ago, Rocky, who had been the product of a puppy mill. I told them about Rocky's many inherited physical problems which were the result of his poor breeding, and the expenses I incurred treating those medical conditions. That was the first example of an important lesson that came about serendipitously.
Every class has a class clown. Teljit performed that function for this class when he asked what he thought was a question that would dissolve the class in laughter:
"Can Penni dance?"
Smiling, I told Teljit that dancing dogs were actually doing obedience behaviors to music. That led to elaborating on performance events for dogs: canine freestyle (dancing), obedience, rally, tracking, lure coursing, and agility. I talked about the jobs dogs were originally bred to do and how these performance events were based upon those original jobs. I emphasized the fact that it is necessary to give these intelligent animals exercise both for their minds and their bodies since most of them do not assist hunters and shepherds any more. Andre wanted to know if canine athletes needed a special diet. I segued into a discussion about proper nutrition for dogs: what kinds of diets are beneficial and what foods, such as chocolate and raisins, should be avoided. Yet another example of the teachable moment.
The hour passed all too quickly. The students' spontaneity was delightful and I was having a very enjoyable time talking about my favorite subject. For her part, Penni was basking in all the attention; but class was ending. I said goodbye and the students each patted Penni. I had only a vague idea of the many lessons Penni taught that day in addition to helping with English. But a week later a large interdepartmental envelope appeared in my inbox. To my surprise the envelope contained letters from the students. Written painstakingly in legible penmanship and in perfect English, they illustrate just how much impact a therapy dog can have. Here is a sample of what they said:
"It was a pleasure to meet with you and Penni. Today we learned so much about dogs."
"After listening to you we discovered that dogs are very intelligent animals and can learn many useful things which can lead the blind or indicate to deaf people when the telephone rings."
"I have to confess to you, that even though I'm not Penni's owner, I'm proud of her…. It felt good to be around her and to pet her. Since she walked in, I felt a positive and warm energy."
"Thank you for visiting us. I hope Penni keeps helping more and more people."
"I definitely agree with you that animals have emotions like humans. They deserve to be respected like us, humans."
"After your visit I thought that I don't do anything to help other people. The little dog does so many things so could I. Thank you for teaching us such a good lesson."
Often a person doing animal-assisted therapy does not have the reward of knowing exactly how she has helped. But in this instance, I have. The letters were the first indication of the impression Penni made. The second indication came in a most unexpected venue.
Last week I entered by local donut shop to indulge my insatiable craving for double chocolate muffins. Who should be working at the counter but Pilar from Kristen's class, who now speaks and understands English well enough to have a job.
After she politely and distinctly greeted me, asked how she could help me, suggested that glazed donuts were on special, and told me the total amount of my order, she then asked, "How is Penni? You aren't going to share the chocolate muffin with her, are you?"
Yes, therapy dogs can serve in many ways.
Part 2: ADOPTING AN OLDER DOG: Joys and Challenges
ADOPTING AN OLDER DOG: Joys and Challenges
The Cat Who Changed My Life
The Lonely Cat's Best Friends
Therapy Benefits: What's In It for Me?
