For retired OR nurse Ginny Anderson, spending an afternoon with a Latte means more than enjoying an espresso with steamed milk. That’s because her Latte has four legs, a beautiful white and red fur coat and an innate sense of what her human friends need the most.
A short-haired Pointer mix from the Fayette Humane Society, Latte loves to “work” as a therapy dog alongside her owner and handler when they visit assisted living facilities, hospitals and rehabilitation centers. “Every time I visit a facility, I gain more wonderful and amazing stories because of the dog connection,” Anderson says.
For 6 years, Anderson and Latte have been volunteering with CAREing Paws, a Newnan-based organization that seeks to enrich the lives of others through the power of the human-animal bond.
The organization only utilizes nationally registered therapy dogs teams, which consist of one owner and one therapy dog. CAREing Paws currently has about 100 teams that visit local facilities, working on a 100 percent volunteer basis.
In 2012, Melissa Saul, an evaluator for the Alliance of Therapy Dogs, founded CAREing Paws when she perceived the need for such an organization in the North Georgia, Middle Georgia and metro Atlanta area. CAREing Paws is a non-profit that relies on fund raising and has a place on its website, careingpaws.org for donations.
According to the American Kennel Club, there are several nationally recognized therapy dog certification organizations that include The Alliance of Therapy Dogs and Pet Partners.
These groups screen both volunteers and dogs, and they provide liability insurance for when the dog and handler are volunteering in a therapy setting.
Trainers help teach the skills for therapy dog work, such as socialization. Then an evaluator passes the dog and gets it registered and insured.
Teams often visit hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, rehab and behavioral physical therapy facilities. It has been proven that time spent with a therapy dog has been proven to decrease anxiety, lower blood pressure, instill a sense of calm, slow the pulse rate and improve confidence and self-esteem.
Saul recalls one instance where she and her dog Annie went to visit patients at Piedmont Fayette Hospital. Saul checked with the nurse to see if there was anyone in particular who would benefit from a therapy dog visit. The nurse sent the team in to see a patient who had become depressed over his long and difficult road to recovery. Saul says the patient spent a great deal of time petting the dog and seemed to have a genuine connection to Annie.
“I found later on that evening the young man was contemplating suicide and his visit with Annie changed his mind,” Saul says. “He concluded that life is worth living and he wanted to get better.”
Saul kept in touch with nurse who told her the patient wound up doing well and was able to eventually go home.
In nursing home visits, therapy dogs have been known to help patients recall fond memories of favorite childhood pets.
Anderson has seen Latte’s positive influence first hand, including Alzheimer’s patients who spoke a few words after days of silence, or staff nurses and doctors who eased their stress on a busy day. “I’ve seen dogs pick out a visitor [to a facility] who was grieving for the loss of a family member, or sad because of a relative’s illness,” Anderson says.
Outside the medical community, therapy dogs have also been found to be effective in helping children who struggle with reading. “Latte is registered reading dog,” Anderson says. “Children who don’t like to read, love reading to dogs.” Because of the calming aspects of having a dog in close proximity, the child can relax and reading becomes easier.
Saul has even had teams show up at Georgia Tech to help relieve student stress during finals week.
Anderson says that the humans aren’t the only ones who enjoy the encounters. “Latte absolutely loves it as well. She gets very excited when I put on my ‘CAREingPaw[s?]’ shirt and get out her work harness.”
Often there is confusion over the difference between a therapy dog and a service dog. A service dog has been raised and specifically trained to help one individual with a need. These are the dogs that help people with vision loss, hearing loss or seizure disorders. They wear a special harness vest and are allowed in any place their human is allowed to go. Service dogs shouldn’t be interfered with (i.e. petted, talked to etc.) by anyone but the dog’s owner.
Therapy dogs, on the other hand are trained, to visit with a variety of people and are only allowed to be where they are invited to go.
