Tag Archives: therapy dog

Hawk: Calgary Police Therapy Dog

Huut, Hawk
Hawk, pictured here with his handler, Police Sgt. Brent Hutt, receives his badge on November 18, 2013. (Calgary Police Service Handout)

Wow! I wish the National Post from Calgary would have included a link to let me embed this whole video. I hope you’ll go to their site and watch it.

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The Importance of Therapy Animals

shutterstock_168763262We receive a publication called “Renew” from UnitedHealthcare every so often, and I thought the article on “Pawsitivity” in the newest issue might be of interest.

Sigmund Freud often brought his Chow, Jofi, to therapy sessions. Freud felt that the dog had a calming effect on patients. He even claimed that Jofi’s response to a patient helped with his initial evaluations.

These days a growing group of animals is following in Jofi’s paw prints as therapy animals. What began as a way to cheer up residents in nursing homes and assisted living centers now helps patients of all ages and health conditions.
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Crisp, the Assistance Companion

"Anywhere Mason goes, the dog goes," Page Murphy says of her son and Crisp, who performs all the physical motions that Mason can't. Breeding and training such a dog can cost $45,000. / The Enquirer/Joseph Fuqua II

How do you get a dog not to be afraid of a youngster in a power wheelchair?  The best way I know of is to get the dog from Canine Companions for Independence in Santa Rosa, CA or one of their local training centers such as the one in Delaware, OH.

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Saturday Survey: Hospital Therapy Dogs

A lot of you liked the picture we showed earlier this week of the beautiful German Shepherd sleeping at the bottom of a hospital bed.  Made me wonder what your experience has been with therapy dogs.  I’ve passed several in the halls of various hospitals, but I’ve never had one visit while I was a patient.  How about you?

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The Psychiatrist is In: 5-cents

OK, since it is now Wednesday, I thought it would be a good time to follow up on Monday’s post about a dog named Tuesday.  I stumbled across this article from the Wall Street Journal while I was looking for something else.  If you watched the third video attached to Monday’s post, you learned a bit about Tuesday, a dog who helps veteran Luis Carlos Montalvan deal with severe PTSD.  Here’s “The Rest of the Story.”

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Archie, One of Cleveland Clinic’s Therapy Dogs

ArchieSeems like lately I have met lots of therapy dogs at hospitals around Northeastern Ohio.  (I think that means I’m spending too much time there.)  Anyways, we were recently at the Cleveland Clinic, following up on the stroke my oldest son had a few years ago, and met Archie, one of their star therapy dogs.  He wasn’t real interested in posing for his picture, but what a handsome boy!