Loki's Final Observation!

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

Hi All,

So he's officially a Therapy Dog now or as my brother keeps saying "he's legit!". It was the day of his final observation and he did so well today, we had a great time. I'm not sure how many people reading this have therapy dogs themselves, but we are certified through TD Inc. now, ATD and I am curious as to if the evaluation process seems similar for other organizations or if everyone has had different styles of evaluation. His test was very similar to the information I had found online and in the Therapy Dog Group on DK which seems to be pretty consistent but I was curious if all the organizations do supervised visits with and with out the testers bringing their own therapy dogs, the first and second observations there were no therapy dogs brought by the testers however today there was. I'm assuming this is to closely watch how your dog acts and behaves when around another dog. In the test there was the canine to canine interaction and greeting another team simulation but this caught me off guard and I had to say a couple quick prayers that Loki would keep it together the whole time being only two feet away from other dogs! Initially the canine to canine interaction and the "Leave It" portions of the exam were the pieces that I was most concerned about. 

Today we went to a local hospital that also had a section for hospice and various types of rehab (i.e.- stroke, ortho and many other things). We met with the testers who both had their dogs as well as another lady who was having her final observation. Two of the dogs were beautiful goldens and one was a yellow lab making Loki stick out like a sore thumb. I would also venture a guess that these dogs all weighed in at around half the weight of Loki so again he completely stuck out. We were sitting in a small conference room that had a huge glass wall that looked out into a patient hall way while they went over all of our paper work and I don't know how to put this politely but everyone that walked by wanted to see the "big fluffy black dog". I love pure breed dogs, I grew up with pure breed dogs but there's a small part of me that does a mental fist pump when my "mutt" gets more love and attention than an AKC dog. I think this spawns from several of my parents friends who think its "such a shame I can't register him" (it is really beyond me why this is so heartbreaking) and my neighbor who refers to my dogs as "big mutts".

Side bar- just because I can, here is the door mat that my neighbor now has to look at every time she leaves her apartment.  Unrelated to the topic of this post I really just don't understand what the big deal is and why other people seem so concerned about the breed of a dog and it's relation to the "status" of a person- clearly other people don't care and just want attention and affection from the cutest dog available (yes I do think Doodles are more cute than their pure breed parents :) ) regardless of its genetic make-up. Doodles are just that way. They are such a great "big fluffy mutt" and everyone seems fascinated with them. Then of course once you meet them your completely won over by their personalities. Back to his visit... We then spit up into the two different teams and each took a section to go visit. For me it was very cool to see how even from his first observation/exam to now he sort of has a routine. At every door way we got to he proudly sat right in the opening, while we asked if they wanted a visit with a dog, almost as if to say "Ta-Da! I'm here! Now pet me!" 

On his first visit he would seem a little hesitant and would have to remember that when I stop he must sit and now I think he knows if he sits he gets to meet a new friend. We got to meet several people and he did great interacting with all of them. 

One of the patients has a mini ALD at home so she was so happy to see a doodle and yelled from her room into the hall way "is that a doodle?!?" to which Loki proudly did a puppy head tilt which ensured there were smiles from all.
We also stopped to help a physical therapist motivate a patient who did not want to do therapy. We took a mini walk with her to get their session started and then moved on :) After our visits we met back in the same conference room and what should have been a quick 10 minute "here's how to send in your paper work blah blah blah" turned into another hour because people kept peeking in at the door way or through the glass waving and pointing to Loki. Naturally we said hi to everyone employees included several of which seemed to just want  hug or hand shake. Over all it was a great visit and on the way home we stopped to send off his paper work at the post office. 

It will be a few weeks until everything is in order for him to start his visits which will give us plenty of time to find a place where he will fit in nicely. They were very interested in what I thought of becoming a tester/observer myself (you have to be a member for a year at least) so this will give me something to mull over through out this next year. 

Excuse the poor image quality, these were taken with my phone. Also Loki is blending in with my pants- Thank God he has a little white/grey to stand out!

Currently my plans include starting him out in the VA hospital, which is in conjunction with the University hospital. To go to the children part of the hospital all dogs have to have been working in other areas of the hospital for at least a year. There is a very active local therapy dog group that we plan to join and they have several group activities like visiting the University of Michigan during mid term and finals weeks to "destress" the students. I would love to get Loki involved in a READ program  and there were several people there today who seemed to love that work. I think Loki's nitch is with kids because he lights up around them and kids take really well to him. That being said he loves all people and if there is a need in another area we will be there :)

For now my next big project will be Moose... Loki almost seemed a natural with his CGC and Therapy dog training. Moose is a natural Sled Dog and I think him and Balto would have hit it off really well. On top of that Moose is just massive so even though he's 6 months, he is only two inches shorter than Loki. Everyone gives a little slack to a little puppy but the puppy would have to look like a puppy or be the size of an average puppy! I would love for Moose to be a therapy dog as well because he is such a clown and brightens peoples day by just being silly, which I think there is a time and a place for.

We will see! Hopefully it works out for him because currently when I stop walking when he pulls he turns around to glare at me and flops on the ground to be 70b of dead weight and then when I move forward he takes off sprinting (I'm sure he's also laughing at me)- my left shoulder currently hates Moose. But thankfully I love the big fuzz ball and wouldn't trade him for anything else!

Have a great night all!

Cheers-

Jess, Loki, Moose

[VScott & Lloyd]

Congratulations! Great accomplishment and what a wonderful purpose for Loki!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Jessica, Congratulations to you and Loki.  What a wonderful accomplishment.  As for Moose, he may take a little longer being a more lively pup.

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

Cheryl, that's so impressive! Loki would have failed that one. There's a guide online where someone walks through with videos of mock pet partners exams and that was similar to Loki were there was only one dog, with the exception of the one off leash at the end, but that wasn't planned! I love that he reads with kids! That's something I was considering with Loki. Gail, thank you so much!

[Gail and Bailey]

Congrats Loki and Jessica! You are going to make lots of people very happy and brighten their days with your visits! I applaud all of your hard work!

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

Jenny, yes I should have! Then my doodles will stand out in pictures! Whitney, thanks! I would check out the Therapy Dog group on DK, when I was starting to work seriously with Loki I had started a discussion for help and tips and got a ton of excellent responses. You can also call different organizations, the main ones are listed in the DK group, and see who is active in your area. I went with ATD because there is a very active group right were I live so it made the most sense however I had looked into Pet Partners and TDI and they seemed great as well, just not as active in my area. I started working with him around 5months old but seriously started checking things off our list around 8 months as we had a horrible winter- in hind sight that's a terrible excuse but at least I'm honest :) feel free to message me if you have more questions I would be happy to help! And yes my boys are mostly big blobs unless the lighting is perfect!

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

Another great blog Jesse!  You and Loki are well on your way to being a wonderful team.  Our therapy certification test was done through Bright and Beautiful Therapy Dogs.  It was a lot like the Canine Good Citizen test but tougher. The distraction wasn't someone dropping a chair, it was a bunch of people crisscrossing the field banging cymbals, blasting trumpets, dancing and pushing wheelchairs lol Geesh! There was a dog show going on in the field next to the testing area and lucky us…Finn had to do his sit stay while handlers were running their dogs along the fence line :)  He did very well in spite of it all and I was proud of him. I wish there had been follow-up observations in terms of real service because certification is just the first step.  Finn has been a reading dog for children with special needs for 2 years and we've learned by doing. This year we started work in a hospital setting.  The hospital has a wonderful new program where we have been observed by 4 different advisors and mentors and their advice and support has been helpful.  Looking forward to more on your observations and love your photos.  Give that boy a hug from us!

[Whitney & Brisco]

Btw glad to know that my Brisco isn't the only one who blends in, we always joke in photos you can't tell his nose from his eyes to an ear lol.

[Whitney & Brisco]

CONGRATULATIONS! I am a new owner of a doodle and one of my goals is to have him registered as a therapy dog. We live in a very rural area and it's not a common thing around here even though it should be! If you don't mind me asking how long was the whole process in general? And any recommendations on where I should start?

[Jenny and Cooper]

CONGRADULATIONS!!! That is AWESOME! :D  I truly envy the time you have to post your wonderful events in such details :)  You should have wore white pants! lol!  GREAT pic though, look how HAPPY you both look! :)