Where Are They Now?
Minnesota Therapy Animals
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| Archives Our feedback suggests that our readers always enjoy these real life stories. Going forward, the site will archive Where Are They Now? |
It has been 2 years since the video news clip “Dobie, The Abandoned Puppy That Becomes A
Therapy Dog” showed up on WCCO news. Dobie has been steaming ahead one visit at a
time. He logged his first 50 visits and earned his TDI Active status 11 months after his first
visit.
All of the dogs I have had in my adult life have been dogs that someone else didn’t want. Some
I got from the Humane Society and some just sort of came for supper and stayed. When Dobie
dropped into my life I was pretty sure that with the right care he could have a good life. My
experiences working in patient care and my experiences growing up as a teenager next door to
the town veterinarian contributed to my belief that he was worth the effort. The role of Therapy
Dog wasn’t even on the radar. Just getting him healthy and strong was the priority. He already
was a good boy.
Through the obedience training he was participating in as part of his rehabilitation regime it
was obvious that he was well socialized and gained energy from being around people and
dogs. It also was eating at me that I owed it to everyone who encouraged and supported Dobie’
s treatment and recovery some sort of testament that saving his life was “worth it”. Since he
was of “undocumented breed” dog shows didn’t seem to be an option. Because of the physical
limitations he has, agility competitions wouldn’t be an option either. How could I thank
everybody and say to the world, “This is a good dog!”?
At Total Recall school for dogs where we were getting our obedience training one of the
instructors regularly worked with wheelchair bound people and their assistance dogs. As time
went on I learned that she had several dogs of her own that were therapy dogs and regularly
had them out working in the community. I realized that Dobie had many of these qualities and
this was the road we needed to try to take.
The latest news about Dobie:
About 3 months ago I was asked to contact an author in Canada named Joanne Wannan who
was writing a collection of short stories about Rescued Dogs who were now working as either
service dogs or therapy dogs. Her goal was to encourage people to adopt rescue dogs and
also to encourage the training of rescue dogs to be service dogs. Only 1% of the people who
need service dogs get them and there are thousands of dogs being destroyed where the only
thing wrong with them is that they are unwanted. Joanne who has adopted a rescue dog
herself wants to use this book as a means to encourage the utilization of this amazing resource
that is just being thrown away in the hope that many dog’s lives may be spared. Here is a link
to Joanne Wannan’s web page: http://www.wannanwords.com/page3
The book has just been printed. Dobie’s story is included in the collection of short stories. The
title of the book is “NEW LIVES, Stories of Rescued Dogs Helping, Healing and Giving Hope”.
You can visit the website: www.3BlackDogs.org
A way to purchase the book is to go to www.3BlackDogs.org then click on “Purchase NEW
LIVES” in the upper right corner. This November, Reading Education Assistance Dogs (R.E.A.D.
®), a trademarked program of Intermountain Therapy Animals (ITA), commemorates its 10th
anniversary. To celebrate this landmark, a donation of $2 will be made to the R.E.A.D. program
for every book purchased between November 1 and December 31, 2009.
Therapy Dog” showed up on WCCO news. Dobie has been steaming ahead one visit at a
time. He logged his first 50 visits and earned his TDI Active status 11 months after his first
visit.
All of the dogs I have had in my adult life have been dogs that someone else didn’t want. Some
I got from the Humane Society and some just sort of came for supper and stayed. When Dobie
dropped into my life I was pretty sure that with the right care he could have a good life. My
experiences working in patient care and my experiences growing up as a teenager next door to
the town veterinarian contributed to my belief that he was worth the effort. The role of Therapy
Dog wasn’t even on the radar. Just getting him healthy and strong was the priority. He already
was a good boy.
Through the obedience training he was participating in as part of his rehabilitation regime it
was obvious that he was well socialized and gained energy from being around people and
dogs. It also was eating at me that I owed it to everyone who encouraged and supported Dobie’
s treatment and recovery some sort of testament that saving his life was “worth it”. Since he
was of “undocumented breed” dog shows didn’t seem to be an option. Because of the physical
limitations he has, agility competitions wouldn’t be an option either. How could I thank
everybody and say to the world, “This is a good dog!”?
At Total Recall school for dogs where we were getting our obedience training one of the
instructors regularly worked with wheelchair bound people and their assistance dogs. As time
went on I learned that she had several dogs of her own that were therapy dogs and regularly
had them out working in the community. I realized that Dobie had many of these qualities and
this was the road we needed to try to take.
The latest news about Dobie:
About 3 months ago I was asked to contact an author in Canada named Joanne Wannan who
was writing a collection of short stories about Rescued Dogs who were now working as either
service dogs or therapy dogs. Her goal was to encourage people to adopt rescue dogs and
also to encourage the training of rescue dogs to be service dogs. Only 1% of the people who
need service dogs get them and there are thousands of dogs being destroyed where the only
thing wrong with them is that they are unwanted. Joanne who has adopted a rescue dog
herself wants to use this book as a means to encourage the utilization of this amazing resource
that is just being thrown away in the hope that many dog’s lives may be spared. Here is a link
to Joanne Wannan’s web page: http://www.wannanwords.com/page3
The book has just been printed. Dobie’s story is included in the collection of short stories. The
title of the book is “NEW LIVES, Stories of Rescued Dogs Helping, Healing and Giving Hope”.
You can visit the website: www.3BlackDogs.org
A way to purchase the book is to go to www.3BlackDogs.org then click on “Purchase NEW
LIVES” in the upper right corner. This November, Reading Education Assistance Dogs (R.E.A.D.
®), a trademarked program of Intermountain Therapy Animals (ITA), commemorates its 10th
anniversary. To celebrate this landmark, a donation of $2 will be made to the R.E.A.D. program
for every book purchased between November 1 and December 31, 2009.
| Richard Bartel & Dobie |
A Therapy Dog”. Here it is.