Snickers and I have been registered Delta Society Pet Partners since early 2008. I don’t think I’ve ever posted about why we became Pet Partners though. As I was filling out our renewal application a few months back (Pet Partners have to be re-evaluated and renew your registration every two years), I was thinking about the reasons I had originally signed us up and what Snickers and I have both learned in the time since then.
Usually when people hear “therapy dog” they instantly think of nursing homes. It is true that many therapy dogs visit nursing homes – which is awesome – but that’s not what Snick and I do. I am passionately committed to changing the future of companion animals by educating the public. Snickers loves kids. Those two facts together, led to my interest in humane education in schools. Schools, like most nursing homes and hospitals, require that dogs be registered therapy dogs (with a group providing insurance during visits, such as Delta Society) before allowing them to visit. Snick and I originally pursued becoming registered with Delta Society, so we could visit schools.
We were still living in NYC when we first became Delta Society Pet Partners and our first “job” was weekly visits with several different classes at the Gillen Brewer School in Manhattan. Visiting at Gillen Brewer was a fantastic experience. I learned a lot about the difference one person can make and I also became much more aware of how empathetic Snick is and how well he communicates – not just with other dogs, but also with people. We’re not visiting schools yet in Tupelo, but we have visited a temporary shelter for abused/displaced/neglected kids, so Snick gets his kid fix. We’re also working on becoming a R.E.A.D Team (where DID I put that manual anyway?) and then we’ll be participating in the reading program here in Tupelo.
What I’ve come to realize in the time that Snick and I have been Pet Partners is that (1) it’s critical to have a live animal on hand when you talk to kids about having empathy for animals and (2) it takes way too much work to get involved in helping to teach children how to treat animals. That’s why I’m trying to learn everything that I can, so I can build a national non-profit organization to support the use of visiting animals in public school humane education programs.
Hey, I saw this a month or two ago and kept forgetting to mention it to you. I found out about it through picking who my internet forum will donate money to (picked three charities/rescues of a worthy cause, this was a finalist but didn’t win.)
http://peteducationproject.org/
Pep! sounds like something you’re trying to do, and it might be worth looking at or expanding it if all parties are interested.
Thanks!!! At first glance, it does look a lot like what we’re working on starting here through the local therapy group I’m with (Comfort Creatures). What I want to do with a national group would support local efforts like this and help a lot more local groups get started as well.
nice. people do assume nursing homes… but I think because of the PR the vick dogs got, some now understand that therapy dogs do a lot more. Like Hector who does the READ thing.
A good friend of mine has a Cairn Terrier who does the READ program and she’s awesome. She is a kid magnet too – totally drawn to them and draws them in. So sweet to watch.
Is Delta the one that doesnt’ allow raw fed dogs?
Yes, Delta implemented a restriction against raw feeding in June 2010. Up until then, Snickers was eating raw protein (lamb, rabbit, etc.) with his Dr. Harvey’s Canine Health. I’m not happy about it, but I still feel like Delta is the best group to be registered with, so, for now at least, it is what it is.
The raw food policy is an insult to any pet owner who researched the best diet for their pet. The Purina connection is very transparent. TDI isvregistering many teams who switched from Delta solely because they do not want to be told what to feed their dogs. Delta cannot cite a single case of a human becoming ill after a visit from a raw fed dog. Epidemiologists at every large teaching hospital have no problem with raw fed pets.
Jenna, Delta is not the best group. Read between the lines in the PR about the name change. Teams are leaving in droves and they seem desparate. The new name, Pet Partner, is ot descriptive of what we do at all. Why empahasize “Pet”. Are we now Pet Partners Pet Partners? The new logo is ugly.