It wasn’t that long ago when Breton of Mattapoisett was just another well-mannered young man, or should I say dog. But during a visit to the vet last year, the 7-year old Shih Tzu and his owner/handler Lenore Everett would find their lives forever changed.
Everett retold the events leading up to Breton’s new life-changing career.
“The vet told me that Breton would be perfect for a therapy dog,” said Everett.
After doing some research on the process for therapy dog certification and discussing it with Breton, who agreed it sounded like a cool idea, Everett contacted Therapy Dogs International. The rest is history.
Although it stands to reason that dogs that are successful in achieving certification must have the right temperament and personality for the task, the handler must also be equal to the task. Everett said the first time she and Breton tested for certification, it didn’t work out.
Everett explained that part of the program includes a simulated nursing home setting. As the dog and handler proceed through seven stations within the simulated setting, the dog must be able to sit, stay, lay down, come when called, and ignore a variety of distractions from food being offered or dropped on the floor, to loud noises, sudden movements, and mobility appliances.
Everett received some important pointers from a TDI evaluator that helped make their second attempt at certification successful. The dynamic duo put the unfortunate “hamburger incident” that had caused the first certification test to come to an abrupt end into perspective where it belonged, a legend never to be spoken of again.
The process from beginning to end took the team four months to complete.
Not to be confused with service dogs, therapy dog training and certification provides opportunities for dogs and handlers to interact on a variety of levels within group settings as well as one-on-one interactions such as reading programs, visiting schools, nursing homes, calming anxious children, and post natural disasters stress relief. Therapy dogs provide psychological and physiological comfort and may be any size or breed. Therapy dogs may also begin training at any age.
Service dogs, on the other hand, begin training as puppies for upwards of two years and learn to perform specific tasks for a single person. Service dogs are ultimately paired with one person to do specific jobs for that individual. Generally speaking, service dogs are not to be touched or played with by anyone other than the person they are assigned to assist.
Service dogs help the visually and hearing impaired, those suffering from PTSD, and people diagnosed with a wide variety of medical and mental health conditions. Police and military personnel have historically used service dogs after undergoing rigorous conditioning and training. Dogs selected as service animals tend to be larger breeds.
The type of training these two categories of helping dogs undergo is comparable only as far as obedience training is concerned. Both categories require that the dogs pay attention to their handler, take direction and conform to needs they are trained to deal with, and remain focused on the task at hand.
A service dog’s training is vastly more specialized and intensive than that of a therapy dog. Nonetheless, the generosity of spirit common in therapy dogs is undeniable.
“When Breton goes into a nursing home, he makes everyone smile including the staff. They need that, too,” said Everett. “I can’t put into words what this means to us or to the people we meet,” she said while adding, “Sometimes people who haven’t uttered a word in a long time will speak to Breton, or children who are afraid of dogs will pat him.”
Breton’s eyes expressed his deep commitment to making people happy and seemed to say, “That’s just how I roll.”
Visit www.mattapoisettlibrary.org for more information on when Breton will be reading with children at the Mattapoisett Public Library. And don’t forget, he likes to look at the pictures in the books, especially if the pictures are of cats or hamburgers.
By Marilou Newell