Posts in Category: Pet Therapy

According to the AVMA, therapy animals enhance people’s physical, social, cognitive and emotional function, but what’s important to the patients who encounter Napoleon the alpaca and Rojo the llama is that the animals make them smile. Lori Gregory of Mtn Peaks Therapy Llamas and Alpacas in Vancouver, Wash., brings the pair to visit Providence Child Center in Oregon and other health care facilities, and she calls the outreach an “addiction.” Social worker Kelly Schmidt expressed gratitude: “I never realized the power animals have to bring healing and joy to people like this.” CBS News (4/9)

Therapy animals like dogs, cats and horses are sometimes brought into health care facilities to help people suffering from illnesses or physical conditions boost their health and happiness.

Llamas and alpacas: Portland’s fluffiest therapists

At least one Oregon children’s hospital is now employing two unique therapy animals to help patients smile: an alpaca named Napoleon, and a llama named Rojo (see slideshow to the left for more pictures).

CBS affiliate KOIN in Portland, Ore., reports the unique pair light up every room they enter at the hospital.

“I never realized the power animals have to bring healing and joy to people like this,” said Kelly Schmidt, a social worker at Providence Children’s Center in Oregon. “I truly believe they are given a purpose more than just entertainment.”

The animals even ride the elevators (as seen in the video above).

Rojo is an “old pro” at making children happier, according to Schmidt. His owner, Lori Gregory, operator of Mtn Peaks Therapy Llamas and Alpacas in Vancouver, Wash., told the station that once at a local fair someone suggested her huggable llama become a therapy animal. The rest was history, and Gregory said like the patients, she too feels a rush when she introduces her animals — which are often dressed in funny hats and other silly outfits — at hospitals and other medical facilities.

“That’s why it started giving me chills and that’s when it kind of became an addiction,” she told KOIN 6 News. “When you realize that they have this amazing ability to create a natural response therapeutic-wise to get people to do things they normally wouldn’t do.”

Her stable also includes two other llamas named Smokey and Beni, and two more alpacas named Eduardo and Jean-Pierre.

On its website, Mtn Peaks says its animals have made more than 650 therapeutic visits to patients since the organization was founded in 2007.

Rojo has grown a following, even getting his own Facebook fan page.

 Therapy animals: Doggie docs, horse helpers, and more

Therapy animals, or animal-assisted therapy, is designed to promote improvement in human physical, social, emotional, or cognitive function, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). Therapy can occur in a group setting or individually, and can benefit patient populations from the young to elderly, to those in hospitals, nursing homes, assisted-living homes and rehabilitation facilities.

Other examples of more unique therapy animals include miniature horses, elephants (which have been used in Thailand to help some children with autism), helper monkeys and animals with disabilities.

Breed:  Shepherd/Collie Mix

Birthday:  Unknown

Weight:  67 pounds

Human/Partner:  Amy

 Hi, my name is Jonas.  I am a very handsome and sweet dog.  My owner found me at a rescue center in September 2008 when I was just one and a half years old, and immediately knew I was meant to be a part of her family.  I have been a therapy dog since October 2009.  I love to meet new people of any age, especially if I get loved on and scratched behind my ears.  Maybe we can be friends too?

Breed:                Silken Windhound

Birthday:          April 13, 2008

Partner:             Keith

 Silkens are the first American Sighthound and still quite rare (1300 in t he world).   Dior is long-legged, slender and built for speed.  Dior thinks he is a lapdog and has never met anyone (person or animal) that he doesn’t like.  He loves to be with people.

 He has earned conformation titles in 4 different kennel clubs and Best in Show.  He is also the Lifetime Champion Silken Windhound in the sport of lure coursing.  Silkens love to chase so these activities offer enrichment and support their natural drive and tendencies.

Breed: Miniature Schnauzer

Birthday: January 22, 2008

Weight: 33 pounds

Human Buddy: Sue Daulton

My name is Caleb Wyatt. I am a momma’s boy but I am very affectionate, good natured and friendly.  I love to practice agility and mom is teaching me rally sport too!   I am hoping one day that I can work towards becoming a disaster relief dog.  But, today I am here to put a smile on your face and bring you lots of love, joy and comfort.  

Breed: Shi Tzu/Pug Mix

Color: Brown and White

Birthday: 10/15/2006

Weight: 17 lbs.

Human Handler: Susannah

Enthusiastic is the word that best describes Cheka.  She enjoys walks, car rides, the park and the beach. She even watches TV, especially if it is an animal show. Cheka is a surprisingly fast runner and she like to run circles around the bigger dogs in the neighborhood. Cheka loves people and being the center of attention.  Her name means laughter in Swahili and with her combination of looks and personality Cheka brings laughter into the lives of many.

Breed – Golden Retriever

Birthday – December 26, 1998

My name is Callie and I was born to do therapy work! I love everyone I meet. When I was a small puppy in puppy kindergarten, my teacher said that one day I would be a wonderful therapy dog. She was right! I have been doing therapy work since 2001 and I enjoy every minute of it. I like to visit people in hospitals and nursing homes. I also like going to schools and libraries to listen to children read. People say that I am very special and I bring lots of smiles wherever I go.

When I’m not doing my therapy work, I enjoy walks in the park, performing tricks, flyball, dancing, and treats, treats, treats!

Roxey (a Shetland Sheepdog) and her handler, Sandy assist a speech therapist with her autistic clients once a month. The boy is pre-school age and just started regular classes at a regular pre-school.  Sandy has been working with them for about a year.

The mother  of the boy is in the session the whole time taking notes while the therapist works on vocabulary and sentence  structure.  They often try to pick vocabulary words that Roxey can illustrate.  One word he was having particular problems with was “sausage.”  So Sandy took sausage “looking” treats for the boy to feed Roxey.  If he said the word correctly, he got to toss the treat to Roxey.  We’ve also been working on conjugating verbs, so we go through actions like “Roxey is sitting,” and “Roxey sat.”  Sometimes his vocabulary words include things Roxey can wear:  sunglasses, hat, feathers, etc.  For Halloween, “ghost” was a word for the boy, so Roxey came dressed as a ghost.  Another time, “basket” was a word, so  Sandy strapped a basket onto Roxey’s back, and the boy put other vocabulary word items into her basket.  Roxey especially loves sessions when there are food vocabulary words because she often gets to eat.

Sandy and Roxey have just started working with a little girl who loves animals, so Roxey is there to motivate her.  Most of our first session was Roxey being a model for the opposite of the word being taught (over/under, front/back), body parts (leg, ear, nose), and feeding treats to when she got something right.  The girl was being taught to greet people, so Roxey would wave to her and she would say “hello” to Roxey.

Sandy and Roxey love their role to help autistic children

During the past year, Jan Haderlie and Jonah, her 5-year-old Shetland Sheepdog, have been valuable partipants in Project Positive Assertive Cooperative Kids (P.A.C.K.) at the University of California -Irvine.  P.A.C.K.  is a federally funded, non-medication research study to examine whether adding therapy dogs in a 12-week cognitive-behavioral group therapy intervention is more effective than traditional cognitive-behavioral group therapy without therapy dogs in improving self-esteem, self-regulation and pro-social behaviors in 7- to 9-year-old children who have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

The P.A.C.K. children have multiple opportunities to bond with Jan and Jonah during their twice-weekly sessions. At each session, children rotate among three stations. The children create arts and crafts projects at Jan and Jonah’s station. The children also have the opportunity to earn the privilege of having one-on-one time with Jan and Jonah during group therapy when they demonstrate on-task behaviors, such as attending to the speaker and making contributions during discussions.

During reading time, the children pair up and read dog stories to each other and to Jonah. Jonah’s impeccable eye contact with the pages of the story amazes the children. One of the children’s favorite P.A.C.K. activities is giving basic commands to their four-legged friends, which demonstrates self-regulation and assertiveness by having a confident voice and a calm body. During this activity, they are also practicing pro-social behaviors by complimenting the dogs for following directions.

P.A.C.K. is extremely grateful to Jan, Jonah and the other Pet Partners teams participating in the project. For more information on the study, visit www.cdc.uci.edu.

Suzannah and Lacey have been an AHF Caring Creatures Pet Partner Team since 2012.

Bathgate Elementary School in Mission Viejo hosted its second annual “All Abilities Day” Feb. 8, giving students the opportunity to get an idea of what it’s like to have disabilities.

Students visited stations that simulated various disabilities and met therapy dogs Jake and Macy.

Guest speakers talked to students about the importance of accepting others with disabilities.

Bathgate Elementary School students take turns petting Jake, led down the line by therapy animal handler and volunteer Joe Frey. 

PHOTO: ISAAC ARJONILLA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER Pet therapy volunteer Daleen Comer walks Macy by a line of Bathgate Elementary students. Macy was rescued from Taiwan in October 20 1 0 and brought to the U.S. A year later, she became a therapy dog.