He looked at me and pursed his lips "And they pay you for that?" He inquired.
"Yes, they do." I answered. He looked at my shirt again, almost tapping his fingers on the logo. "Internet Technology, They pay you for that?" he repeated, "You work for them?" "Yes." I responded. He shook his head, then reached down to pet Freeway.
Freeway was why I was there. Well OK the old man was why I was there too. You never know who you are going to meet when taking a dog on a "visiting pets" program. A lot of the people we visit are barely mentally competent, but quite a few are merely old. This guy was plenty sharp. I'm not quite sure why he was so surprised that I would get paid for doing something related with "Internet Technology." On later reflection I wonder if he thought that the company logo I was wearing was related to our visit. It wasn't, but in the earlier years of the company it could have been. When I first started working there I took my dog Oso on visiting pet visits during the work day with the knowledge and support of my manager. But things have changed and now it was just a convenient clean shirt.
Several times a month Freeway and I go to a hospital, convalescent home or other care facility. A lot of people would call Freeway a "therapy dog" and often I do as well because that is the common usage. Organizations such as the Delta Society prefer a rather narrower use of the term. In their terminology the dog and handler team is assigned to work with a specific individual, with a planned interaction intended to assist that individual. The interaction and how it progresses toward the goal are usually noted and recorded. Very few of the visits I have done fall into that range. Most of what we do is "meet and greet". It is purely a social interaction, mostly between the dog and the person we are visiting.
Even if there is no specific therapeutic protocol involved these visits can be very meaningful to the people we visit. Still it is important that the volunteers not get too full of themselves and puffed up with "do-gooderness". Not everyone we visit appreciates the visits. We try hard to never impose our dogs on someone. Even if it isn't their "home" we are still visitors in their world. They have so little control over what happens in their world. We give each individual as much "say-so" as we can. Sometimes we have a fine line to walk.
On this same visit, for example, there was a woman in the day room who was afraid of the dogs. While we couldn't allow her desires to override those of the others in the room (she was competent to leave if she chose), we could and did take care not to place the dog near her. We did not allow the dogs to focus on her. We did what we could to show respect for her wishes and concerns.
Our visit style can vary quite a bit from one facility to another. At one hospital almost all the visits are in individual patient rooms. Sometimes we go to a day room, a kind of social gathering spot. Sometimes we spend half an hour in one place, sometimes we do shorter visits in a number of locations throughout the facility. For the most part we don't develop much individual ra
pport with the people we visit. There are other styles of visits where a person might spend as much as an hour with a single individual. The nature of the interaction between the visiting team and those visited can vary. No rules written in stone.
People often ask what kind of dog makes a good therapy dog. I have a nice long written answer. But here is a button I created with the short answer.
When I first started doing visiting with my dog I read a book by Kathy Diamond Davis. Then I started looking around on the web. At the time (1996) there was very little information about therapy dogs on the web. In looking I discovered a lot of interesting dog activities, but no site covered them all. So that is what I set out to do. I created Dog-Play (now also Dog Play) to be a kind of serendipity introduction to dog related activities. And I made a specific focus on visiting dogs and therapy dogs. I've collected book resources, discussion groups, web sites, and groups to join. I've collected much more than that. And you know what? The lazy sog will write me to ask for information rather than looking for what I've spent so much time collecting. Oh well, that's people for you.
"Yes, they do." I answered. He looked at my shirt again, almost tapping his fingers on the logo. "Internet Technology, They pay you for that?" he repeated, "You work for them?" "Yes." I responded. He shook his head, then reached down to pet Freeway.
Freeway was why I was there. Well OK the old man was why I was there too. You never know who you are going to meet when taking a dog on a "visiting pets" program. A lot of the people we visit are barely mentally competent, but quite a few are merely old. This guy was plenty sharp. I'm not quite sure why he was so surprised that I would get paid for doing something related with "Internet Technology." On later reflection I wonder if he thought that the company logo I was wearing was related to our visit. It wasn't, but in the earlier years of the company it could have been. When I first started working there I took my dog Oso on visiting pet visits during the work day with the knowledge and support of my manager. But things have changed and now it was just a convenient clean shirt.
Several times a month Freeway and I go to a hospital, convalescent home or other care facility. A lot of people would call Freeway a "therapy dog" and often I do as well because that is the common usage. Organizations such as the Delta Society prefer a rather narrower use of the term. In their terminology the dog and handler team is assigned to work with a specific individual, with a planned interaction intended to assist that individual. The interaction and how it progresses toward the goal are usually noted and recorded. Very few of the visits I have done fall into that range. Most of what we do is "meet and greet". It is purely a social interaction, mostly between the dog and the person we are visiting.
Even if there is no specific therapeutic protocol involved these visits can be very meaningful to the people we visit. Still it is important that the volunteers not get too full of themselves and puffed up with "do-gooderness". Not everyone we visit appreciates the visits. We try hard to never impose our dogs on someone. Even if it isn't their "home" we are still visitors in their world. They have so little control over what happens in their world. We give each individual as much "say-so" as we can. Sometimes we have a fine line to walk.
On this same visit, for example, there was a woman in the day room who was afraid of the dogs. While we couldn't allow her desires to override those of the others in the room (she was competent to leave if she chose), we could and did take care not to place the dog near her. We did not allow the dogs to focus on her. We did what we could to show respect for her wishes and concerns.
Our visit style can vary quite a bit from one facility to another. At one hospital almost all the visits are in individual patient rooms. Sometimes we go to a day room, a kind of social gathering spot. Sometimes we spend half an hour in one place, sometimes we do shorter visits in a number of locations throughout the facility. For the most part we don't develop much individual ra
pport with the people we visit. There are other styles of visits where a person might spend as much as an hour with a single individual. The nature of the interaction between the visiting team and those visited can vary. No rules written in stone.People often ask what kind of dog makes a good therapy dog. I have a nice long written answer. But here is a button I created with the short answer.
When I first started doing visiting with my dog I read a book by Kathy Diamond Davis. Then I started looking around on the web. At the time (1996) there was very little information about therapy dogs on the web. In looking I discovered a lot of interesting dog activities, but no site covered them all. So that is what I set out to do. I created Dog-Play (now also Dog Play) to be a kind of serendipity introduction to dog related activities. And I made a specific focus on visiting dogs and therapy dogs. I've collected book resources, discussion groups, web sites, and groups to join. I've collected much more than that. And you know what? The lazy sog will write me to ask for information rather than looking for what I've spent so much time collecting. Oh well, that's people for you.
posted by Diane Blackman | 5:27 PM
<< Home