Commitment. What an old-fashioned word!
I think we all can agree on the definition: a pledge, that’s what it’s supposed to be… a firm undertaking to do something or other.

So, at what point did “if I feel like it, maybe” get added on?

This bit of wondering comes on the heels of a phone call, just now, from the Occupational Therapist at a local nursing home. The person who had committed to visiting the old folks tonight, with her therapy dog, has decided to blow off the old folks and catch a movie with her new boyfriend instead.

Honestly, I’m absolutely floored by this.

Therapy dog visits are scheduled a year in advance, with a reminder email sent out the week before, so it’s not like it comes as a surprise.

And this person has only committed to one nursing-home visit a month. You’d think you could work a date in around that, wouldn’t you?

Especially on a Thursday.
For one hour.

And it’s not like the boyfriend is about to be shipped off overseas in the morning, either — he’s a civil servant, for pete’s sake, and last time I looked they did have weekends off.

Now, usually we travel in teams of three or four dogs and their handlers. In this case, it’s a small nursing home and only one dog is booked in to appear. So, when the scheduled visitor decided to bail at the last minute, she knew there were no other dogs booked in to go instead.

Meanwhile, the old folks always start gathering in their TV lounge a good hour before the appointed dog visit time, peering out the windows and bugging the attendants to dash out into the parking lot and take a look…

Some of the residents have Alzheimers, or other types of dementia, so the poor attendants tend to be asked the same questions every 38 seconds: “Are they here yet? Are the puppies coming?”

You can see why the Occupational Therapist who phoned me was, well, somewhere in that shaky queasy area where distressed meets royally pissed-off!

Want to try explaining to a room full of eager senior dog-lovers that they will have to miss their once-a-month dose of furry love? Watching Jeopardy is no substitute.

So, I’m about to wind up work early for the day, here, and gear up the therapeutic greyhound, and go step up.

It means the end of my hope to do a little late-day gardening, and a quick sandwich instead of the lovely roast chicken supper that I’d planned, and a hour’s round-trip to town that was not planned at all — but in joining the therapy dog program, I made a commitment.

I can do my gardening later; I can see a movie any time; but for those lonely seniors who are longing for the press of a happy wet doggie nose against their thin old hands, time is not unlimited. Each visit, familiar faces are missing from the circle. Each visit, a formerly sharp mind has lost its way in memories…

The commitment, really, is not to a time and place, but to these people.

No, I don’t resent being called to fill in. Because, all too soon, I’m likely to be one of them.

Instead of walking joyfully in the spring sunshine with my dogs, I’ll have my face pressed up to a nursing home window, watching hopefully for someone to bring a furry friend to visit.

But you’ll forgive me, won’t you, if I’m just mean-spirited enough to hope that someone chokes on her movie-theatre popcorn?

We’ve been talking about therapy dogs over on the WAHM.com boards this week, started off by someone wondering about training her puppy to visit in hospitals and nursing homes — what’s involved, how soon she should start, and so on.

That inspired me to update and expand my post called “Is There a therapy Dog in the House,” an introduction to the concept — and to write a new post, here, to talk a little bit more about the kind of training it takes to be a therapy dog.

It doesn’t take an obedience champion to be a good therapy dog — and it doesn’t matter what size or what breed of dog you have. Temperament of the dog is the single most important factor, so therapy dogs are screened and tested before joining a visiting program.

Although the actual formal training that is required of the dog-and-handler team will depend on the program and location, “company manners” are essential. A good starting point for interested dog-owners would be the Canine Good Citizenship (American Kennel Club) or Canine Good Neighbour (Canadian Kennel Club) training program. These are non-competitive evaluation programs that are all about good manners, both at home and out in the community.

Testing for both the AKC and CKC programs aims to evaluate the relationship between the dog and its handler, the dog’s social interactions with both people and other dogs, and obedience to a few standard commands.

No fancy tricks are required, and the evaluator is not looking for the kind of precise response that would be expected in the obedience show-ring. This is a test for your average well-manner family pet — for companion animals — and it is normally judged on a “pass” or “needs more work” basis.

There are some slight differences between the Canadian and American tests, but here is the basic line-up of tasks to be performed:

1. Accepting a friendly stranger
2. Patiently sitting for petting: a test for shyness and resentment
3. Appearance & grooming: showing the owner’s care & sense of responsibility
4. Out for a walk: loose-lead walking shows the handler’s control of the dog
5. Walking through a crowd: the dog moves through a crowd under handler control without showing over-excitement or distress
6. Commands: sit, down, stay, come: this illustrates that the dog has been trained and responds well to its handler/owner
7. Praise/interactions: shows the dog’s relationship with its owner and that it can be calmed down easily
8. Reaction to passing dogs
9. Distractions: shows that the dog is confident when faced with common distractions (e.g. an object dropped loudly on the floor, shouting, etc.)
10. Supervised separation: this test shows that the dog can maintain its training & good manners if left with someone other than the handler.

Many people who hope to enter a therapy dog program with their dogs will start out by completing a Good Citizenship/Good Neighbour program. Therapy Dogs International, one of the larger certification organizations, adds a few refinements to the CGC test — dogs can’t wear choke collars; greyhounds don’t have to sit; wheelchairs are used as distractions, etc. — but essentially the testing requirements are almost the same as outlined briefly above.

At the very least, training to the Canine Good Citizenship or Canine Good Neighbour level of achievement as a dog-and-handler team can only improve your relationship. Your well-mannered dog will be welcomed by friends and family, in the course of his daily life, as a sheer joy to be around — and well on his way to a richly rewarding volunteer job as a nursing-home visiting dog!

Would you like to share the joy of your dog’s companionship with the less fortunate?

It doesn’t take an obedience champion to be a good therapy dog. Purebred or mutt — large breed or small — it doesn’t matter. If your dog is sociable, gentle, and reasonably well-mannered, he may be able to qualify as a therapy dog, visiting with seniors or disabled people in nursing homes and hospitals.

Prospective therapy dogs are carefully screened and tested before joining a visiting program, with a focus on their temperaments and on their relationship with the handlers.

A dog who is friendly — who really likes people in general — is already a promising candidate.

The dog who is friendly and well behaved — no jumping, running around, licking people without permission — is on the way to certification.

The dog who is trained to work around people who are bedridden or in wheelchairs, who is always under the handler’s precise control, who can perhaps perform a few entertaining tricks — is halfway there.

The dog who can take accidental mishaps in stride (such as when a disturbed client yells or brandishes a cane), who can deal alike with the endlessly repetitive interactions of Alzheimers patients, with the grabbing and gurgling of infants, and with the unpredicatability of psychiatric inpatients — and give every indication of enjoying its work — is indeed a Therapy Dog.

Training requirements vary from place to place, but the personality of the dog is all-important in any visiting program!

To get started, check out the St. John Ambulance Therapy Dog Program or similar groups. Contact your local kennel club for a Pet Visitation Program operating in your area, if you can’t find a nearby organization listed here or here. The rewards are beyond measure — for people and dogs alike!