Hi Kelda and everyone! Happy Labor Day to all! Presently I have 3 dogs:
Demi the Doberman, and Crusher & Murphy the Basset Hounds. I take one dog at a time on visits to nursing homes and visits with children, mostly on weekends when I am not working. I belong to our local therapy dog group, Space Coast Therapy Dogs, and we have regularly scheduled monthly visits at various nursing homes, hospitals and schools. Demi absolutely adores children and the smaller kids' faces are even with hers, so she can give them lots of kisses. We go to one place on the 2nd Saturday of the month to a home for abused and abandoned children. There are about 13 children there at a time, and they range in age from under a year old to about 10 or 11 years old. They are very needy and cling to us and to the dogs when we visit. They love to walk the dogs, and run with the dogs, groom the dogs, and give them treats. They talk to the dogs and laugh and smile with them. It's heartbreaking for us sometimes because the kids do not have their moms and dads around, and some of them are just toddlers at 2 or 3 years old.
When I bring one of my Bassets to a nursing home, I put them up on a wooden cart on wheels that my ex-husband made for me a few years ago. Basset Hounds are very low to the ground and the beds in the nursing home are usually hip-high and being on a cart is really the only way that people can see them. The top of the cart is high enough to be at bed level. The dogs brighten up the lives of the residents, comfort them, and get them talking - sometimes to the dogs, and sometimes to us, when they sometimes haven't spoken to anyone in a long time. It's very rewarding for us as handlers, and everyone benefits - the patients, us, and the dogs too because they love going to visit people and love all the attention lavished on them. Dogs are great because they don't care what you look like, don't care if you're mentally challenged or in a wheelchair or in a brace, or have had a stroke and are partially paralyzed or whatever your condition is. They love everybody for who they are - just because they are human beings. The dogs seem to know and understand when someone is handicapped in some way and are very patient and steady with the residents. I've been going on visits with the dogs in my life for over 10 years and really enjoy it!
