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Is "Greatest American Dog" good for dogs? Friday: 9 PM ET: All Breed Chat - 10 PM ET: Pet Loss

Posted by KDiamondDavis on February 20, 2003 at 15:29:29:

In Reply to: Re: What breed of dog is your therapy pet.... posted by Linda D-H on February 20, 2003 at 10:28:42:

>>>:You asked about training and how long Sass has been doing this...here her story gets different. We know that we were training Sass for therapy work from the begining. We did not want any imprinting done on Sass by Palanca. So for the first 15 monthes Sassy live at the kennel with her parents and the "Quansa" staff. It was very hard. I would take Palanca to the kennels pick up Sass and take her home with me.....I would cry taking them out and bring them home......I was always leaving someone behind. In fact one day I had a very hard day. I went out to Pat and just cried cried cried...it was too hard. She looked at me and said take Sass home...but know that she would be a much different dog than what I wanted. This woman is wise. I left Sass there.....and she is one of the most calm & gentle and sweet dogs I have ever seen. The best thing is this...I have Cerebral Palsy. It was decided by my doctor that I needed an assistance dog. So rather than get another dog. I went to Pat and she is helping me train Sassy to fill that role in my life. I am a blessed woman.....I firmly believe that I have the best of both worlds....I have Palanca who is trained to the degree that Sass is and I have a Sassy a wonderfully trained dog who is meeting a very important need in my life and visiting places to meet special needs in their lives.>>>

Wow, this was a very, very hard thing to do, so hard that I can only imagine what you went through. But if you had not done it, I'm sure you would never have been able to work Sass as an assistance dog. You got a huge bonus out of the sacrifice you made. It is so true that the dogs in your home WILL affect a pup growing up there. I've also known cases of folks with disabilities who, in raising their own puppies, wound up with a dogs who were overprotective and unable to serve as assistance dogs. It sounds like your dog got an outstanding program while she was growing. Of course the quality of that totally depended on the quality of the people boarding/training your dogs. They sound great.

Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series at www.veterinarypartner.com

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