Therapy Dogs Can Unknowingly Carry Germs.

Definitions were gotten from Wikepedia.

As a therapy dog owner and handler, I always was very concerned about spreading germs to my patients. So, before each visit, I would bathe my dog in a all natural shampoo. i.e. no perfumes or dyes. Then, the minute before I walked into the room where the patient was, I sanitized my hands.

Well, evidently, my caution was right. I was reading an article in Dog World that says Therapy dogs may carry germs. Those germs they talked about were MRSA, vancomycin-resistant enterocci and C. difficile. The vancomycin I will explain first.

Enterococci are bacteria that are normally present in the human intestines and in the female genital tract and are often found in the environment. These bacteria can sometimes cause infections. Vancomycin is an antibiotic that is often used to treat infections caused by enterococci. In some cases, enterococci have become resistant to vancomycin and are called vancomycin-resistant enterococci or VRE. Most VRE infections occur in people in hospitals.


The next one is MRSA. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a type of bacteria that is resistant to certain antibiotics. These antibiotics include methicillin and other more common antibiotics such as oxacillin, penicillin and amoxicillin. Staph infections, including MRSA, occur most frequently among persons in hospitals and healthcare facilities (such as nursing homes and dialysis centers) who have weakened immune systems.

MRSA infections that occur in otherwise healthy people who have not been recently (within the past year) hospitalized or had a medical procedure (such as dialysis, surgery, catheters) are known as community-associated (CA)-MRSA infections. These infections are usually skin infections, such as abscesses, boils, and other pus-filled lesions.

The last one is C. difficile. Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is a bacterium that is related to the bacterium that cause tetanus and botulism. The C. difficile bacterium has two forms, an active, infectious form that cannot survive in the environment for prolonged periods, and a nonactive, "noninfectious" form, called a spore, that can survive in the environment for prolonged periods. Although spores cannot cause infection directly, when they are ingested they transform into the active, infectious form.

So, if you have a therapy dog, or even take your dog to work and you have a friend or relative in the hospital, remember to sanitize your hands and bathe your dog after each visit. I know you can't bathe your pet if you have multiple visits in a day, but you can carry hand sanitizer and do your hands. I also carry those Clorox cloths and wipe down any area my dog touches. Plus, I have the patients use the hand sanitizer, too.

Just some information to make it safer for you and the patients, and your loving buddy.

The Fabulous Therapy Dog.

Chance says, " I love to go and visit people. I kinda know when they are sad or sick, and I just lick their hands, and they seem to do something funny with their mouth, it turns up at the corners." " My mom says that is a smile."

Hello again. I want to talk about a great service that is provided to area nursing homes and hospitals and area shut-ins. This service is Therapy Dogs. These wonderful animals and their owners/handlers are one of a kind. There are several areas of service work that dogs can do, but the therapy work is so, so rewarding.

Not only do you get to interact with people whom, in most cases, don't get a lot of visitors, but you get to spend quality time with your dog. They are so receptive to our dogs. Even the few that are afraid at first, come around so quickly to the love that our dogs provide. Dogs are extremely loyal and dedicated, and can tell when someone is weak or sad. If you looked through the archives of this blog, you will see that I have a post on my old therapy dog, her name was Madam Kallee.

This dog found me. The minute I saw her that foggy morning outside my house, I knew she was so, so special. We did our obedience work and then I certified her for Therapy with Therapy Dogs International. By doing that, she was able to go to anywhere that requested Therapy dogs. I was grooming at the time, so Kallee would go everyday with me to wherever I was grooming and then we would go home. We were literally together 24 hrs. a day. She was such a sweet dog.

She worked the patients she visited like she was some kind of magic dog. If someone was afraid of her, she would soften her facial expressions, sit at their feet(in front of the wheelchair, usually) and just look at them. This would win them over every single time. She passed away in May of 2005 at 14 yrs. old. I now have the lab you see on this blog named Major B Chance, He is a 2 yr. old yellow Labrador out of Sunnyburke's Major General B and Heringo's Autumn Angel.

He is fabulous, too. I certified him for therapy, too. For an intact male, he is so sweet. I am for neutering and spaying, but I am in the process of finding the right female so I can get a puppy from his line. His temperament is so special. But, this is not something that I am taking lightly. I have looked for almost a year. My friend, Tim Childers, is helping me find the right girl. Since I have never bred a dog, I wanted the expertise of Tim to help me in this important task. Chance was supposed to be my husband and step-sons dog, and I was just going to love him, but I started in training with him and realized just how smart he was, so I continued on with him. Now, he is mommy's dog. Thanks for reading my blog.

Depression and Dogs.

"I know when my mom needs one of my famous "puppy kisses."

If you are like me, you get down in the dumps sometimes. It never fails, though, that my dog, Chance, knows when I get this way. He has a way of just coming up to me and giving me the sweetest "puppy kisses," as I call them. Dogs, and cats, are the best therapy for the "blue" times in our lives.

I have several posts on therapy dogs on this blog. My old girl, Kallee, was a certified therapy dog, as is my boy, Chance. I have seen first hand what a dog can do to bring someone out of a "funk." My ex sister-in-law was in the hospital some time ago. I went to visit her, and low and behold, sitting on the bed next to her bed, was the cutest little dog. His owner, a nurse, brought him to visit her friend who was battling cancer. Unfortunately, she passed away sometime after that.

But, this little guy was so sweet. He just cuddled up to her, it was great. My dog, Chance, has been by my side as I battle with my cancer. I am in remission right now, but am having a little scare. So, needless to say, I have been pretty depressed. But, my buddy just keeps on giving me the "puppy kisses" that he does so well. I couldn't ask for a better therapist.

If you are feeling down, lonely or just a little blue, give your companion animal a hug and kiss. You will be surprised at how much better you will feel.

How Therapy Dogs Help.

Kallee was a Certified Therapy Dog from 1995 until she passed away in 2005. Read her story on this blog.

This is just one of many, many stories of how a therapy dog helps people cope.

Five-year-old Kelsey was a patient staying at Ronald McDonald House in Cincinnati. A tracheal tube made it impossible for her to speak, but she didn’t have to utter a word to make an instant friend in Duncan, a smiley 3-year-old Westie. Using simple hand gestures, she was able to ask Duncan to sit, roll over and shake hands. Words couldn’t describe how that made Kelsey, and everyone else in the room, feel. “I think even Duncan had tears in his eyes,” says Clifton Lin, Duncan’s owner.

Duncan is one of 15,000 certified therapy dogs in the country. Therapy dogs are trained to provide affection and comfort to people in hospitals, nursing homes, schools and even disaster areas. In some cases they also play an integral role in the treatment process. For example, a therapy dog could play fetch with a stroke patient but bring the ball back to the affected side to help promote use of that arm again. The positive effects of animal therapy visits can be both emotional and physical.

The opportunity to connect with a friendly and loving therapy dog can help lift a lonely patient’s spirits, while the turning, reaching, and stretching of playing with an animal can help encourage mobility in other patients. Studies have shown that even the simple act of petting a dog can reduce blood pressure and promote the release of “feel good” hormones in the body. For more information on pet therapy or to find out about sharing the happiness of your dog with others you can visit Therapy Dogs International at www.tdi-dog.org.

In Memory Of A Great Therapy Dog - From Lost To Found.

This is Kallee and her favorite hat. She was my first Therapy Dog. She was certified by Therapy Dogs, Int'l. She also had her Canine Good Citizen certificate. Kallee, CTD, CGC - 1993-2005.

When I found Kallee, she was a starving little dog of about 4-5 mo. old. She went through basic obedience and advanced obedience with a great man named Billy Shaffer, owner of Labradite Kennels in Mink Shoals, WV. She took to her work like a duck to water. One day we were called, by a friend of mine. She knew of a man that was Autistic and had been bed ridden for 4 yrs. and had ceased movement for the last year of those 4. I work independently, so I took Kallee and we went to see him. When we went in, we were taken to his room and I saw this little man, wasted away from just lying there.

I put Kallee's mat down right by the head of his bed and told her to sit. I then asked the caregiver if I could place his hand on her head. She said yes. I gently placed his oh, so small, hand on her head. Kallee just sat there. She looked like a statue. Maybe 5 min. went by, and I was talking with the caregiver, and I heard her give the slightest of sounds. I looked over, and one of his fingers was moving and kind of tapping her head. We were speechless.

Normally, therapy dogs are rotated so that people get a variety. But, they wanted Kallee back the next week. We continued visiting this man for 4 months. In the 4th month, he was sitting up in bed and using his hands. It is a story that will be with me forever. She was special. When she certified, the judge called her an "old spirit" that had been handed down to her by another spirit. She was my companion until she passed away peacefully in her sleep, May, 15, 2005. Sit by the right hand of God, baby girl. You are missed every day.

I now have a 3 yr. old yellow Lab named Major B Chance or Chance, for short. He was 12 wks. old when she died. He had been with us and Kallee for 2 mo. Before she died, when I would work Chance on his obedience in the yard, I would have to work her first. Then she would come around on my right and Chance on my left. This next part is the truth: if Chance didn't do something right, she would circle out, go behind me, and bump him in the bottom with her nose.

Since she was part Smooth Collie and part Australian Shepherd, she had that long Collie nose. It was so, so funny. He was sitting by her head, and her little ear was wet, (where he had chewed on it, trying to wake her), when I went to wake them and let them out. Chance used to hang on the same ear, as she would walk around the yard. He was certified in Aug. '07 for therapy. Visit Therapy Dogs International at www.tdi-dog.org.