Does Your Dog Have What It Takes to be a Therapy Dog?

Sandy Weaver: 0:02

Welcome to the Starlight Pet Talk podcast, where we'll talk about and explore ways to help pet parents and future pet parents learn everything they need to know to have a happy and healthy relationship with their pet. So sit up and stay for Starlight Pet Talk rescue, adoption and pet parenting done right.

Amy Castro: 0:24

If you're a fan of Starlight Pet Talk, you'll love our new line of merchandise. We have t-shirts, hoodies and more, all featuring your favorite podcast logos and designs. Plus, we're offering a limited number of Starlight Outreach and Rescue items where a portion of the proceeds go directly to Animal Rescue. Our merchandise is the perfect way to show your support for your favorite pet podcast and Animal Rescue at the same time. So what are you waiting for? Just visit our website at wwwstarlightpettalkcom to order your merchandise today. Welcome to Starlight Pet Talk. I'm your host, amy Castro, and in past episode we've covered the topic of service dogs and emotional support animals and animals that are just pets, and how each type of animal is a little bit different. But today we're diving into a new world and that is the world of therapy animals, specifically dogs, with my favorite dog expert, friend and speaker colleague, sandy Weaver. Sandy's been a guest on the show before really kind of when we first started sharing her expertise as a longtime dog show judge and breeder, and she really helped to educate us about the differences between purebred dogs and your you know mutts, for lack of a better term when it comes to pets, and what we're looking for in a lifelong companion, sandy, is the program director at the Center for Workplace Happiness and in that capacity she works with some of my favorite people veterinarians and their teams, as well as leaders in the pet industry to create stronger leaders, stronger teams and more resilient team members. When she's not doing that, as if she's not busy enough, she spends her time training her dogs for the things that they love to do, and while training her very gorgeous, a standard poodle, archie, in obedience and rally which you need to go back and listen to that other episode that she was on, because she went into good detail explaining all of that she kind of realized that he didn't love that activity as much as she'd noticed that he loved interacting with children and people who seemed like they were stressed out. And on one particular day she realized, like two of her previous Siberian Huskies, that she had the privilege to own and love and share the world with as therapy dogs, that Archie was born to be a therapy dog, so now he is. So, sandy, thank you so much for coming back to the show.

Sandy Weaver: 2:39

Thanks so much, amy, it's good to be here.

Amy Castro: 2:41

You know our fellow speaker colleagues Elisa Hayes and Donna Mack. They had come on the show and we had a really good discussion back and forth about service animals and what constitutes or doesn't constitute a service animal. We talked about guide dogs for the blind, we talked about emotional support animals and actually we talked about the downside of people that fake emotional support animals or service animals. So we've talked a lot about different roles that dogs play, but I don't know why it never came up but we didn't talk about therapy dogs. So what is a therapy dog as opposed to those other types of dogs?

Sandy Weaver: 3:14

Well, the other types of dogs, and this is a great question. The other types of dogs are designed to work for one person. The service animal is trained up and given over to one human being and they become a team. The dog is not working for or with anybody else. It is. Those two are teamed up. Okay same thing with an emotional support animal true emotional support animals, real ones. And boy, we could do a whole show on the people who fake it Sadly, there are a lot of people who do. But true emotional support animals are actually have a prescription from a medical professional written to that person that says you need to have an animal with you at all times. And the emotional support animal receives a specific kind of training, not as much as the service animal, but it is with that person and by prescription, so it's working with that person. Therapy animals, on the other hand, live with me. I am their person, or whoever is their owner. We're their person. But they're meant to work for other people and they're meant to be with other people and to assist other people in a bunch of different ways. And so you can kind of think of what your dog's personality is and think about who would benefit from a dog with that personality. So if you're thinking about having a therapy dog, what I knew about Archie is that he doesn't like a lot of raucous, crazy behavior around him. He's sort of the rule dog. He's the fun police. If there's too much fun going on, he's pretty sure it needs to calm down. So I knew he's not the one that's going to go to a playhouse or a summer camp or situation like that where it's likely to be a bunch of kids running around, because he's not going to like that very much. He loves working in a library. He loves working in a really quiet situation. He loves men in the nursing homes that we have visited, doesn't love the women in nursing homes so much. He's really an interesting dog. I'm still learning about him, so figuring out the positions to put him in and the positions to not put him in.

Amy Castro: 5:22

Yeah, that's a good point. I guess I always kind of thought about and not that I've put a ton of thought into therapy dogs, but I did at one time, and I may have told this story on the show before, but I'll give you the brief version. So I had this beautiful Doberman pincher. I had worked really hard to train him. He did have some issues with dog aggression, with strange dogs, and so we had gone through a lot of different training. We went to the Canine Good Citizen Assessment and I literally had the pass paper in my hand when he turned around and saw a boxer charging towards him and went rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, and the guy took it right out of my hand and took it away. I had a friend at the time that had Dobermans that she brought into hospitals and nursing homes and I thought, oh, that's going to be the perfect thing for us. And I think it's interesting that you say it's not about just being a therapy dog, it's about finding the right situations and people that are a good fit for that dog, because it's not going to be every person in every situation.

Sandy Weaver: 6:20

Exactly, and with the therapy dog work, most of the time there's not another dog around. So if you can pass the therapy certification, you just never put your dog in the position of having another dog around. You visit at nursing homes, you visit at hospitals Well, hospitals, sometimes there will be another dog around, but you visit at nursing homes. Typically there's one dog in the place and it's the one you bring in, so what made you?

Amy Castro: 6:44

I mean, you're so busy. You're running around the world as a speaker. You know you're a dog show judge. I see you're doing training classes for people who want to show, which that's a whole another great subject we should talk about sometime. But what made you decide to now take on another project with Archie and with your other dogs?

Sandy Weaver: 7:00

Well, archie is my third, as you mentioned, so thank you. He is my third therapy dog and the first one I just I wanted to share her. She was really special and she'd finished her championship and she'd finished an obedience title and she'd finished her agility career. She was about eight or nine when we started doing therapy work and she was pretty much retired from everything else. But I love doing things with her and I thought what can I do with her that she would like that doesn't take a whole lot of training, but she would like it. And about that time a friend of mine asked me she has golden, has always had golden retrievers. She said I'm thinking about getting her current golden retriever into being a therapy dog. What do you know about therapy work? I said I don't know anything, let's learn together. So we did and we went and took the training class together and we took the test together and we joined the same organization together and we never saw each other again. So in our therapy partner work because she went one direction and I went another direction with Chapin. But it was really fulfilling and it was wonderful to watch her know exactly what each person that she interacted with needed. Chapin was intuitive like that Not normally a trait that one thinks about when one thinks about a Siberian Husky, to be perfectly honest, but there are a lot of them that are. I mean, first of all, they're very smart breed, but she was really tuned into people. And then, several years later I had another one who was really tuned into people and so when I saw that with Archie, I realized what it was. I'm going to digress a moment. I had a thought as I was working with him in a parking lot one afternoon. I was doing training with both of my dogs, we were getting ready for a trial coming up, I think, and I was training him and he was working with me and he was being really good. But every time somebody would walk by with like a shopping cart or a mom and a kid in a stroller, a kid in her hand, he would break off his focus on me and look at them and it was really sweet the way he was doing it. I mean, the energy felt really sweet. It was like he was curious about them. It popped into my head one of these days he's gonna make a really good therapy dog. But I don't have time now, but one of these days, this dog will make a good therapy dog. And then later that day my friend with the Golden's called me and said I'm thinking about doing therapy again. Can you point me in the right direction? So I did. I gave her the organization that I'd worked with with my previous dogs, because the one that we had worked with together had folded. And then a couple of days later somebody out of the blue emailed me and said I'm really interested in getting a therapy dog to work with the children in my school, and I know you're really into dogs, so can you help me with therapy dogs. And it's like okay, fine, whoever it is that's up there, I get it. Now is apparently Archie's time, because therapy doesn't come up like that. I bet I hadn't heard the words therapy dog in a sentence in a year and then three times within three days. So apparently Archie was meant to be a therapy dog and I was meant to do it now. So that's what we're doing.

Amy Castro: 9:58

Yeah, there's your sign right.

Sandy Weaver: 9:59

Yep, pretty much. Thank you, bill. Involve, I'll take. Here's my sign.

Amy Castro: 10:04

Exactly. So what exactly does Archie do in his role as a therapy dog in a library with kids? I mean, he's obviously not reading books.

Sandy Weaver: 10:14

Yes, he is.

Amy Castro: 10:15

Is he?

Sandy Weaver: 10:15

reading books. That is the illusion. Yes, that is the illusion. This is an advanced level of therapy work that we had to do some additional training and mainly the training was for me and then he had to do a supervised visit to make sure that he was gonna be appropriate with the kids and patient and able to lay still and behave himself and stay focused on each of the four children who came in as we worked. So we did that and he really likes kids and he really likes laying down, he likes really low key environment. So I taught him to read books. But the whole concept of the read program and it is a nationwide program, you can do it from anywhere. You just have to contact. You know it's R period, e period, a period, d period and it's inter-mountain therapy animals, I think out of Salt Lake City, utah, created it and licensed it for use all over the place and the whole concept is you work with first, second and third graders one on one. So I'm there with Archie and there's a child there with a book that they've chosen and they're reading the book to Archie and it's to help kids get more confident in their reading skills because if they get out of second grade and they still can't read. They are way behind and they will probably not catch up. So this read program can be done in schools, but the school commitment is typically once a week and I could not make that commitment. So I work with local libraries and we go in two times a month and sit down, and one at a time. A child comes in, picks out their book, reads the book to Archie and I ask them to hold it so that they can see the pictures. And if they wanna explain some words or explain the pictures or Archie might ask a question, I have to ask it because Archie wants to know what color that ball is. Archie wants to know how many things are wrong in this picture. You know, if it's that kind of a book, there's 12 things wrong on this page. Can you show Archie all the wrong things? He wants to know all the wrong things. And then a good way to help the child when they're struggling to read. There's a rule that if the child misses five words on one page the book is too hard for them. So Archie says he doesn't understand a lot of the words in this book. So can we pick a different one that he might understand a little better. So you're not telling the child they can't read. You're telling the child the dog doesn't understand. Archie loved the training for this to pay attention to the book. You take a book that I picked up at Goodwill and I tucked training treats in between the pages and I sat down and opened up the book and Archie's looking around like I don't even know what we're doing here. This was before he'd done anything, and so I'd start reading the book out loud and then I'd say Archie, look. And I'd point to the page and he'd stick his nose down there and there was a treat. So now when there's a really cool picture, I can just go Archie, look, and he puts his nose down at the book and the kids are just. They're completely convinced that they're reading the book to Archie and he's understanding. So they're helping him learn how to read.

Amy Castro: 13:19

I need to see some video of that. I bet it's adorable, because he's such a beautiful dog too and, just you know, I could just picture his little face or his big face, because he's a big boy, he's a big dog, yeah. Yeah so when you said he was a therapy dog, I'm glad I asked the question about what he did, because I made a lot of assumptions about what a therapy dog is and I envisioned you guys were going to nursing homes and Archie was, you know, sitting with residents in wheelchairs or, you know, front feet up on the bed so they can pet him. So it sounds like there's a lot of different types of therapy work that therapy dogs can do.

Sandy Weaver: 13:54

Absolutely all kinds of therapy work. There are physical therapy places that use canine-assisted physical therapy so your dog can receive special training for that and if they are okay around that kind of situation or physical therapist wants to do canine-assisted or animal-assisted physical therapy, they can work in a setting like that. They can work in a school, they can work in a nursing home. They can become staff members at a hospital. The local children's hospital of Atlanta has staff member golden retrievers. Now obviously it's their person that's on the payroll, but they have regular rounds that they are allowed, I believe even in the ICU. As a therapy team we can visit, but we can't go into patient rooms. The patients have to come to us in a common area at the hospital but the staff dogs can go anywhere in the hospital and they are there all the time.

Amy Castro: 14:44

Yeah, I've even seen a couple of articles over the years of therapy dogs being brought into workplaces after tragic situations, or even colleges during exam time to help students with stress and anxiety. So it just goes to show the power of our bond with animals and how much of a positive impact they have on our lives, especially in situations where we're ill or we're struggling or we're under stress. It's pretty amazing.

Sandy Weaver: 15:13

It's astonishing to me how intuitive all three of my therapy dogs have been. I've had Siberian Huskies for 44 years, I think this year, and they're all different, they're all unique, they're all individual. They're all really wonderful. But I've had two Siberians and one poodle who are really intuitive dogs and that's the characteristic that I saw immediately in Archie was that he can just read people and know exactly what they need.

Amy Castro: 15:42

Well, and we all know, poodles are super, duper smart, as are Siberian Huskies. That brings a question and I think I know the answer already, but I wanna make sure that our listeners know this as well, because you've talked about Siberian Huskies, your standard poodle golden retrievers. You see any mutt therapy dogs out there?

Sandy Weaver: 16:00

Absolutely yeah, and they're AKC all kinds combined. I stole that from the theory, but yeah. I don't love the mutt word because people say it and they feel like it's either less than or a badge of honor. But it's not. All dogs are AKC. They're either third, or they're all kinds combined. It's okay. As long as the dog is loved, then the dog has what it needs and it doesn't matter. But yes, there are many, many, many mixed breed therapy dogs, yeah, and I've seen all the shapes and sizes too, from little bitty dogs, because I've often thought my little tinky, my little six-mall chihuahua, of all the chihuahua's I've met in my life and I've met a lot of them, of all the chihuahua's I've met in my life, and I've met a lot of them Kindest like, not afraid of strangers, kindest like, you know, just good with everybody, not afraid of strangers, little kids, she's just good with everybody, just because she's so cute and sweet. She would be great going around, but visiting with people just because she's so cute and send me the hate mail. Don't send it to any. Send it to me. Are you sure she's a chihuahua?

Amy Castro: 16:57

No, that sounds like a wonderful personality. So, as far as the training goes because obviously your random person's not gonna just start running into a library with their dog what kind of training is required to get certified as a therapy dog?

Sandy Weaver: 17:12

So the first thing that you need to think about when you're thinking about wanting to do therapy work with your dog is Do you and your dog have the right personality for it? And by that I mean you've got to be a people person, you've got to like people and you've got to like dealing with people, because they're gonna want to go after your dog and you're gonna have to intercept sometimes. And can your dog handle it if you can't intercept fast enough? Because sometimes people just come charging at dogs even adults who should know better come charging at dogs and they want to pet the dog and they got to touch the dog and they want to hug the dog, and we all know how dogs love hugs not. Yeah, no, no, no, no. One of the best ways to get bitten is to hug a dog. So you have to think about that. And then most people don't consider the legal aspects of it. If you are putting your dog in a position where any dog with teeth can bite that, it might bite somebody who might be likely to sue you for everything you own, it might be a good idea to make sure you have some insurance coverage. So the best advice that I have if you want to do therapy is to look at the national therapy organizations Like ATD, association of Therapy Dogs I think they are therapy dog org. It's easy and that's the one I'm with and have been with for my other two dogs too. So you just go there and you register yourself and you register the dog that you're going to be working with and in order to even complete their training, you have to pass a background check. So they do a criminal background check on you to start with, because you're going to be Representing that organization and for their insurance coverage to cover you, they need to know who you are. So you have to be okay with having a background check and having people ask you some potentially uncomfortable questions. Then you'll work with a local tester and you'll go with that person with your dog and they'll do an initial test before they take you anywhere. And then typically there are three or four visits that you have to do before they set you free and say, yes, okay, you're a card carry, an ATD member, because you actually get a card for the dog. It's a little red heart-shaped tag and on a visit they have to have that on. But the test is like a CGC on steroids. So it's a CGC test which has ten elements. You know. Your dog has to walk nicely on lead. Your dog has to sit calmly. It has to greet a friendly dog and greet a friendly stranger. Let a stranger touch it anywhere, including pick up its feet, brush it three minutes separation. And your dog has to remain relatively calm. They can worry a little bit but they can't stand there and incessantly bark and shriek and lunge and try to get to you. That will fail you. And then there are a few other elements. They have to be okay with somebody coming by with a wheelchair and they have to be okay with somebody doing a startling thing from behind, like suddenly opening an umbrella right behind them or Dropping something that makes a clanging noise right behind them. And, depending on the organization that you're testing through, you might also have a really yummy plate of food put down on the floor and the dog is allowed to start eating the food. And then they take a yard stick with a stuffed gardening glove and they take the food away from the dog and the dog cannot attack the glove, cannot? It can be a little resentful like and it can try to guard, but it can't do anything that looks aggressive at the glove. So there's those kind of fun things. There's dog has to have a good recall from 30 feet, though I don't know why in the therapy situation you would ever let your dog be that far away from you. Four-foot lead is the standard. They've got to stay close so that you're in control. But if you can pass that, then you can go that is a lot. That's why it's like a CGC with a few extra elements. So you can get your dog ready by just going to any local CGC training class, and most dog training places have a CGC class. So it's eight weeks and on graduation you take the CGC test as your last element and you either pass or you don't pass, and if you don't pass, they help you out, you know, giving you ideas on how to work on the things that didn't quite go as well as you had hoped they would. So, speaking about intuition, my groomer is a hundred percent convinced that Archie has missed his calling and doesn't need to be therapy dog. He needs to be a seizure alert dog and he's been going to this particular groomer for nearly two years and she's fabulous, she is wonderful and she loves him. They have a co-love affair going on. She says he is so bitable he will do anything she wants him to do. He stands on the table. She brushes him out, she does his nails, he, when she asked him to jump off the table, he jumps off the table, walks to the bathtub, waits to be put in the bathtub, stands there, gets his bath, waits for the towel to, you know, to dry, and then she takes him out of the bathtub, takes him back to the table. He's up on the table. He stands there till she's finished with him. She she says he's just a dream. Well, on his last grooming session he would not quit staring at one of her dogs and he was staring at her and missy thought it was funny and said oh well, here's what we'll do. We would let you guys have puppies, except neither one of you has the parts for it. But she is really pretty and the two of you would make pretty puppies. She just thought he was falling in love with her, but he wouldn't get off the table. When she said get off the table, and she had to drag him to the bathtub because he wanted to stay with that dog and In the bathtub he started thrashing around trying to get out of the bathtub and then she heard another thrashing. Her poodle was having a seizure. Her Poodle had not had a seizure in six years and Archie had never misbehaved before. And so Same thing on the same day. I don't think so. Yeah, it's not a coincidence. He knew, he knew something was up with her. And so now I think back and I I feel like the worst dog owner ever. I think back on the times when I thought he was misbehaving and now I wonder what I was missing, because he was probably Kied into something. And now I'm a little more attentive with him. So if he starts being what looks obstinate to me, I know it might not be, it might just be him key and into something With his amazing intuition.

Amy Castro: 23:23

Yeah, I mean, that is pretty amazing and you know the things that they can smell and they can sense that we are just oblivious to. Maybe we all probably need to be paying a little better attention. So what has been in your time of doing this because you, you know, archie's not your first dog doing this and all this time, what have been some of the most rewarding things that you've experienced that made you say I'm so glad I'm doing this or this is the. This was the right choice for us.

Sandy Weaver: 23:46

How much time do we have for these stories? That's why I'm on my third dog. It really is so rewarding. I mean, I look, I look at my calendar and I go, I'm giving three hours this week to therapy work. And then I look at my dog and at my heart and I go, yay, yes, I'm giving three hours this week to therapy work. So yeah, it is like that, chapin, I think I started off by telling you that we visited at a nursing home and we visited we were every Wednesday, regular visitors at a nursing home and we started off doing the entire community and it was a Sunrise community which Typically has the assisted living area and then an area that is a higher security area for Dementia patients who are at risk for wandering and being very confused. So that area tends to be locked. And After a few visits there, the people gave me the code so I didn't have to go get a staff member to get into that area. I had the code so I could go in. And After another few visits there, chapin didn't want to do the rest of the community, she wanted to do the Dementia area. And then I Think it was the second time we were there there was a woman in a wheelchair that I hadn't seen the first time and Chapin couldn't stand it. She had to go see that woman and One of the attendants said oh, she's not verbal, she doesn't react to anything, it's probably a waste of time. And yet I at that point I trusted Chapin because I knew she knew, and so I just let her have her four-foot lead and Sat and watched what she would do. And she sat next to this woman and she's just sat there and kind of leaned on her wheelchair and Pretty soon the woman's hand kind of moved over just a little bit so that it was touching the top of Chapin's head. And sure enough the woman was not verbal but she was saying something. I mean, she didn't have language anymore but in her mind she was speaking to the dog and she was petting Chapin very appropriately, very gently, very appropriately, just petting her, and turned her head to look at her and was Interacting with her. And the attendant couldn't believe it. And after that, every time we were there Chapin wanted to go see that woman and I stopped going to sunrise when that woman passed away, because Chapin was so disappointed when we would go into the dementia area and she wasn't there. So I stopped going to sunrise whether I moved to a different community, because it kind of broke Chapin's heart that she died so, and so that was the Chapin story. Hanley, my second Siberian, who was a therapy dog, visited children's health care of Atlanta and he also visited another nursing home where a woman that I've known for a long time Was in residence and she had dementia. She didn't have language anymore. She was more mobile. She was not necessarily confined to a wheelchair, but she usually had one person on either side of her and she usually didn't really want to walk. So I would go visit that nursing facility and Spend some time with that particular woman and Hanley would go and stand in front of her Like he was a show dog. He would take his show dogs and he had been a show dog, but like he'd take his show dog stance right in front of her and she would look at him and reach out her hands to touch the top of his head and then she'd put her hands on the chair and she'd stand up by herself, which the attendance said she almost never did. She'd stand up by herself and do a dog complete dog show Examination on him, doing his head check in his mouth, looking at his bite. She'd feel his shoulder confirmation. She'd feel his rib cage, she'd go down his top line and then she'd start laughing when he realized he had no testicles. He was neutered after he finished his championship, so she always thought it was kind of funny that he didn't have any testicles. But he was a show dog. So the fact that he could trigger that memory for her and could get that activity out of her when she really wasn't doing anything else, that that made my heart smile.

Amy Castro: 27:54

Wow, that's uh, that's pretty amazing. Those are definitely some great stories, sandy, anything else, but you know, before we kind of wrap things up, that you want to share about your experience with therapy dogs or any other advice for people who might be Thinking, hey, this could be for me.

Sandy Weaver: 28:12

I would like to share that the most important thing is for you to understand dog language and For you to be your dog's advocate. So when I'm with my dog and he's doing therapy work, you he's the one who's doing the therapy work I'm the one who's watching everything around and watching him to make sure he's okay, because if he's not okay, that's when problems can happen. And if you don't know how to tell whether your dog's okay or not, that's a problem. You've got to know dog language. You've got to understand that. If you see they call it whale eyes, but if you see the whites of your dog's eyes, your dog is not happy. Your dog is stressed. If your dog has everything pulled back on their face ears back, eyes, back lips, back and tight your dog is stressed. If your dog is licking its lips and blinking very slowly or yawning or shaking a lot not trembling, shaking, but shaking like they're trying to shake water off after a bath all of those signals are signals that your dog is stressed and if you don't know how to read that, then you don't know how to get your dog away from a situation that's stressing him out. You are your dog's advocate. So if you're thinking about doing therapy work with your dog. You have to know that your dog is okay for it and for most of what you're gonna be into, your dog will be fine. But there will be situations that will stress out your dog and it's your job to be the bad guy If somebody's hugging your dog and your dog does not like to be hugged. It's like you know what I know. Humans like to be hugged but dogs really don't like it. That's a dominance thing and you're getting your face really close to a dog that you don't know and I can tell you he's getting stressed out. So if you, please you know you can pet him and you can sit on the floor with him, but please don't hug him. He doesn't like that. So you've got to be willing to do that. You've got to be willing to tell people I love my dog and you can love my dog too. But you need to love my dog appropriately. You have to love my dog the way my dog loves it, not the way you want to do it.

Amy Castro: 30:15

I'm glad you made that point because I think in my mind I had always thought that and this is stupid Now in retrospect, as I think about it that you know a therapy dog is so well trained and so stable and balanced in their personality and so perfect, you know for lack of a better term that you could do anything to them. And that's just not the case. I mean, every dog is going to have its limit and I think that's such a good point that you have to be that advocate, because I know I've even been in situations like that with my own pet animals.

Sandy Weaver: 30:48

And therapy dogs probably will withstand more than many dogs will. But no dog is going to take a mulling and like it. And if your dog doesn't like therapy work then it's not for your dog and you have to be okay with that. You have to say I want to do this but my dog doesn't, and I have to honor my dog's wishes, Because just because you want to do it doesn't mean your dog wants to do it. The reason Archie's doing therapy work is because Archie didn't want to do obedience to some rally competition. He's got a rally title but he earned the first leg, working really well with me. He earned the second qualifying score, being like oh, we're doing this again, okay, fine. And then he earned the third qualifying score, lagging behind me. He had no enthusiasm for it. It's like, oh, okay, no more rally for this dog, he doesn't like it. Now, I love doing rally. I think rally's fun. I would love to put 800 rally titles on every dog I ever owned from now on. But the dog has to like it or it's not fun and I have to honor what my dog's like. And Archie didn't like rally and he doesn't particularly like regular obedience either. So okay, we won't do those.

Amy Castro: 31:59

Well, I'm glad you were able to find something that Archie does like and that brings so much joy and comfort to a lot of people. Sandy, thank you so much for being here with us once again and for sharing your experience and your stories and your advice that is always spot on, and really appreciate having you on the show.

Sandy Weaver: 32:18

Thanks, Amy. I really appreciate all the work that you do. You are a rock star and you're amazing and it's always fun to spend time with you, thanks.

Amy Castro: 32:26

Oh, thank you. Now I'm embarrassed, but I appreciate it. So, for all of you who are listening, thank you again for listening to another episode of Starlight Pet Talk. We hope you enjoyed learning about therapy dogs and the amazing things that they do for human beings who need their love and support. I think it's a great reminder to all of us for not only what therapy dogs do, but for what our pets do for us every single day without saying a word. So this week, if you don't do anything else for us, be sure to give your pets an extra big hug from all of us here at Starlight Pet Talk.

Sandy Weaver: 33:01

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Amy Castro: 35:04

You had said and I'll probably move this back up to when you were kind of sharing about Archie being intuitive, but you had mentioned to ask you to tell me about the grooming story. So, related to what makes Archie particularly appropriate for therapy work and his intuition, yeah, yeah, I'll just I'll. I'll well, ok, I'll just OK, ok, ok, yeah, that is. I mean, that is pretty amazing, and you know the things that they can. You know that they can smell and they can sense that we're just oblivious to. Maybe we all probably need to be paying a little better attention. I wanted to talk about, you know, the rewards and then the challenges. So let's, let's get the, let's get the challenges out of the way. First, you know, because obviously it sounds like it's you know it can be a lot of work in the training process to to get yourself to the point where you are, are ready to go and your and your dog is ready to go. So any particular challenges that stand out to you that you had faced in with Archie or with your other dogs and it's not even your kid too let's throw that in the mix, or your, you know, grand kid or anything we're ol' 25 or 30. You. Yeah that, yeah, I wasn't expecting that one. So, yeah, interesting you. You, you so. Well, and that I think that probably goes to to, to show that, regardless of the type of therapy work that you might be doing, you know, you, you're, you need to be prepared as the human for a wide range of people that you're going to interact with and situations that you're going to Going to find yourself in, just like in in other places and aspects of our lives. For sure, you, you, you, you. That's great, that's great. So what has been in your time of doing this because you, you know, archie's not your first dog doing this and all this time, what have been some of the most rewarding things that you've experienced or you know particularly, you know, feel good story that made you say I'm so glad I'm doing this or this is the, this was the right choice for us. You, you, you. I, you. Wow, that's pretty amazing, and I'm assuming, because you didn't necessarily. You said you knew her from the judging world. Okay, okay, okay, I'll leave that out. Okay. Sure, okay, yeah, all right, no worries, because I thought did I miss something? Because that's pretty amazing. Or she's just a dog molester, I don't know, and I won't put that in the episode either. But there you go. Oh my gosh, those are definitely some great stories, sandy. Anything else before we kind of wrap things up that you want to share about your experience with therapy dogs or any other advice for people who might be thinking, hey, this could be for me, whatever you like to share. Okay, okay. Okay, yeah. Yeah. Okay, okay, okay Right. Okay. Okay, okay, okay. Well, I'm glad you were able to find something that Archie does like and that brings so much joy and comfort to a lot of people. So, yeah, so, sandy, thank you so much for being here with us once again and for sharing your experience and your stories and your advice that is always spot on, as always, and really appreciate you having you on the show. Oh, thank you. Now I'm embarrassed. I appreciate it, and so, for all of you who are listening, thank you again for listening to another episode of Starlight Pet Talk. We hope you enjoyed learning about therapy dogs and the amazing things that they do for human beings who need their love and support. I think it's a great reminder to all of us, for you know not only what therapy dogs do, but for what our pets do for us every single day without saying a word. So this week, if you don't do anything else for us, be sure to give your pets an extra big hug from all of us here at Starlight Pet Talk.