[nagdu] Dog Therapy and Paws that Heal
Haben Girma
habnkid at aol.com
Tue Feb 10 21:00:45 UTC 2009
I found a cool program called Pups on Parole. A dog rescue facility
called Heaven Can Wait gets many dogs that have been abused and are not
quite ready to be adopted. Then these dogs are placed in the program
Pups on Parole and given to certain women in a prison center in Navada
where the inmates socialize the dogs. Simultaneously the experience is
beneficial to the inmates. So it's not quite like Linda's program, and
not exactly centered in Portland, but it was all I could find right now.
Are there any more people from Portland? I would love to interview dog
guide users and write a paper for class on the topic. Would you be
interested Tamara? I'm attending Lewis & Clark College and moved up here
from California for school.
best,
Haben
Tamara Smith-Kinney wrote:
> Haben,
>
> Welcome, fellow Portlander! Are you a native, or are you only here for
> school?
>
> We do have a number of programs around here, as well as a VA hospital with
> some satellite facilities. And that's the limit of my information on the
> subject. Checking it all out is on my to-do list, but my greater priorities
> are going to take another couple of months (or more) to get checked off. My
> roomie is a vet, and he wants to be involved there too and knows many of the
> people, so my first inquiries will be into whether there is a program
> similar to Linda's there. If not, I'm vaguely considering getting something
> like that rolling. We'll see.
>
> Meanwhile, I would love to hear what you find out!
>
> Tami Smith-Kinney
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Haben Girma
> Sent: Monday, February 09, 2009 7:03 PM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Subject: [nagdu] Dog Therapy and Paws that Heal
>
> Linda, I am absolutely intrigued! That is such a lovely program! I
> really hope I can find something like that in the Portland, Oregon area.
> I am a college student currently taking an anthropology class that
> requires students to go out and do fieldwork. I am considering doing
> something with Guide Dogs for the Blind in Boring, Oregon. Right now I'm
> going to search the Internet for a dog therapy program in Portland.
> Thanks for sharing LInda!
>
> Haben
>
> lindagwizdak at peoplepc.com wrote:
>
>> Hi Haben,
>> There is no web page for Paws That Heal. We are a 3 year old program
>> that is run out of the Health & Wellness Department for the Naval
>> Medical Center of San Diego. The program manager is their Diabetes
>> Instructor. She is visually impaired with a guide dog and she started
>> the program after an encounter in the elevator with a Wounded Warrior
>> in her building. The servicemember had a profound stutter and it took
>> him five minutes to stutter out, "May I pet your dog?" My friend -
>> the instructor - allowed him to pet her dog and the stutter went away
>> just like that! He then shared his war experiences with her - the
>> servicemember was wounded in Iraq.
>>
>> Anyway, the Diabetes instructor happens to have been a friend of mine
>> for years. She also knows several of the other guide dog users in the
>> San Diego area who already had a program with the local blind center
>> where we bring our dogs to an outdoor, fenced in dog park to allow the
>> guide dogs play time together. We had exclusive use of one of the
>> fenced in areas for two hours once a month. The friend of mine worked
>> with us and her chain of command at the hospital and permission was
>> granted to bring several wounded servicemembers to the park to play
>> with our dogs - and Paws That Heal was born. We also have a portion
>> of the program where we go to the locked mental health ward to work
>> with the servicemembers with PTSD and depression. More great stuff
>> happened as well.
>>
>> I do have a flyer for the program but it is in a PDF file and turned
>> sideways - don't know if a screen reader can desipher it!
>>
>> The program manager has written to Marion Gwizdala and he in turn had
>> her contact Mike Hingson about the program. We are looking for some
>> new teams to work with us who live in the San Diego area. The Paws
>> program happens three times a month at the hospital so we need people
>> who can get there, can commit the time, and pass the interviewing
>> process - both human and dog.
>>
>> I forgot, where do you live?
>>
>> HTH
>>
>> Linda and Landon
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Haben Girma" <habnkid at aol.com>
>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2009 1:13 AM
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Welcome Haben
>>
>>
>>
>>> Linda, those volunteer programs sound awesome! Would you send me the
>>> web address for Paws that Heal? I'd love to read more about it.
>>>
>>> thanks,
>>> Haben
>>>
>>> lindagwizdak at peoplepc.com wrote:
>>>
>>>> Welcome to the list, Haben.
>>>>
>>>> I'm Linda and I live in San Diego - soon to move to Vermont. Landon
>>>> is my 3 year old red Lab/Golden cross from The Seeing Eye. I got
>>>> him in the October 2007 class. I am 58 years young and have not had
>>>> a paid job in eons. I've done lots of volunteer jobs to get
>>>> experience to put on a resume! Right now, Landon and I work at two
>>>> pet therapy programs. One for the Humane Society where we visit
>>>> various facilities for disabled kids and adults. Landon is certified
>>>> by the AKC's Canine Good Citizenship Test. Landon is their
>>>> program's first actual working assistance dog they've had. Lots of
>>>> guide dog and service dog pups, but we are their first working team
>>>> to be in the program. The other one is a program called Paws That
>>>> Heal that is at the Naval Medical Center of SD. Both Landon and I
>>>> had to pass a series of interviews for this. We do a combo pet
>>>> therapy, socialization, and reintegration work with our Wounded
>>>> Warriors from Iraq and Afghanistan. We work mainly with the
>>>> patients on the mental health ward.
>>>>
>>>> Haben, you'll enjoy this list - it's alot of fun.
>>>>
>>>> Regards,
>>>>
>>>> Linda and Landon
>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Haben Girma" <habnkid at aol.com>
>>>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
>>>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>>> Sent: Friday, February 06, 2009 9:27 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Welcome Haben
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Hi Mardi, thanks for the explanations. I love the names of your
>>>>> dogs. I actually don't have a dog, I'm in the application process
>>>>> for a Seeing Eye dog right now. So, I'm patiently waiting to learn
>>>>> my fate.
>>>>>
>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>> Haben
>>>>>
>>>>> Mardi Hadfield wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi every one, Welcome Haben. No, I don't live in Alaska.
>>>>>> My Huskies
>>>>>> are "south paws" We live in Tucson, Arizona. When I first needed
>>>>>> a guide
>>>>>> dog, I was told that the schools did not train for wheelchair
>>>>>> users.Since I
>>>>>> already had a service dog, who was a husky, I hired a trainer to
>>>>>> help me
>>>>>> train Lily to guide me. I had to retire her at age 8 as she had
>>>>>> health
>>>>>> issues and she died month later, leaving me with out a guide dog.
>>>>>> I tried
>>>>>> out a border collie and he did not work out as he had been abused
>>>>>> before I
>>>>>> got him and he could not handle being out in public. Then I got
>>>>>> another
>>>>>> husky, Nala,who was a fantastic guide. She will soon be 10 years
>>>>>> old and has
>>>>>> health issues now.She has guided me for 8 years and it has been
>>>>>> hard to
>>>>>> retire her as she does not want to retire. When she sees me
>>>>>> getting ready to
>>>>>> go out, she brings me her harness and get all excited. She started
>>>>>> picking
>>>>>> fights with Wanagi, the dog that I was training to take over for
>>>>>> Nala. She
>>>>>> is a lot happier now that she is working again part time. Wanagi
>>>>>> came up
>>>>>> lame with a hip problem, so she was career changed. I am keeping
>>>>>> her as a
>>>>>> pet. I have been looking for a dog to take over as my new guide
>>>>>> for over 10
>>>>>> months. I think I have finally found a dog.I would love to get a
>>>>>> dog from
>>>>>> Fidelco,but when I asked about it ,I was told that they don't
>>>>>> train for
>>>>>> wheelchair users.I would have to pay my way to and from South
>>>>>> Eastern Guide
>>>>>> Dogs, which I could not afford, and really can't be away that
>>>>>> long. Guide
>>>>>> Dogs for the Blind would take me ,but again, I can't be away from
>>>>>> my home
>>>>>> and business that long. So I guess I will just continue to train
>>>>>> my own
>>>>>> guides with the help of my trainer. Haben, do you have a guide
>>>>>> dog? If so ,
>>>>>> what breed is it? I love hearing from others and about their dogs.
>>>>>> Have a
>>>>>> great day, Mardi and Nala,semi-retired, and Shaman , possible
>>>>>> trainee.
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>>
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