Entrant's First Name
Elizabeth

I am a Therapy Animal

Tell us a story about how pet therapy touched your life.
‘Pet therapy’ didn’t simply touch my life, if plowed into it and changed it forever! And the practices that support and surround ‘pet therapy’ continue to do so. I have been involved with partnering with animals toward peoples healing, rehabilitation and quality of life for over 30 years. From carrying my gerbils in cookie tins with holes punched into the bottom for air onto a plane as a child, (only to have the stewardess discover my secret - she thought it was adorable and snuck me snacks), to now partnering with Tomi, a Standard Poodle in Animal Assisted Chaplaincy as well as volunteer activity visits with Clay Humane, the impact of sharing my furred friends with others has shown me not only once-in-a-lifetime miracles, but the miracles of a daily life where you are loved. In that moment, when someone who is lonely, or hurting meets the simple presence of someone who is trained and skilled at sharing and listening, someone who has fur and no human judgments – I have repeatedly seen Grace.

Give us an example of a special interaction between your therapy animal and the person they were visiting.
Last Christmas i wrote this little poem of one of Tomi's moments:

She had a hernia rupture,

she told me,

so He could not get on her bed –

i did not tell her he wasn’t allowed – there was no point –

i simply got a chair,

and He sat there,

as we pondered important questions,

like

if we put up one stocking for Santa to fill and we have two feet,

Should dogs get two stockings because they have four feet?