Entrant's First Name
Tracee

I am a Therapy Animal

Tell us a story about how pet therapy touched your life.
Pet therapy was nothing short of life-changing and my dog, Maddy, was the cornerstone. Where I am today, who I am, is because of pet therapy and Maddy. I started out training for it as a hobby and visiting with Maddy in my free time two days a month. The experiences we had inspired me to eventually become a professional dog trainer specializing in behavior solutions. Now I continue to help people and their pets full-time by improving their human-animal bond. I feel so blessed to have found my passion in life and it was all inspired by pet therapy.

Give us an example of a special interaction between your therapy animal and the person they were visiting.
Maddy's specialty was visiting on the in-patient psychiatric unit. During one visit Maddy was in the common living room area, laying on the floor with a female patient. One male patient seemed to watch Maddy from across the room at a table, but he was hesitant to approach. After a few minutes the female patient got up and moved away. Then Maddy jumped up into a nearby chair and somehow curled up her 70-lbs of black and white fluff just enough to squeeze between the wooden arms and lie down. That seemed to be the ice breaker the man needed because he got up from the table, walked over and sat down in the chair next to Maddy. He buried his hands in her soft fur, she lifted her head to look at him, wagging her bushy tail as always, he smiled and sighed as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. His eyes filled with tears and he quietly said, as if to himself, "If a dog likes me I must be ok." That moment is etched on my heart, right next to Maddy's paw print.

If you are not an active therapy animal team, explain how your dog provides therapy to you through the human animal bond.
Maddy retired from active visiting in 2010 but she often helped me with training clients when we were working with dogs who were scared of other dogs; that was a form of therapy and Maddy was amazing at it. Maddy also continued providing daily therapy to our two special needs children at home until she passed away, December 20, 2016. Seeing her pictures around the house still brings me joy and encouragement. Her presence was so warm and big that at times it feels as if she's still here. I'll be getting therapy from that amazing dog until I get to see her again.