Kiyla’s Grand Adventure

Kiyla, the ‘death row to gainfully-employed wonder dog’, recently spent some time with seniors in the memory support center of Mechanicsville, Virginia-based Covenant Woods. This important outing was a crucial part of her training as she gets ever closer to joining her new family of grandparents at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

My colleague and friend from VMRC, Jane Spitzer and two members of her staff, Kiyla’s trainer extraordinaire Dee Bogetti and I all met at Covenant Woods for a short training session prior to a visit with the senior residents there. Kiyla’s temporary mom and daily taskmaster, Sarah Clinton, was unable to join us.

Remember, it wasn’t that long ago that Kiyla was homeless with an uncertain future. So how did our little prodigy do? She was stellar. She charmed everyone, showing off skills we didn’t even know she had. She was well-behaved, followed commands like a champion, wagged her tail a lot and offered a TON of love. She took treats from the residents so gently and carefully that you’d think she’d been doing it all her life. And, a great skill for a therapy dog in residence … as we walked throughout the building, Kiyla seemed determined to make sure all her entourage was with her … leave no human behind!

The residents at VMRC are preparing for Kiyla’s arrival on May 15. They’re planning field trips to buy supplies and toys and they’re watching Kiyla’s training progress on their in-house television station. Stay tuned … homecoming is just around the corner.

Don’t know where to turn to get your questions answered about service or therapy dogs, organizations or programs? Visit www.ServiceDog411.com today; it’s your first stop on the journey for help and information.

Service or Therapy … What’s the Difference?

This morning I opened a web news article that talked about service dogs helping out in the court system for juvenile victims of brutal crimes. What in the world could possibly be wrong with that? Certainly having an adorable canine companion to offer love and comfort while reliving something horrific such as these young people must do in the courtroom is amazing and a great use of a loving dog.

However, labeling these dogs as service dogs is incorrect. There seems to be a proliferation of misnomers in the press these days … the terms service dogs and therapy dogs are often used interchangeably and hence inaccurately. There are distinct differences between service and therapy dogs and while the general public might not understand the difference, it seems that the media should make the effort to be accurate and help educate.

A service dog has had extensive training to provide one or more specific tasks for an individual. The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) guarantees the rights of these individuals to have their service dog accompany them wherever they go as long as the general public is also allowed. This includes restaurants, hotels, retail stores, taxicabs, theatres, concert halls, airline cabins, sports facilities and more. It doesn’t include, for example, the operating room or the restaurant kitchen. To deny access to someone with a service dog is not only discrimination of the highest order, it is also a federal offense. Many service dogs accompany individuals whose disabilities are invisible, yet who are in very real need of the support and tasks that a service dog provides.

On the other hand, a therapy dog most often gives its love in group settings such as nursing homes, hospitals, and schools (or to crime victims in court). Therapy dogs are well-mannered, have excellent obedience skills, and have typically passed a Canine Good Citizen test as well as a more inclusive test such as one offered by Therapy Dogs International or Pet Partners (formerly the Delta Society). Therapy dogs and their owners do not have federally granted access rights, and can only go places where they have been invited.

Whether we’re talking about a service or therapy dog, these wonderful animals can and do offer unconditional love, support, hope and an enhanced quality of life. But there is a difference between the two.

Don’t know where to turn to get your questions answered about service or therapy dogs, organizations or programs? Visit www.ServiceDog411.com today; it’s your first stop on the journey for help and information.

Kiyla’s Journey: From Death Row to Having a Job

Sometimes here at Service Dog 411 we get an inquiry that requires a bit of creative problem solving. So, when I got a call from my friend Jane Spitzer at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community, it was one of those times.

Jane asked me if I could help her with obtaining a service dog for her memory support and assisted living residents. Just like some of their residents, their previous “facility dog” had succumbed to old age. She’d been in touch with a couple of different organizations whose restrictions were so restrictive as to make it almost impossible to surmount. Not one of these organizations shared with Jane that what she really needed for her residents was a therapy dog … not a service dog. A service dog is one that is trained to perform one or more specific tasks for a specific individual. A therapy dog is one that is well-trained and who gives its love to many people in a group setting such as hospitals or retirement communities.

There was no need for Jane and her team to spend thousands of dollars on
a service dog when what they really needed was a therapy dog. Really what they needed was a pound puppy and a great trainer.

So, wheels up and in motion, Service Dog 411 martialed the help of our friend and colleague Dee Bogetti and Richmond Animal League’s Community Manager, Sarah Clinton. Did Sarah by chance have a dog that would have the personality and temperament suited to being a “facility dog” for a group of seniors? “Why, yes,” she said, “I believe we do.” Enter Mikayla, a beagle hound mix about 4 years old that had been rescued from a kill shelter after being picked up as a stray. After a rocky start to the relationship (Mikayla was adopted out within hours of Sarah’s email, but returned two days later by the adopting family due to military
deployment).


Dee made the preliminary assessment and with her “two thumbs up”, Sarah agreed to foster Mikayla (since renamed Kiyla by her new “grandparents”) and work with Dee on her obedience skills. Kiyla is now about halfway through her training and she’s doing great. From not having any experience living in a home, being consistently around people, and having regular access to food … Kiyla now sits on command (although her butt still wiggles a bit with excitement). She can also “down” and “leave it” both important commands for her new role as the new “grand-dog” at VMRC. Next week, she’ll have a trial run at a local (Richmond-based) retirement community to get a glimpse of what her new life will be all about … love, love and more love. Stay tuned for Kiyla’s next chapter.

Don’t know where to turn to get your questions answered about service or therapy dogs, organizations or programs? Visit www.ServiceDog411.com today; it’s your first stop on the journey for help and information.