Sharing our pets
Therapy dog Maisie loves to meet members of the Ottawa community!
Photo: Janice Manchee
Sharing our pets
By Janice Manchee
Judy Sauvé loves dogs. She knows they help humans in miraculous ways – detecting bombs, finding drugs, guns and cadavers, finding people lost in the wilderness or under rubble or snow. They can sniff out early forms of cancer. But the best thing about dogs is the emotional support and companionship they are happy to share with humans.
“Dogs don’t judge a person by their clothes or their disability or challenge,” Sauvé says. “They love and accept each person and make their day better emotionally, spiritually and physically.”
In 2002, after years dedicated to training dogs and their humans, Sauvé founded Therapeutic Paws of Canada (TPOC), a non-profit charitable organization.
With her own dogs and even her cat, she had been visiting people in her community of Hawkesbury who needed a little comfort. Other local dog owners asked if they could also volunteer, and this resulted in the creation of a community team. But it didn’t end there.
“Calls began to come in from others I knew over the years,” says Sauvé, “asking if they could set something up in their community. At that point, I put pen to paper and designed a structured organization.”
TPOC has grown over the past 23 years into a national organization with over 400 members and 43 teams. It offers six distinct programs to meet the needs in each community. A therapy pet visit involves one or more pets and their handler(s) spending time with individuals or groups.
Paws to Read, one of TPOC’s most successful programs, pairs a child who is struggling to read with a therapy dog or cat who acts as a willing audience. The child not only improves their reading skills but gains confidence which helps in other areas of their development.
In the Paws with Love to Share program, therapy dogs and cats visit seniors for a pat and a snuggle. The PAWS Room program brings therapy pets to secondary schools, colleges and universities to support students during stressful exam times as well as to the business community to support employee mental health and wellness. Visits with first responders, shelters, hospices, disaster sites, grief and loss support and Victim Services Assistance fall under the organization’s Paws for Comfort program. TPOC therapy pets also work with occupational and physical therapists through the Paws-Abilities program supporting those with mental, physical, emotional and trauma-induced disabilities.
Therapy pets in the programs are given a comprehensive evaluation before they visit. Dogs and cats must be at least a year old and have fundamental behaviour training (sit, stay and so on) and a steady, calm temperament. They must be able to cope with a variety of potentially distracting situations, as well as be polite and relaxed around other therapy pets and in noisy environments.
While the pets are being evaluated, the handler is as well, to ensure the human at the end of the leash is comfortable and confident in providing leadership and that they have the ability to interact with those of varying cognitive abilities.
TPOC’s founder has seen several situations where a therapy dog has deliberately sought out a specific individual who needs comfort. At the end of a visit with her own Golden Retriever Tammy, Sauvé called the dog to leave with her. Tammy repeatedly circled back and lay at the feet of one of the residents. He was a favourite of Tammy’s and a keen dog lover, but Tammy had never done this before.
“I received a phone call from the facility the next day advising me that Bill had passed in his sleep,” says Sauvé. “Tammy’s instinct was to stay with Bill. He needed her comfort, and she knew it.”
Do you have a well-behaved dog you’d like to share? TPOC is welcoming new members to the Ottawa area and if you have a few hours a month, TPOC might be a good fit for you. For more information about TPOC’s programs, visit its website at tpoc.ca or call 613-632-6502 to discuss your dog or cat’s potential as a therapy pet.
Janice Manchee sings tenor and is a dog owner who appreciates the joys of pet companionship.