Q & A: Rachel McPherson of The Good Dog Foundation

What is the Good Dog Foundation, and how is it making its mark on the field of animal-assisted therapy?

ANSWER:

The Good Dog Foundation is beginning its 15th year as a charitable organization dedicated to elevating the stature and promoting society’s understanding of the therapeutic value of the human-animal bond.  This is accomplished through the use of professionally trained volunteer therapy dog teams who work to aid the healing process in humans and enhance clients’ quality of life.

Good Dog provides therapy dog services to people in health care, social service, educational and community facilities in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts, and at disaster sites around the country.  Our highly trained and fully certified volunteer teams each consist of a human handler and therapy dog.

Our ultimate goal is to increase the awareness and prevalence of fully-certified therapy teams in a wide variety of facilities across the country. This is achieved through three core activities: training and certification, visit coordination, and research and awareness.

What makes Good Dog different from other animal-assisted therapy organizations?

ANSWER:

Good Dog is the only organization in New York City that offers true therapy team certifications, meaning that Good Dog has fully participated in the training of each handler and animal to a specific, high standard. Whereas our therapy dog‐handler teams undergo up to eleven weeks (and a minimum of five weeks) of Good Dog’s one‐of‐a‐kind training program with highly-skilled trainers, registration organizations require just a one‐time screening to maintain minimum requirements.

It is our philosophy that a one‐time evaluation or registration cannot grant a true certification status and is not in the best interest of the patients and clients served by Good Dog. We are invested in our handlers and therapy dogs. By certifying our teams, we can ensure the best animal‐assisted therapy services are being provided to those who need them most.  

Who does the Good Dogs Foundation help?

ANSWER:

As the largest certifying animal-assisted therapy organization on the East Coast of the United States, Good Dog’s teams visit cancer patients, autistic children, first responders, disaster victims, wounded veterans, PTSD sufferers, and many others whose quality of life is greatly enhanced by the unconditional love only therapy dogs can provide. We focus on work in the four divisions of Education (including reading, anti-bullying and autism), Health Care and Wellness, Research and Awareness, and Disaster Response.

What are the health benefits of animal-assisted therapy?

ANSWER:

There is extensive evidence that dogs improve the health and well-being of people. The proven benefits of therapy dogs include reduced anxiety, loneliness, stress and blood pressure; improved motor and communication skills and decreased disruptive behaviors in students on the autism spectrum; comfort to hospital and hospice patients as well as survivors of disasters; improved motor skills in stroke victims; decreased stress levels in veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder; and provided companionship to the elderly. 

ANSWER:

Do therapy teams ever make special visits outside of the regular facility visits?

ANSWER:

Volunteers receive many benefits from serving on a therapy team, including the satisfaction of helping people in their communities heal, access to professional Good Dog trainers and staff who support them during class and coordinate their volunteer visits, and a deeper relationship with their well-trained dogs. Good Dog also offers enrichment opportunities for teams to connect and share their stories.

What types of dogs are the best fit for therapy work?

ANSWER:

Good Dog welcomes friendly and social dogs of all breeds and backgrounds, aged four months and older. Typically, a dog that is a good candidate for therapy work will have a loving, mellow personality, be highly sociable with humans as well as dogs, and have a solid grasp of basic obedience skills and the capability of learning good manners.

We evaluate therapy work readiness based not only on the dog’s temperament and knowledge of commands, but also on the relationship between the dog and the owner/handler. Our teams must undergo extensive training in our one-of-a-kind classes once our professional trainers think they may have what it takes. Instead of a one-time evaluation, we assess teams over the entire course of the class so that we have a true understanding of the team and the dog’s temperament, abilities and strengths. 

What would be a good first step for anyone who is interested in volunteering as a Good Dog therapy team with their dog?

ANSWER:

How does the animal-assisted therapy experience benefit the volunteer team?

ANSWER:

The past several months have reinforced what we already know – therapy dogs can make an incredible difference to all kinds of people in so many different settings from schools to hospitals to evacuation shelters. Our teams have worked with victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Hurricanes Katrina and Irene, and most recently Sandy and the tragic school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

As Hurricane Sandy devastated areas served by Good Dog, we found ourselves adapting to serve a greater number of people than ever before. Through our disaster response division, we began visiting firefighters and EMTs in Long Beach, homeless residents in the Rockaways, displaced families in Red Hook and Coney Island, and high-needs medical patients from Brighton Beach.  Good Dog teams have visited thousands of people, including first responders, who were directly affected by the storm.
In Newtown, CT, our teams continue to offer therapy services to help rescuers, students, teachers, staff and community members cope with the on-going effects following the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. As part of the recovery and healing process, the use of certified therapy dogs can help ease the pain and provide an important outlet for grief.