NORMAN'S 4TH THERAPY VISIT: A THERAPY DOG FOR EVERYONE

Norman is not a whiny dog. Once in a blue moon he lets out a sort of grunty whimper when he really needs to go out. Even in the car when we pull up to their favorite spots, Kaya and Norman are both silent and relaxed. Though Norman seems to have figured out where we are when I park at the hospital for our therapy visits. He whines quite a bit and much higher pitched than his usual grunty style. I think this means he's really excited for the visits! Though in typical Norman fashion, he is super calm once I leash him up and walk him a couple blocks to the hospital.

I don't have any photos of the actual day so I'm going to post some old ones that are somewhat relative:)

One thing that I did not expect when starting therapy with Norman was how much we would reach people who are not even patients. The nurses, doctors and other assistants really look forward to the therapy dog visits too. Not only do they like seeing the effect it has on the patients but they also enjoy petting the dogs, asking all about them and hearing stories of what they are like outside of therapy dog work.

A therapy dog's work is never done!

There are many other staff members who love saying hi or petting the dogs too, like janitors, receptionists, paramedics and anyone we see in the elevator or lobby. The parking attendants even know their names and call out to us when we walk up! On this visit we were able to entertain the children of a woman who works at the hospital. They were clearly bored to be at mom's work and were so excited to meet a couple dogs they could hang out with for a minute.

So far, at least one person at every visit tells me that Norman has helped change their mind about Pit Bulls. This time one of the adult patients said, "I'm gonna tell everyone that I don't think Pit Bulls are scary anymore." Yes! Even though they are proud Golden Retriever owners, my fellow volunteers have also told me that they love having a Pit Bull in the program and enjoy seeing Norman be able to change people's perceptions.

Do your dogs know when they've arrived somewhere exciting? Do they let you know?

Related Posts:
Norman: The Perfect Advocate 
Norman's 3rd Therapy Visit: Fellow Therapy Dogs
Norman's 2nd Therapy Visit: Just Don't Ask Us to Do Tricks
Norman's 1st Therapy Visit!