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Therapy dogs that will help bring comfort to dying patients need a helping hand of their own.
Trainer Ellen Spraggins said the E.S.P. Dog Training School is looking for dog lovers who are willing to train a dog through a six-week course of obedience training.
And those willing participants don’t have to have experience. Volunteers will be educated on how to train the dogs.
“If you don’t know how to train a dog, we will train you and provide you an opportunity to help in several programs, from the Paws for Reading to the Dogs for Veterans and the newest program — hospice visits.”
Spraggins and Leta Walker plan to prepare several dogs to work in the various programs.
Dogs are taken into the schools to interact with children who read stories to them. Therapy dogs will be trained and paired with veterans returning from the war in Iraq as companions. And for the newest program, a special set of dogs will be used to help comfort patients and their families who are part of the local hospice programs.
“All dogs will be evaluated and matched with their trainers,” Spraggins said. “Our dogs will be selected from Forever Friends Foster Care and Rescue Inc., from the Ardmore Animal Shelter, or even you as a volunteer trainer can have the option of using your personal dog or cat if they are found to have the right temperament and trainability.”
Goliath, a Great Dane, and Mickey D, a Papillon, went to Norman recently to get Therapy Dog International certification, which makes them eligible to be used in the hospice program.
Dogs also have to have Canine Good Citizen certification for this program.
“We want the trainers first, then we will pick the dogs for them to train,” Spraggins said. “The dogs in the hospice program have to be calm, laid-back and real gentle because they will be laying in bed with the patients. The dogs will also be used with the family members, who will get to pet them and interact with them. If you put a dog on a bed, they usually will stay there as long as the patient wants them to.”
There has also been talk of using cats in the hospice program. Spraggins said officials at the animal shelter are on the lookout for a calm, adult cat who has been declawed and will stay on the bed with the patients. If such a cat is found, it will remain a permanent resident of the shelter, ready to go at a moment’s notice when needed.
“We hope to provide caring and loving homes for pets through the veterans program and to help those veterans with a companion who would be an invaluable asset to coping with everyday stresses,” she said. “So if you or a loved one would be interested in one of these pets and are in a 100-mile radius of Ardmore, please call us.”
Spraggins can be reached at (580) 226-3200 or (580) 465-3993, and Walker can be reached at (580) 657-6627 or (580) 504-2187.
Leah J. Simmons, 221-6525
Therapy dogs that will help bring comfort to dying patients need a helping hand of their own.
Trainer Ellen Spraggins said the E.S.P. Dog Training School is looking for dog lovers who are willing to train a dog through a six-week course of obedience training.
And those willing participants don’t have to have experience. Volunteers will be educated on how to train the dogs.
“If you don’t know how to train a dog, we will train you and provide you an opportunity to help in several programs, from the Paws for Reading to the Dogs for Veterans and the newest program — hospice visits.”
Spraggins and Leta Walker plan to prepare several dogs to work in the various programs.
Dogs are taken into the schools to interact with children who read stories to them. Therapy dogs will be trained and paired with veterans returning from the war in Iraq as companions. And for the newest program, a special set of dogs will be used to help comfort patients and their families who are part of the local hospice programs.
“All dogs will be evaluated and matched with their trainers,” Spraggins said. “Our dogs will be selected from Forever Friends Foster Care and Rescue Inc., from the Ardmore Animal Shelter, or even you as a volunteer trainer can have the option of using your personal dog or cat if they are found to have the right temperament and trainability.”
Goliath, a Great Dane, and Mickey D, a Papillon, went to Norman recently to get Therapy Dog International certification, which makes them eligible to be used in the hospice program.
Dogs also have to have Canine Good Citizen certification for this program.
“We want the trainers first, then we will pick the dogs for them to train,” Spraggins said. “The dogs in the hospice program have to be calm, laid-back and real gentle because they will be laying in bed with the patients. The dogs will also be used with the family members, who will get to pet them and interact with them. If you put a dog on a bed, they usually will stay there as long as the patient wants them to.”
There has also been talk of using cats in the hospice program. Spraggins said officials at the animal shelter are on the lookout for a calm, adult cat who has been declawed and will stay on the bed with the patients. If such a cat is found, it will remain a permanent resident of the shelter, ready to go at a moment’s notice when needed.
“We hope to provide caring and loving homes for pets through the veterans program and to help those veterans with a companion who would be an invaluable asset to coping with everyday stresses,” she said. “So if you or a loved one would be interested in one of these pets and are in a 100-mile radius of Ardmore, please call us.”
Spraggins can be reached at (580) 226-3200 or (580) 465-3993, and Walker can be reached at (580) 657-6627 or (580) 504-2187.
Leah J. Simmons, 221-6525
