I
met my friend Christine Orantes in the children’s reading program at our local
library in Phoenix. It’s a program where
kids read aloud to therapy dogs to help improve their reading skills. Icy and I were one of the Pet Partners therapy dog teams
that volunteered at our library along with Christine. At each visit, Christine would have one of her 3 beautiful therapy dogs
with her.
Christine
has been a Therapy dog handler, on and off, since the year 2000. I’d like to
share the amazing work she and her therapy dogs have done to help children and give back to the
community. Christine graciously agreed
to do an interview for Dogs Luv Us and We Luv Them. Grab a tissue and get ready for your heart to
be seriously warmed!
DOGS LUV US AND WE LUV THEM: Christine,
how many dogs do you have & how many are therapy dogs?
 |
| Retired therapy dog Bette Davis taking a bite of her birthday Pupcake! |
CHRISTINE: I have 3 Golden Retrievers, 2 of them are therapy dogs. The oldest is Bette Davis who is 14 years
old. She used to be a therapy dog but she can no longer do it because she has
cancer now (due to an oral growth).
DOGS
LUV US AND WE LUV THEM: I
had the pleasure of meeting Bette Davis at one of our earlier children’s
Reading To Dogs programs. She was a
wonderful therapy dog, she’s definitely one of the sweetest dogs I’ve ever met. A very special Golden!
CHRISTINE : Then there’s Polly, who is 8 years old and Higgins who is going on 6
years old.
 |
| Sweet therapy dog Polly, dresses up for the kids in the reading to dogs program |
DOGS LUV US AND WE LUV THEM: Christine got all of her dogs as adult rescues
except Higgins. Higgins is goofy
and playful, and was born blind.
When I first met Higgins at one of our kids’ reading sessions, I had NO
idea he was blind! I just saw a
beautiful, sweet and loving Therapy Dog.
When I found out he was blind I was shocked. Honestly, you would never know he was blind
if someone didn’t tell you!
CHRISTINE:
Higgins
came from a breeder as a puppy. He was
born blind and the breeder was going to put him down! The dogs I’ve rescued were all "disposable" dogs, and look how they
give back to the community as Therapy Dogs!
When people hear you have a blind dog they feel sorry. No, don’t be sad or feel sorry! The
dogs don’t know they’re blind. They can
be part of a pack and a family. I never treated my blind dogs (she’s had
several) like they were disabled, I always
pushed them to their limits and let them feel they were ENABLED not DISABLED. Don’t baby them and act like they can’t do
things, you limit them when you do that.
I treat them normally, no pity parties!
 |
| Beautiful therapy dog Higgins is blind, but it doesn't stop him from helping children or enjoying life! |
Higgins loves to swim at the dog beach & chase his friends around! I use heavier balls that make noise to play
with so they can find the ball! Emma,
Higgins’ sister, is also blind. Their entire litter was born blind! Higgins and all his siblings were born with Juvenile
cataracts. Their eyes weren’t developed
properly behind the cataracts. The Breeder
had de-wormed the mom while she was pregnant, and that may have caused all the
puppies to be born blind. Or, the mom
& dad could have had this blindness gene, we don’t know for sure.
DOGS LUV US AND WE LUV THEM:
It’s incredible that blind dogs can make such great Therapy Dogs! Can you imagine, a breeder was going to rob Higgins of the
chance to live, simply because he is blind!
Higgins has given so much to this world and has made a real difference
in the lives of children.
DOGS LUV US AND WE LUV THEM : What made you want to get
involved working with therapy dogs?
CHRISTINE : I
wanted to give something back. I felt so blessed to have one of my earlier dogs
Maggie, who was amazing. It inspired me
to give back.
I had gotten a call about
a Golden Retriever Rescue who needed help.
The dog’s owner said she had this “horrible dog” she wanted to give up. At
the time, I wanted a female Golden Retriever about 1-2 yrs old with a nice golden color. I
decided to see this “horrible dog”.
Turns out, the “horrible dog” was the
friendliest most beautiful dog! Maggie had been kept outside alone and was
never allowed in. It's no surprise that she
became “destructive”. Maggie had chewed up the sprinklers and the
kids’ stuffed toys. She wasn’t trying to
be bad, she just loved stuffed toys and she loved kids! She just wanted to come inside and be with
the kids. As soon as I got Maggie, I took her to
PetSmart and let her pick out a
toy. She picked out a stuffed
Hippo. She never wanted any other toys,
just that Hippo.
Maggie ended up being an amazing gift for me. Because of this gift I was given, I wanted to
pay back somehow. I never had a Therapy Dog before, but I always
wanted one. Before Maggie, I never felt
I had the right dog for therapy work. With Maggie, I had the right dog, she fit the
profile of a Therapy Dog perfectly. She loved kids and was the perfect Therapy Dog.
DOGS LUV US AND WE LUV THEM: In
addition to the kids reading program at the library, what other type of visits
do you and your therapy dogs do?
CHRISTINE : We visit the Oncology department at the Children’s
hospital. We also visit the College, where
the dogs help ease the stress students feel during exams. We tried
visiting a nursing home, but I realized my dogs liked kids so much, that working
with kids was a better fit for them.
DOGS LUV US AND WE LUV THEM: Is
there a particular therapy visit that stands out with you more than others?
Christine shared these two heartwarming
stories with me. I’m tearing up again
writing about it. Grab a tissue, if these stories don’t bring tears to your eyes,
better check your pulse!
CHRISTINE : My Therapy Dog Cody, who has since passed,
visited the children’s hospital with me.
Cody had this shark toy he loved.
He brought it around with him everywhere we went, even on our therapy
visits.
We were at the children’s hospital making our “rounds” to see who might
need a visit, when a nurse came over to us.
She said there was a child who was extremely frightened and needed some
attention. The little boy had a stuffed
penguin toy he was clutching in fear. He
would not let go of it and he wouldn’t interact with anyone.
I brought Cody in to see the boy and asked if he would like to meet
Cody and pet him. “NO!” the boy cried
and turned away. I had Cody’s shark toy
in my pocket. I gave Cody his shark and
without a word, he went over to the boy.
He leaned in close so he could show the boy his shark toy. The boy then showed his penguin toy to Cody
and started giggling! The boy’s mother said to me “This is the first
time he’s smiled since he got here!”
 |
| Beautiful Cody with his shark toy, the toy that helped get a frightened boy to open up. |
As we left the room, the boy said “That was fun, Mom!” No
cues, no commands. I just let Cody do
his thing.
DOGS LUV US AND WE LUV THEM: Another story Christine shared with me was when
she and her therapy dog Polly were at the library for the children’s reading
program. Our other good friend Paulette
and her Keeshond therapy dog Teebo were on the other side of a partition put up to give
the kids and dogs privacy as they read.
CHRISTINE: Polly was reading with a child when a mother,
whose daughter was reading to Teebo on the other side of the partition, came
over. She recognized Polly and asked me
if I’d ever been at the children’s hospital.
I said yes, Polly and I had
visited the children’s hospital. Her daughter came running over and hugged
Polly. “Look Mom, she remembers me!” She then said that Polly “Is so sweet and made
me feel better [when she was in the hospital]”.
The mom thanked me for bringing Polly and being there for the kids.
 |
| Beautiful therapy dog Teebo who helps kids improve their reading and also visits people struggling with substance abuse. |
This is how Therapy Dogs impact people! I’m always impressed by the courage and
honesty the kids in the oncology unit have.
They are always so upbeat.
Sometimes a sibling of a child in the hospital is kind of ignored. All the focus is on the sick child. I think the siblings need attention too, so I
give them a book to read, some fun stickers or a bookmark so they get some attention
too.
DOGS LUV US AND WE LUV THEM: Christine,
what advice would you give to new therapy dog handlers, or others who are
interested in becoming therapy dog handlers?
CHRISTINE: I would
tell them to know how to read their dog, know whether or not their dog is right
for it [being a therapy dog]. Also, know
if a particular therapy dog assignment is right for your dog or not.
I want to thank
Christine for talking with me about her amazing therapy dogs and all the work they
do to help people in their community, especially children! She and her dogs are pretty darn special,
aren’t they?!
READ MORE ABOUT HOW OUR FRIEND PAULETTE AND HER THERAPY DOG TEEBO HELP PEOPLE STRUGGLING WITH SUBSTANCE ABUSE.
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I hope you enjoyed this interview. Please share your thoughts about it in the comments. We always love hearing from you!!
