Therapy Dog Shirts

I try to wear cheerful shirts when I do therapy dog visits to the nursing homes.  I have lots of colorful, light t-shirts for warm weather, but not many for cold weather.  I had a brainstorm in late August and asked Kilpatrick Creations if they could make a shirt for each therapy dog with its name and a headshot on the front, and an action shot on the back.  I wanted long sleeves for winter, but because it’s always warm in the nursing homes, I wanted the winter shirts to be of light fabric like that which is used in summer t-shirts. 

They said they would look for shirts and order some that they thought would work.  I thought they were going to call me when the shirts came in and together we would pick the colors I liked and decide which color would work best for which dog.  I was a little surprised when they called and said come pick up the finished shirts. When I saw them, I was surprised by how BRIGHT they were.  We will definitely stand out.

They are quite cheerful, and the residents love them.  It also helps them remember which dog is visiting that day.  They light up when they see the dog’s name.  

I twisted arms to get people to take photos of each dog’s shirt while we were doing visits.

I grabbed a nurse at the nurse’s station who amazingly happened to be between tasks and was willing to take a couple of shots of Justice.

The residents get a kick out of Justice’s shirt (which is a dark pink) when I tell them to be sure not to tell him that his shirt is a girl’s color.  They laugh and give him extra pets.  Some whisper to him that he looks great in that color.

Justice

I’m a tester/observer for Alliance of Therapy Dogs (www.therapydogs.com). When a team passes the test, I then have to take them on 3 supervised visits to nursing homes.  On a recent supervised visit, I had the person put her dog in the car as usual after the visit, and we sat in the nursing home lobby while I filled out the visit form for ATD and answered her questions.  I then had the inspiration to ask her to take photos of Hopeful’s shirt, both front and back.

Hopeful

 

Lovely
Photos 1-2:  On the second supervised visit, she took photos of Lovely in her shirt.
Photo 3:  On December 11th, Lovely helped me do a presentation on how animals help people’s mental health.  A photographer from the Sheridan Press was there and got a photo of her shirt.  See more photos of Lovely that night in my notes from the presentation. 

I convinced the activity director to snap a couple of quick shots of Varoom! while we were on a visit.  

Varoom!

Spirit
I first got a photo of Spirit with the Holy Name School kindergarteners.

Then a nursing home resident volunteered to take photos on a visit.

Recently, a girl and her mentor have been coming along on my therapy dog visits and watching how the dogs interact with residents and how I handle them. The girl created a Thanksgiving gift to hand out to the people we visit.  It was enclosed in a nice plexiglass stand, which of course won’t scan, but here is the picture she and her mentor created. Then they had a shirt made for me to wear.  They are SO thoughtful!