2025 Therapy Dog News
June – December
If you’re wondering why Hopeful seems to be the only one in the news right now, it’s because everyone else was shedding. With the late, cold spring, all the other dogs seemed to want to be sure winter was actually over before doing their summer shed.
6/10/25: Hopeful and I were presenters at the Summer Art Camp for kids 8 – 11 years old. Hopeful and I had a blast when we were asked to do a demonstration for Summer Art Camp, which is for kids 8-11 years old. The organizers asked me to talk about the structure and colors of different breeds and how they are connected with the purpose for which the breed was created. Of course, I mostly talked about German Shepherds! Hopeful was in heaven as the kids rubbed her tummy and hugged her – several times she totally disappeared under the kids. She popped up just long enough for the organizer of the art camp to get one photo. Can you find her? I love the other group photo – Hopeful is checking the basket of her trading cards that I was handing to the kids so they could choose which ones they wanted.
After our hour-long conversation – my presentation and all kinds of questions from the kids both about German Shepherds and the breeds their families have – Hopeful and I went home while the kids went to an art studio and created sculptures inspired by their experiences. There is a prick-eared GSD in a pool, and a couple of sleeping puppies (one in a bed) that I recognize from some of her trading cards.
6/14/25: Hopeful and I were greeters at the Flag Day Rally at the Courthouse The rally was non-partisan, designed to build community while mobilizing people to protect our democracy. The organizers asked for a therapy dog team to be greeters and help set a welcoming mood. Hopeful and I greeted many of the 450 participants before settling in a spot on the sidewalk once the speeches began. She also “helped” me give my speech.
7/5/25: Hopeful and I did our first activity as a Red Cross Pet Visitation Team We have been doing therapy dog visit to the local VA Hospital since late February (scroll down for more details on that). Recently, the Sheridan VA Hospital’s Manager of the Center for Development and Civic Engagement was at a meeting with some Red Cross people and learned that they have Pet Visitation Teams which visit veteran facilities and events. He came back and urged me to check it out. I decided that I will continue doing the VA visits as an Alliance of Therapy Dogs member, but to pursue the Red Cross option in case we have any disasters or incidents in our area to which the Red Cross responds – and would ask for therapy dogs. After the massacre at the Uvalde, TX, school, I contacted both the police and sheriff’s departments and invited them to call for therapy dogs whenever needed. They might not think of us in an emergency, but if I were a Red Cross volunteer, the Red Cross might call me in. Getting signed up as a Red Cross Volunteer is even more complicated and time-consuming than becoming a VA volunteer, but I managed to get everything done in time to participate in the Red Cross’ presence at the huge Karz Car Show, which was held on the VA grounds. We made some circles through the car display area without eliciting much interest – for some reason people wanted to look at all those cars rather than Hopeful – and then settled at the Red Cross booth and visited with people who stopped there. I think people associate the VA with veterans having service dogs, which caused the lack of interest, but the dogs and I will eventually get vests, which might encourage more interaction. Unfortunately, no one took any photos of us at this event.
7/14/25: Spirit made her 300th therapy dog visit. We celebrated that at Westview Healthcare Center and got some great photos!!!
See all the photos
7/16/24: I picked up Pascha’s new trading cards.
See all of them.
January – May
2/12/25: Pascha and I on a therapy dog visit
Pascha wore this year’s Valentine’s Day costume. Due to two weeks of below-zero weather, I kept having to cancel therapy dog visits. I had wondered if any of my therapy dogs would get to wear it this week, or if we’d have to save it for next year, but we finally lucked out. Her shirt finally came, so I wore it (see all the shirts I made for therapy dog visits).
2/20/25: Radik (RR litter) visiting an assisted living facility in Colorado
“These two ladies especially loved to fawn all over Radik at our assisted-living facility visit today!!!”
2/23/25: Jamboree (JJ litter) and Quizz (QQ litter) visiting high schoolers for a senior project
from Laurie, Jamboree’s handler: “Karen asked me if I could help her with her Senior project. She wanted to survey high school students on the benefits of having Therapy Dogs in the classroom during the day and the positive impact they have. We visited on Mondays and Tuesdays for one month. I loved the interactions with the staff as well as the students. We gave out a survey and then went over everyone’s comments and presented the results to teachers and staff. Karen asked if she could bring Quiz (who is not a certified therapy dog like Jamboree is). She was a rock star.”
“For the last day, the staff made the dogs a Thank You Pumpkin Cake. And the high school asked if we would come back for school finals.” Karen didn’t take Quizz that day, as Laurie and Jamboree had to go do Reading Dog at the Elementary school and Karen was in classes, so they didn’t want Quizz to have to sit in Laurie’s car for a good three hours.”
From Karen’s report on her senior project: “The class chosen was the Senior Seminar Class during 5th period in the school library. This class was chosen because they are under a lot of stress working on scholarships and applying for colleges. The presence of therapy dogs in the classroom lightens up the students’ mood and makes them feel more at ease. A blanket was placed on the floor to create a space for the dogs and their handlers. Students came and sat with the dogs on their own time so as not to disrupt the class’s normal atmosphere. Surveys were taken each day, and showed that the dogs made a difference. At the beginning of the class, the anxiety level was 29.9%, while at the end of class the anxiety level was 16.9%. Schoolwork stress levels dropped from 32.3% to 20.9%. This was after ONE day of therapy dog presence. Surveys taken on the last day of the therapy dog project showed similar results, plus the students looked forward to the days the dogs would be present. Students commented that everyone was in a better mood when the dogs were there. Teachers commented that students were calmer and better able to focus on dog days than on non-dog days.”
February 2025: Varoom! and I on therapy dog visits to Big Horn Rehab
2/24/25: Justice and I on a therapy dog visit to Westview
3/6/25: Hopeful and I on a therapy dog visit to Green House Living. The hospital’s marketing person happened to be there to do a feature on Green House Living (Sheridan Memorial Hospital recently took over Green House Living). She followed us around on part of our visit. She even got a photo of Hopeful being blissfully happy because one of the residents could rub her tummy (so many can’t).
3/6/25: I began visiting the local VA Hospital in March. Since they have veterans who have service dogs (which can’t be petted), they asked that my dogs wear a therapy dog vest so people knew that they could pet my dogs. I didn’t want to use the Alliance of Therapy Dogs vest that the dogs wear to the schools for Reading Dog (see my Reading Dog page), because the dogs would ignore the adults while they looked for the kids. It took me a while to find a VA vest! An Internet search found only heavy-duty vests that would be way too hot. When I finally found a mesh vest that would work, it was out of stock. I kept searching every few days until finally, the company had ONE in stock. You can bet I ordered it immediately!
When the VA’s activity director, Bill, saw us, he exclaimed that the vest was perfect – and it was even in the VA’s colors! I hadn’t known the VA had special colors; all I wanted was a vest that wasn’t red like the Reading Dog vest. Blue is my favorite color, and my therapy dog collar and leash are blue, so I ordered a blue vest. Talk about a coincidence that made everyone happy! Bill took photos of Lovely wearing the vest during a visit.
Since then, I’ve added a patch that says “Pet Me” since so many people still don’t understand the difference between therapy dogs (“Please pet me!”) and service dogs (“Don’t pet me because I have to help my owner.”). Eventually we’ll get photos with the new patch, but this gives you an idea of how I made the VA harness enough different from the Reading Dog harness that my dogs aren’t confused.
5-22-25: I have a beautiful story from a recent therapy dog visit that I must share. Last week, a resident was waiting for us to get to her. She told me that she had just received word that her dog had died. She cuddled with Pascha for quite a while. This week, she again was looking for us and came up to us. I invited her to sit in a chair so that she could pet Justice. Instead, she sat cross-legged on the floor. Justice went up to her and then snuggled into a down beside her. He soon decided that that wasn’t enough comfort, and put his chest in her lap, resting his head there, too. She put her arms around him and the two stayed intertwined for quite a while, until she indicated that she was okay and ready to get up. It never ceases to amaze me how nurturing my dogs can be.
See the 2025 Reading Dog News (my dogs visiting the schools)
See all the pages about my therapy dog activities