News & Events

Safe Passage

Description:

Arrived at Safe Passage and shortly after the family with an appointment arrived. There were three girls, ages 14, 12 and 10 and the mom and dad. After check in the family was immediately drawn to Willow and I sitting in the waiting area. While the parents were interviewing, the girls interacted with Willow asking many questions and very interested in her obedience training and commands and tricks she could preform. The girls were very shy at first but quickly warmed up to Willow and all participating with teaching her and giving her commands. They were telling me about their two dogs and cats and how they trained them and how sweet and nice they are to everyone. The parents returned to the area and each girl left with their counselor, the parents and I sat and talked about their daughters ability to teach dogs obedience and tricks. I informed the parents that some of the organization do have teen handlers and gave them all the information how to connect with the Therapy Dog sites to learn more. Upon the girls return to the waiting area the parents could not wait to tell them how they could become teen handlers and learn more about Therapy Dog training. They were very excited and the older teen said she definitely wants to look into it for her dog and the younger teen wants to have her cat as a therapy visitation animal. A great conversation day that i believed help the girls ease their minds and we made it a fun and informative day for them. They were most appreciative for our meeting and visiting with them today. The parents thanked us many times and expressed how we were able to redirect them and take the girls minds off of the interviews which they all three were apprehensive about. I think one day we will see these young ladies as Therapy Animal Visitation teams helping others they way we helped them today.

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