An Extraordinary Day

I have said it before and I will say it again...I love, love, love taking NIKKI to the hospital! I can only hope that the patients get as much out of our visit as I do! Yesterday was an extraordinary day. We went a little earlier than usual so that we can go to the outpatient unit before the pediatric unit. We had been getting there later in the morning and many of the patients were gone, sleeping or just not interested in seeing the dog. But yesterday, everyone wanted to see NIKKI. The patients were very excited to see her. We spent several minutes with each patient, petting NIKKI, talking about dogs in general and talking about their beloved dogs. What I notice when people share their dog stories is their whole body language changes. They often sit up, start to smile and then start laughing as they recall dogs of past and present. Dogs seem to be so therapeutic. It is amazing some of the stories I hear. It doesn't seem to matter if the dog is an inside dog, an outside dog, a big dog or little dog. People love their dogs. We give them personalities and we are convinced that they do what they do on purpose. And they know what we need. I am sure there are studies out there about the therapeutic benefits from being loved, showing love and laughing. And if there isn't, I don't need a study to tell me that a dog's presence makes a huge difference our lives.

Speaking of research studies...I recently read an article on how service dogs assist disabled individuals become more socially accepted. The article states that when the service dog is present people are more likely to make eye contact and engage in a conversation with an individual with a disability. I can absolutely verify this study! When I am at the hospital I wear a volunteer uniform...its not the most becoming teal smock but I wear it none the less. The reason I tell you this is because I do - as least I think I do - stand out. I consider myself approachable and I do try to make eye contact with everyone I pass. Well, when I have NIKKI with me nearly everyone smiles at me or engages me in conversation. I always plan extra time to walk between units because I always get stopped. It is wonderful and people are always so nice. Yesterday was a different story. I had my daughter come get NIKKI at the end of our visit because my husband and I had an appointment and he asked me to stay to help him move into his new office. Several times that afternoon I was walking down the hall and was very much surprised at how ignored I was!! I don't mean to imply that I am something special and everyone should be looking at me but without the dog I was almost invisible! I think I got an idea of what it might be like for a individual with a disability. Wow, it was amazing. Being a physical therapist, I am not afraid to engage an individual with a disability but I will certainly be more conscientious about it from now on!!

I do like to include pictures of NIKKI in my blogs but since I can not take pictures at the hospital I will post some that my sister in law, Karen, took a few weeks ago when she and her family were visiting us.
When company arrives NIKKI somehow gets all the attention. As you can see she certainly doesn't mind three beautiful girls loving on her!
Karen was trying to capture NIKKI's personality. I think she got it perfect in these two pictures....This last one is the "I'll take that food you have in your hand" face!!

Just 2 more weeks and I will be back to work. It will be a few more weeks before NIKKI will be back in the classroom as the first weeks of school are hectic. I am sure she will not mind the down time as NIKKI's only goal in life is to be petted ....and she gets plenty of that around here! Stay cool!
Sharon

Just a quick story...

Just a quick story....NIKKI had the opportunity to spend some time with some folks that were in the middle of a painful and tragic situation. NIKKI - of course - not realizing the situation just was NIKKI - gladly allowing rubs and petting to any part anybody wanted to rub. I really think that petting a dog has a way of calming and relaxing people. When the moment lightened up a little bit NIKKI went through her tricks and that is when the smiles and giggles started. NIKKI is usually pretty good with her "reading" but on this particular day she was about 50% correct. On a couple of the words she went through her whole set of tricks until she got it right! It was almost like she knew these people didn't need to be impressed so much as to laugh. At the end of the session one of the girls revealed that she is terrified of dogs - normally running in the other direction at the sight of a dog. I am so glad she allowed NIKKI to visit her...I think this allowed her to forget about her situation for just a few minutes. I just wish we could have done more to change the circumstances.

Sharon

NIKKI....royalty?!

Ah...summer vacation. Quite frankly I am not sure there is anything better than summer vacation. For me it means no place to be, no time constraints, just time to relax and do the things that I have neglected during the school year. For NIKKI, summer break means just plain relaxing. She takes this relaxing very seriously...so seriously that she doesn't even lift her head when I ask her to go for her daily walk! Her eyes shift toward me as if to say "Are you serious, its summer vacation...I am not going for a walk". But her life is not all about sleeping, chewing bones and staring down rabbits in the back yard. We have resumed our weekly work at the hospital. Forgive me for sounding like a broken record but I love, love, love taking NIKKI to the hospital. There is nothing more rewarding than to make a sick child smile or allow a cancer patient the opportunity to share a story or two about their beloved dog. Even walking down the hallways evokes smiles and positive comments. Just last Friday a man said that NIKKI looked like royalty walking down the hallway! And you know - she does. She holds her head up, her tail out and she has a little spring in her step when she is working. Dogs just have a way of drawing people in and making them smile. NIKKI even makes my husband smile. For those who don't know Mark - he is not exactly a "dog lover" but NIKKI refuses to allow this to get in her way of winning him over. Mark works at the same hospital that NIKKI and I volunteer at. As a volunteer I get a free drink each time I work. On Friday, I went to his office to ask him to keep NIKKI while I went and got my drink. He decided he would go with me and keep her in the hallway while I went into the cafeteria. When I came out he was surrounded by women and his smile was from ear to ear! All I could hear is "Is this your dog Mark?", "She is just beautiful Mark", "Does she work here Mark?"....need I say more?! Mark seemed quite proud that day holding that leash! (By the way - if you happen to see Mark - don't tell him I told you this story...he will deny, deny, deny!! Just trust me it really did happen!) It is hard to deny the therapeutic effects of a dog. I think just the sight of a dog evokes a strong emotional response. If that emotional response is coupled with an interaction with a dog I really think that all that positive energy is somehow healing. That reminds me of one more story from the hospital. I woman stopped me in the hallway and asked if I could bring NIKKI to visit her husband. "He would just love to see her" she told me. We followed her back into the room and the man's face lit up. He told me that he had been in the hospital for 84 days - 50 of them in the intensive care unit. He told me that what was keeping him going is that his wife promised him a new dog when he got out of there! He smile and just went on and on about the dogs of his past and the kind of dog he was going to get when he got discharged. If that isn't a powerful story of how therapeutic dogs can be I don't know what is!

I only have the hospital work lined up for NIKKI this summer. I am certain I will have stories to share as there is always something magical about each visit. So stay tuned....

Sharon

NIKKI the Dirty Dog

The school year is finally drawing to a close. I must admit that it has been one of the best school years ever! I am so grateful to my coworkers for all their support and help to make this dream of using a dog in the classroom a dream come true. What is even better is that we are already talking about ideas for next year and ways to make what we did this year even better! I can only imagine that the sky is the limit! The NIKKI video was viewed by the administrative folks in the Exceptional Children's department and was received very favorably. Apparently there was even a few tears! I am humbled by the number of views for the video too...last I looked it was over 750 views! Not quite "viral" yet but I am happy that someone is watching it!

I now have the pictures from the Bubble Bath for NIKKI with my preschool class. I think the pictures tell the story a little better than my words...

This is me getting NIKKI ready for her bath. I am trying to make some suds so the kids can feel the bubbles.

This is little guy needs support to stand and walk. He used his gait trainer to walk over to NIKKI and help with lathering her up.

This boy is working on standing on his own....this activity was perfect for independent standing.

This little girl is blind and needs support in all positions. The teacher is helping her experience "giving a dog a bath"!

Here is a few pictures from another preschool classroom. We modified the "NIKKI Goes to School" activity to be appropriate for preschool. I love the preschool kids. They are so excited to see NIKKI and they really like to participate.

At the end of the story, NIKKI gives everyone a high five.....here she is giving a few a modified high five...more like a "give me five"!

And one of my favorite things to do is to ask the kids to get NIKKI some water. I usually have several very willing volunteers. I love these pictures of the kids carrying the water bowl. They are always so careful not too spill the water! Often, as in the picture above, the tongue is out!

NIKKI has had a super busy weekend. Yesterday she passed her CGC test with nearly flying colors! YEAH! Her sit, down, stay, come, passing the stranger and dog and her separation from me was flawless. She almost met the friendly stranger with a little too much enthusiasm and got a little distracted on the loose leash walk but came back to me before the leash got tight. Today she and I went to the hospital. As I have said before this is one of my favorite things. I love seeing the excitement on the patient's faces when they see the dog. I especially love to show the kids NIKKI's tricks. I usually can get a smile on even the sickest kids. Below is a picture of NIKKI this afternoon.....exhausted!

We have just a few classes scheduled this week and we will have wrapped it up for the school year. NIKKI and I will resume our work at the hospital every week. We will go to the hospital on Fridays so we can go back to the outpatient chemo unit and the pediatric floor. We will also go back to the outpatient pediatric PT clinic now that we can go during the day. I am really looking forward to summer!

Sharon

Best Buddies

NIKKI has been doing some work in the schools but as I said in my last post it is a busy time of year in the school and squeezing NIKKI visits in is wanted but difficult. Last week NIKKI did get her bath by the 3, 4 and 5 years in one of my preschool classrooms. They had been "studying" bubbles and bathing NIKKI was the perfect activity to go along with this. As soon as I have the pictures I will post them. It was an awesome activity where the kids had do what they could do to reach NIKKI. For some that was walking up to NIKKI, others needed their gait trainers and others just needed help reaching out to touch NIKKI. I think the kids enjoyed it and I am thankful for the help of the "red room" staff who always love NIKKI's visit and are willing to do whatever to make the visit fun!

Today we got to see Sam again. I just love visiting with Sam. He always says something sweet. Today he said something about NIKKI being his "best buddy". I wish I could describe how incredibly cute NIKKI and Sam are together. I don't think my words can adequately describe his interactions with NIKKI. Unfortunately we did not get to go out to the playground because it started to rain. Nancy, his therapist, wanted to have Sam work with his new braces for his feet. She wanted to work on stooping (which is different when wearing braces) so we had Sam put NIKKI's treats onto the floor for NIKKI. He helped NIKKI work on her "leave it" command for her upcoming Canine Good Citizen test. Needless to say both did well - Sam and his stooping and NIKKI and her leaving the treat until he gave her the OK command to eat it. We also visited 2 of our regular classrooms and read the our story of NIKKI going to school. It was fun and the kids really responded well to NIKKI today.

NIKKI has also been working hard at dog class and preparing for her upcoming Canine Good Citizen test (CGC). I had my daughter come with me on Saturday to take some pictures. So below are pictures of NIKKI and I working on our skills....

NIKKI does amazingly well considering that class is right next to a very large dog park. In this picture above she is watching me. I wish I could say it is because she wants to please me so much that she is so attentive but I do have a piece of cheese in my hand and she is crazy for cheese.

Here NIKKI is working on a stay. Again very attentive because of the cheese!

NIKKI is awesome about sitting when we stop walking. She really does well in the class except.....

sometimes she gets tired of waiting for the next activity and as you can see here she starts barking! If you look closely at her she has her nose up in the air and she is barking! I am trying to give her a calming signal by turning away from her but as you can see on my face - that is not working! We have decided that the cheese might just be too high level of a treat for her since she loves it so much. When we first started class I think she needed this level of a treat in order to tune out the other dogs and the dog park and attend to me. Now that she has the routine down I think I need to lower the intensity of the treat. Next week I am going to try something bland like Cheerios!

Dog class has been really great for NIKKI and I. We have learned a lot and even earned the title of "Student of the Month"! Dog Haven (who we take class from) has created a link from the home page of their website linking to a little story about NIKKI and I and to NIKKI's video! You can check that out here. If you look around the site you can also find a little story about MaryLou and Annabel another p4p volunteer.

Thank you all for checking out NIKKI's video on Youtube....we have over 600 views!! I have gotten wonderful feedback from teachers and parents of the students in the video. Today as NIKKI and I were walking down the hall at one of the schools I can hear people behind me saying "There is that wonderful dog in the video." That just makes me smile! It makes me so incredibly happy to help others through this wonderful dog. Here is the link again to the video - please please share it!!

Sharon

NIKKI's Video

This time of year is always slow for a working school dog. The kids have so many other things to occupy their time....end of grade tests, field trips, assemblies, field days, etc. And for me, I am inventorying equipment, attending what seems like endless IEP and transition meetings, planning purchases for next year and working on transitioning the kids to their new schools. When a physically disabled student moves from one school to another there is a lot of planning behind the scenes - installing equipment, modifying the learning environment, planning meetings, moving equipment and work orders, work orders and more work orders! Since all this activity doesn't leave much time for a hard working therapy dog and not much to blog about - let me show you what I have been working on! Click here to view NIKKI's video! If you are one of my blog "followers" you should recognize some familiar faces.

But before you think that NIKKI is getting too lazy relaxing at home...know that she is going to school tomorrow to get a "bubble" bath by a bunch of 3, 4 and 5 year olds! It should be fun and hopefully I will have some pictures to post!

Sharon

It was worth it...

NIKKI and I went to the hospital yesterday. I went a little early as my daughter had a dance recital rehearsal and I thought if I went early I would get out early so I could get there to help set up for the reception after the recital....I thought wrong! Normally, NIKKI and I go to the adult psychiatric unit and the pediatric floor, but today we had a special request to visit a patient on the med surg floor. We stopped in to see this patient but he was still eating so we went to the psychiatric unit. Typically when we arrive on this floor the patients are by the nurses station resting - having just finishing breakfast and having their morning medication. We don't usually stay long since most are sleeping but yesterday there was a lovely lady wide awake and definitely all about dogs. We talked for a few minutes as she pet NIKKI and all of a sudden an alarm goes off! The nurses start running and the lady tells me that someone must need help in the shower. I look around, no nurse...just me and a few patients. Hmmm...a little uncomfortable but I decided I had better wait until someone got back....not that I would know what to do if something happened but I thought it would be best...just in case! What I didn't remember was I was stuck on the unit anyway as the nurses have to "buzz" me out of the unit! Fortunately for me this sweet lady told me about her 3 husbands while we waited for the nurses to get the shower situation under control! I returned back to the med surg floor and visited with the elderly gentleman who had requested a dog visit. He was very weak and his lovely wife was there taking care of him. NIKKI got up on his bed so he could pet her. It was a really sweet visit...the gentleman told me that he was married for 58 years! When I asked him what his secret to this long and happy marriage - he looked to his wife and said "Her". Very sweet. Once again I take NIKKI to the hospital to give of myself and the patients give more to me than I give them! I am always surprised how this works! On our way out of the room another lady stopped and asked if I would take NIKKI in to visit her father. She explained that her dad had had a rough night and a visit from a dog would just brighten his day. I do think it worked as he grinned (toothless) from ear to ear when NIKKI jumped up on the bed and laid her head on his lap. He told me all about his dogs. It makes people so happy to talk about their beloved dogs. I am glad I got to meet this man. I hope we made his day just a little brighter.

NIKKI is always popular in the hallways of the hospital and yesterday she was exceptionally popular! We must have stopped every five feet so someone could pet NIKKI. NIKKI loves these interactions as she lives to be petted! People are always so kind to ask if they can pet her....I always tell them that NIKKI would be disappointed if they didn't! By now we are at the hospital for about an hour and have yet to see the kids. I could still get out in time to get to the dance rehearsal but I never like to rush the kids. Off to the pediatric floor we went. Angel, the child life specialist, met us at the nurses station and we started our rounds. Mark, my sweet husband, was also at the hospital working. He has never seen us work before and wanted to see what NIKKI does with the kids. He quietly joined us on the pediatric floor. Unfortunately, Mark could not stay with us long as NIKKI adores him and when she saw him she lost her focus as to why we were at the hospital! Focus regained, we resumed our visits. There was a little 21 month old with the same color hair as NIKKI who loved giving NIKKI treats. The young man who only could lay on his side as he was in pain but could pet NIKKI at the side of the bed. And the mom who must have seen us before because she said to her son "This is the praying dog"!!! NIKKI is always quite impressive with her tricks! But the best part of yesterday was the little girl who was walking in the hallway as we were walking out of another room. She was crying and her mom and the nurse were trying to help her walk. The little girl was hanging onto her mom and her mom was sort of forcing her to walk. I always carry a few things with me just incase things like this happen so I pulled out my extra leash and offered for her to "walk" NIKKI. She took the leash, mom stepped back, the crying stopped and we made 2 more laps around the floor walking NIKKI! It is funny how something so simple could make a difference. I had to apologize to Angel for just jumping in like I did - it was sort of a reflex....it was the kind of thing I do in my real job! But all was well and everyone seemed grateful for my intervention.

By this time were were at the hospital for 2 hours. - 45 minutes longer than normal! So much for getting out a little early! I had to skip lunch to get to rehearsal but you know what...it was well worth it....making a few peoples days a little brighter is far more important. : )

Sharon