Therapy Dogs Help Students De-Stress

Sleepy students stressed out from studying were offered a unique and welcome break in the Porter Henderson Library on Monday afternoon, when two white and furry Samoyed therapy dogs offered de-stress sessions in the Learning Commons on the first floor.

The dogs, both certified by Therapy Dog International, were well-received in the library, where a steady flow of students stopped in to smile and stroke the animals, and pause for a brief chat with handlers Tom and Toni Maurer.

Dog enthusiasts with a background in showing, the Maurers explained that they run a local Samoyed kennel and work with their dogs as organizations book them. Having both completed the training with their Samoyeds Flyer and Bucky, they swooned for the benefits offered by the animals' company, but explained that the training isn't for every dog.

“They have to get their canine good citizen certification first…after you have that you can work for the Therapy Dog International,” Tom Maurer said. “Therapy Dog International in particular is working with the dog to learn how to handle situations, like in a hospital. You go into patients’ rooms, they have to be able to handle noise like bedpans falling on the floor, they have to not react badly to that. They have to be able to interact with patients but not jump on patients…they have to be able to calmly handle all of those types of things.”

Training duration depends on the dog, but can take anywhere from six weeks to a couple of months, Tom said.

“One important thing is you can’t make a dog be a therapy dog. The dog has to be that type of a dog that can associate with people in the manner that’s needed.”

Dogs read people, Tom said, but each does it differently. Bucky is good in the hospital, he said, while Flyer works well in libraries and with kids.

“When a person is seriously ill, she knows when that’s really ill versus a person in the hospital for more normal things and she really tunes in on that seriously ill person,” Tom said. “[Flyer] did a lot of work with autistic children, being the calming force for autistic children.”

Toni used to work with West Texas Child Development, but after her contact moved away, she and her dog ceased to work there. She would like to start working with children again, she said.

“There was an autistic boy—the first one we dealt with—at the public library,” Tom recalled. “His mother would always bring him [and] he never talked. The first word he said was Flyer. He’s talked ever since, slowly building up his vocabulary.”

Nancy Bradehoft, an ASU senior working toward her sociology degree, said she thinks the therapy dogs are a great way to take a break and de-stress in the midst of studying.

“I’m a huge animal lover,” Bradehoft said. “I take in strays, I neuter and spay anything I can get my hands on, I volunteer for animal shelters. I think it’s wonderful. It’s helping me, but I’m so impressed that that many students are coming because sometimes I think young people underestimate the respect for animals.”

Bradehoft said that when she graduates she intends to put her love of animals to use by starting a non-profit organization called Scrappy Co-Co’s that offers anything an animal needs, ranging from medical assistance to flea control to building fences so that tethered pets have a space to roam.

Both Bucky and Flyer are former show dogs, and still compete from time to time when they’re not working with Therapy Dog International and other organizations.

The San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts enlisted the dogs and their handlers in the past to put on a program for children that centered on a plot of a little girl who awoke and could understand dogs.

“There was about six different times they needed her to bark, and she was able to bark on command,” Toni said proudly. “She never missed a cue when she was asked to bark.”

In 1989, Toni and Tom met each other while working at Ethicon here in San Angelo. They quickly discovered a common interest as each were dog lovers who regularly showed their animals, and have been together ever since.

They bought their first Samoyed that same year, and made a name for themselves when that dog made the top 10 in the United States for three years running.

“You step into the world of dog shows and you have a top-winning dog,” Toni said. “That doesn’t happen very often. I’m still amazed—as long as we’ve been showing dogs—that that ever happened.”

The couple’s interest in therapy dogs began when Toni’s mother fell sick and was staying in Community Medical Center.

“There was a lady that worked there and her husband came with his therapy dog, and I said, ‘that’s what I want to do,’” she explained.

The Maurers already had Bucky and Flyer at that point and signed them up for the course. Flyer’s dad, Chase, is also a therapy dog.

Although the dogs work with the sick and other handicapped individuals, Tom emphasized that they are not service dogs. Therapy dogs provide a calming presence and relieve stress, he said, but are not trained to lead the blind or perform other specific tasks that a service dog undertakes.

“They’re a presence that is just calm, and it gives that atmosphere in a room,” Tom said. “When they walk in, people just relax. The reason the university called us was because of the stress levels of students studying for finals…it helps relax them and give them comfort in that high-stress point when they’re trying to get ready for their finals.”

The Maurers visit ASU twice a year during the week before finals, and saw over 120 students, who stopped by to see and pet the dogs.

Bucky, Flyer and their handlers will be present in the Porter Henderson Library on Dec. 2 from 7-8:30 p.m. The therapy session is open to ASU students, and each much sign a release before they are able to interact with the animals.