Friday, November 27, 2015

The Life and Times of a Therapy Dog

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Our friends at HooplaHa! brought a new YouTube series to my attention. For everyone who has every wondered what life is like for a Therapy Dog, this series follows Sullivan, an adorable Golden Retriever, as she goes about her days, bringing love, happiness, stability and security to a wide range of people. 

The first episode, which is below, from HooplaHa! and Inclusion Films, finds Sullivan at a nursery school in California. Sage was trained as a puppy at Project Chance in Jacksonville, Florida. I found it a little jarring that a dog named Sullivan would be voiced by a woman but apparently he is a she. Further on in the video, Sullivan is seen having snacks with the children. It bothered me to see the Golden having popcorn which is not something most of us would recommend since the kernels can either get caught in the dog's throat or scratch the throat. I hope they'll pay more attention to such small details in the future.

In future episodes, of Sullivan's Travels, Sullivan will be seen with handicapped adults at work with his dad, Joey Travolta, at Inclusion Films a really wonderful company that deserves attention. Sullivan also visits nursing homes. 

I wrote one of the first article - if not the first - on therapy dogs. It's nice to see that their work can now be so easily understood through the use of video.  

If you enjoy this, you can click to subscribe to the series.

4 comments:

Gordon Brice said...

Thank you for sharing with us, this wonderful video, Darlene. Everyone should be made aware of the amazing work that therapy dogs do and the training that goes with it. Although various breeds are used, retrievers seem to be very suited to the job in hand and are happy to be stroked and hugged time and time again. Sullivan certainly seemed to enjoy carrying out her duties and appeared to be very much at home surrounded by the children.

Unknown said...

Therapy Dogs are amazing, thanks for this video Darlene. As you know, I had CH Khalin as certified therapy dog over five years ago and he would come with me as I traveled to different health fairs. Through his involvement, we got our message out on the silent symptoms of ovarian cancer. He may have saved a life or two...

Darlene said...

Thank you, Gordon, for you comment. I'm so glad you enjoyed this post! This seems like such a happy Golden! She's doing work she obviously loves!

Darlene said...

Thank you for your comment, Vallie. Ch. Khalin has done so much good and will continue to do so! I'm sure he is saving lives!! Bravo! And kisses for Ch. Khalin!