I have been in public relations for 26 years, I have my own PR agency for 22 of those years. I grow up in Brooklyn and I have lived in Manhattan for most of my adult life. Whenever I am out in the neighborhood, working or just walking around. I have never miss an opportunity, when people come over to pat my Dog or told me, how beautiful they are, to say very proudly my dogs came from the shelter and they have been doing Animal-assisted Therapy for many, many years.
Animal-assisted Therapy involves taking your certified trained dog to a hospital or nursing home or other facility and having the patience to spent time with the dog, distracting them from their discomfort and their suffering and giving them something wonderful to focus on. They pat the dogs, they talk to the dogs, they hug the dogs, they sing to the dogs, they cry with the dogs and it's a wonderful experience which is hard for other people to understand, unless they have actually witnessed it or done it.
The human-animal bond is something indescribable, when you see a patient who is not speaking or not responding or is depressed or in pain. The patient is patting the dog and hugging the dog and making a connection that provides a benefit that a doctor and nurse cannot provide. It's comforting, it's loving, it's an opportunity for that patient to put aside, everything that they have been going through that's been hard and painful and sad and just lights up there world.
It's not just the patients that benefit from Animal-assisted Therapy. Actually, I always feel that equally important benefit for the nursing staff who all are overwhelmed, overworked, exhausted and the family members who were all very stressed out and feeling very emotional.
When she is working, when she is sitting in a patients lap where a patient is petting her. She completely understands, what her work is, she understands that the patients need her and she is completely focused on the patient. She doesn't really care about anything else.
People are blown away by this work, people love to hear that you are doing Animal-assisted Therapy, it's very, very special and I feel that part of my reason for having these dogs is to get that information out there. So all people will be kinder animals and were gentle to animals and appreciate the power of what they give us.
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