Has anyone used Deerhounds for therapy dogs? I have used Afghans, Borzoi, Chow Chow (not a good dog for this) - the best so far has been the Borzoi. I am hoping Zippo will do as well.
I am working with him to be my service dog. Since it appears i will not make a full recovery...this will work. The serive dog assc. does not use sighthounds..and since I am not a 'Golden or Lab' person..i am on my own. no funding avail. for us. No problem - who needs them anyway. So far so good. He is very sensitive to my needs, and when I blacked out in July upstairs..he stayed by my side - I came to with him on the floor - lying beside me...one paw on my tummy. He licked my cheek and gave my baby a kiss. I wonder what he thought was going on..because before i hit the floor I must have hit something else..maybe fell over the wing back chair 'cause i had a nasty bruise on my side. He travels well in the taxi, only one cabbie didn't want him..but gave in when I refused to go in alone. He comes with me everywhere.

Hi Casandra
We intend using our Bess for pet therapy. She has been recently screened by the highland P.A.T folks and passed with distinction, we will let you know how she gets on. One advantage is that her clients wont have to bend over to give her a rub:) We need to watch her tail though. she has been known to smash crockery and clear tables.

I am applying for Murray to be assessed as a P.A.T dog - I think he will pass! Alfie my lurcher is a PAT dog and often comes to work with me. My dementia clients love him but as you say Alderhill, watch that tail!!!

Exactly...that is what I loved about taking borzoi to the hospital for visits. Folks in wheelchairs don't have to bend or lift..simply stay where they are...no moement required. The dog lay his head on her chest and she petted him and cried. So lovely to see. I stunned the first time I went to the Glenrose Hospital to do this. In the room set aside for these visits they was a man with a golen throwing a ball...these are very sick old people...this is not what they need - i thought. So I decided to leave the group and do it on my own...went well.

I used our deerhound boy for pets as therapy, we used to visit nursing homes and a group home for brain injured men. He was very good and everyone was always suprised at how gentle he was. They are definitely the perfect hight for wheelchairs and beds, although manovering in tight spaces can be a bit tricky.

There was a man in Australia who trianed his Rottweiler to be a guide dog so don't let the "not a lab/golden" thing put you off!

What kind of things do they do to assess them?

Cassandra that is a very special hound you have there! I hope things improve for you.

The assesment is about general stability, they are touched all over to ensure that they dont have any "no go areas". They also have to be not to exitable so puppy's are probably not a good idea. This almost presented a problem for us as my partner Sharon used to expect Bess to jump up and meet her when Sharon came in from School -Should really point out that Sharon is a teacher - I did try and point out that cute puppy will soon me 30" at the shoulder and 30+ Kgs but I did not want to be too much of a killjoy, and I knew Bess would settle down she responded to the OFF! command well in time.
They also have to be quite stable in a surprise event such as a crash or bang going off behind them, previous DH/Lurchers ive had would have jumped out of there skin - not good at all-. Perhaps this is a genetic trait and not much can be done about this but with my next puppy I may research how they train gundogs in this respect and allply the tequniques just to make sure. Might also help with fireworks night. Bess is ok with fireworks the best thing I have found is to ignore any stress behaviour and feeding her some bachs rescue remedy eliminates any problem at all. I train folk in the use of flares in the event of emergency at sea and she has seen loads going off, they never seem to bother her. She puts a respectable distance between herself and the noise but thats a good thing, its the same with chainsaws and power tools - thank god!

apology's for my Dyslexic fngers

I am so glad to hear others have ventured into this arena as well. At the time I began with the Borzoi...my other breeder friends thought I was crazy. 'why would you bother, none of thos epeople will be interested in your dogs..besides they aren't prospective puppy people' - gosh..is that what we're about. How sad I thought. When I first went to Glenrose hopital..there was a tiny bit of..wow, he is so big..but then they saw him in action..and even all nurses came to see him. Every single person loved him. I know Zippo can and will do the same. He keeps me in awe and admiration..and he will do the same for those folks. His sweet, kind gentle disposition wins the hearts of all. Lynn knew he was special, and I am soooglad we were the lucky ones to have him grace our lives.
Cassandra

OK, I have no deer.. but I'll tell you about my experiences with IW, borzoi and my old hunting dog.

My IW's mother is a therapy dog,s he belongs to a nurse who works in a old people shome. His father is too stormy for that use. My IW - his name is Happy - does have a little of both. He knows to behave like a good boy to children, and his approach to mentally handicapped children is excellent. In order not to scare or harm them, he simly lays down, his long body allows them all to scratch hi at the same time.
With adults he is too stormy, once he laid his forebody into the lap of a spastic, his belly pressed the joystick of the wheelchair, and they made a ride. The man in the wheelchair found it most funny, but people who live in a wheelchair dnt develop enough muscles, and the risk for bone fractures is thus larger. With Happy love sometimes hurt.

My borzoi is very scared of humans because of something that happened in his earlier life (Still I dont know exactly what). He avoids human contact wherever it is possible. But with a spastich, or some human who is very weak, he takes contact, as if he knows the cant harm him. He is so gentle there is no risks for stormy accidents.

My old German Wirehair takes contact to anybody, but he does not keep the interest, it is more like "Oh hello, how are you, fine, all is good? Bye!"

Kim that description of your pointer is too funny. I can just imagine it.

Jst to let you know both my old dogs were PAT dogs. Wallace and Finley. Finley adored it as he was very much a people dog. They also represented the breed at Discover dogs at Earls court. Wallace was filmed one year doing his bit for the vunerable breeds running around the ring his claim to fame!

I just took Beau to a nursing home, he was a huge success and almost all of the patients were made so happy by him. I will definitely be going again!

Hannah took Taog to a ward of alzheimer patients and one lady apparently took one look at him and started laughing and didn't stop until he left. The nurses were amazed because this lady had been sad since she came to the home and they had never seen her smile. We think he is pretty funny too and his antics endlessly make us laugh but it is wonderful that he was able to make someone else happy if only for a short while. There are unfortunately no pets as therapy places up here at our new home so his career was fairly short lived but its well worth doing if you get the chance.

That's a lovely idea. I would love to try it, but our 3 are either too loopy, or too unstable. Jorja would fall over on people, and Emma would bounce and flatten them.

We did have a dog, years ago, called Rambo. We lived between 2 schools, only about 300 yards apart. When I took him for a walk it was usually lunch break for the children. You could guarantee that, every fine day, you would have a herd of schoolchildren, clustered around the fence. As soon as we rounded the corner, you could hear all these kids shouting 'Rambo! Rambo!' They absolutely adored him. Because my mum is a childminder, we got close to the kids, and some of them invited us up to their sports days when their parents couldn't make it. The invitation always had a tag on, 'could you fetch the dogs as well?' The kids would show off our dogs as if they were their own.

I think it's nice for people in hospital, or in homes to see dogs, they really do make a difference, but I also think that children should have a chance to have pets, or at least interact with animals. They always get so much joy out of each other, it's beautiful to see.

In regards to pets being good for therapy..there is nothing better. Not to dwell in the past..but when I was 19, I was quite ill..the chemo wasn't working, I had a husband and a young son...the prognosis was poor. In fact it got to the point they wanted my husband to have power of attorney since I no longer wanted any more surgery and refused surgery that would have left me unable to have any more children. I was becoming angry and a little depressed..after 3 months in the university hosp....I wanted my dogs. I couldn't carry my son and really didn't want him to see me with tubes and all...but my dogs...well...they over looked all that. I was able to convince a friend to bring me a small one. I had at the time a Toy poodle...Dusty. I hid her under the covers when the nurse broughtmy dinner, and since I was in isolation, I didn't have to worry about a roommate saying anything, but in those days dogs were a no-no. She was good until she could smell the food...then she tried to scramble out from underneath the covers..the nurse had just left the rm. Right as she peaked her head out from under the covers, my Dr. came in with the chemo treatment. My girlfriend and I were laughing so hard I had tears. It was the first time I laughed or even smiled in over 3 months...no pill can do that for you. Even Dr. Scott chuckled...he saw something he hadn't seen before. Me - happy. All he said was not to let the nurses catch us. Dusty lived to 18 and gave both me and my 2 sons glorious years of joy. I grew up without the benefit of pets, although I tried ofen. I begged, pleaded..as a young child even took dogs that I found tied up,,,thinking they weren't loved, why else would they have been left. They had to be returned. My sons grew up with goats, cats (barn - my allergies)lots of dogs, Arabian horses..even chickens. Any living thing was welcomed...even stray friends. We are all better for having had them in our lives...even though it hurts so to loose them. They are never too much work, never too costly...they give and give....