Therapy/Facility Dog
Vern, a professionally trained and certified therapy/Facility dog, joined our practice in July 2015. His job is to offer comfort to our patients feeling anxious about their dental appointments. He is a Lab-Retriever mix breed.
He is trained to sit beside the chair and give comfort, by allowing the patient to rest their hand on his head or to put his paw or head on their lap. It has been scientifically proven that comfort from a dog lessens anxiety and blood pressure.
Some colleges and universities in the USA bring therapy dogs to campus to help students de-stress. These campus events are often referred to as "Therapy Fluffies", a term coined by Torrey Trust, the original founder of the UC San Diego therapy dog de-stress event.[1] In 2009, Sharon Franks, shared the idea of bringing therapy dogs to campus with the UC San Diego Office of Student Wellness.[2] Similar events have been held worldwide.
Since the autumn of 2010, “Therapy Fluffies” has visited the UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, and UC Riverside campuses during the week before mid-term and final exams.[3][4][5] These events give students and staff the opportunity to pet and relax with therapy-certified dogs.[6] The university also works with the Inland Empire Pet Partners, a service of the Humane Society, to bring therapy-certified dogs to the campus’ Mental Health Day Spa, held quarterly.[7][8] In 2016 the School Of Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University carried out a study assessing the benefits therapy dogs have on students pre exam stress levels. They discovered that by allowing students to interact with visiting therapy dogs on campus before exams for a brief 15 minute interval significantly reduced students perceived exam stress levels.[9] In 2014, Concordia University, Wisconsin became the first university in the US to adopt a full-time therapy dog to its campus in Mequon, WI. The golden retriever, Zoey, is a Lutheran church Charities K-9 Comfort Dog, trained to interact with people at churches, schools, nursing homes, hospitals, events, and in disaster response situations.[10]
Vern has sat with several of our patients. The age range has been from 3 years old to in the 80 years old range. Some of our young patients would not even go into the treatment rooms without Vern and then, to their parent’s amazement, went through with their treatment for the first time ever. He even comes out to greet his regular patients when he hears their voices in the lobby.
Many organizations provide evaluation and registration for therapy dogs. In the United States, some organizations require that a dog pass the equivalent of the American Kennel Club's Canine Good Citizen test and then add further requirements specific to the environments in which the dogs will be working. Other organizations have their own testing requirements. Typical tests might ensure that a dog can handle sudden loud or strange noises; can walk on assorted unfamiliar surfaces comfortably; are not frightened by people with canes, wheelchairs, or unusual styles of walking or moving; get along well with children and with the elderly; and so on.
A Facility Dog is one that is trained to be polite and well-mannered to everyone they meet. They are trained in the same manner as a service dog, though they are usually placed in nursing homes, assisted living, mental health and juvenile detention facilities. They are dogs that love people and visiting, and have warm, sensitive, and social personalities. They are great ambassadors and ‘visit’ with the residents and visitors alike.
Vern came to our office through Freedom Paws, a nationally accredited therapy dog organization. After completing several months of training and passing all tests needed to be fully certified, Vern was matched with our office based on his skills. He also went through additional training with Cindy, our office manager, and continues to have his training reinforced daily.
We are very pleased to be the first and only dental office in the central Ohio area, and possibly the first in the whole state of Ohio, to offer this type of certified therapy for our patients. If you would like to have Vern assist you with your dental procedures, please request him when scheduling your appointment.
Give us a call at: (937) 644-1115
References
1. "Therapy Fluffies at UCSD". 2015. Retrieved 2015-12-11.]
2. Jump up^ "San Diego Colleges Use Dogs To Take Bite Out Of Exam Stress". 2015. Retrieved 2015-12-11.
3. Jump up^ "Therapy Fluffies at UC Davis". Retrieved 22 March 2015.
4. Jump up^ Keckeisen, K. "RIVERSIDE: Therapy dogs help UCR students relieve stress". The Press Enterprise. Retrieved March 22,2015.
5. Jump up^ "UC Davis "Therapy Fluffies" welcomed on campus". Retrieved March 22, 2015.
6. Jump up^ "The mind spa". Retrieved 22 March 2015.
7. Jump up^ Lane, K. "Therapy dogs provide relief to stressed out students". Retrieved March 22, 2015.
8. Jump up^ "Students at UC Riverside get some pet therapy as they cram for exams". Retrieved March 22, 2015.
9. Jump up^ Barker, S.B., Barker, R.T., McCain, N.L. and Schubert, C.M., 2016. A randomized cross-over exploratory study of the effect of visiting therapy dogs on college student stress before final exams. Anthrozoös, 29(1), pp.35-46.
10. Jump up^ McCarthy, C. "K-9 comfort dog drives on CUW's campus". cuw.edu. Concordia University Wisconsin. Archived from the original on March 31, 2014. Retrieved May 28, 2014.