Katie Bear

Life and times of a therapy pup — Katie Bear Corgi off to a good start!

“Hi, I’m Katie Bear Corgi. My Mom, Sherri wanted me to tell you about my experience becoming a Therapy Dog. Yes, I did it … I just became a very proud member of Therapy Dogs International.

“Okay, I made my Mom proud and I am Corgi proud too … I am a therapy pup!”

Therapy Dogs International Canine Good Citizen

Let me start from the beginning. When my Mom went down to see my breeder and see her newest litter of puppies, she told the breeder that she wanted a pup that would someday be a good candidate for Pet Therapy work. A couple of weeks later the breeder called Mom and said she had picked out the perfect dog. She picked ME because I was not a “high energy” dog … just regular puppy energy, and was very sweet … perfect for therapy. Mom started me with puppy training very soon after I got home. I didn’t even know how to walk on a leash. I would walk a few feet and then just lay down. A 10 minute walk usually turned into a 30 minute walk.

What can I say? I was a puppy.

In Basic Puppy Obedience I learned, attention, sits, downs, stays, etc., — all that regular stuff. I usually got very tired during the class and would stop doing the exercises and lay down to catch a quick “cat” nap. One time the teacher looked over and said: “Oh, Katie Bear has fainted.” Ha ha! Amazing as it was, I did graduate.

Well, Mom and I continued to work on different command exercises like sit, down, stay, leave it, etc. We played games in the house where she would tell me to stay and then she would go hide on me and I would run like the wind to find her when she called me. She would put treats down in front of me and tell me to “leave it”. (Hint -When you are trying to become a therapy dog this is a real important one. When you are a therapy dog you need to know not to touch food, or pills, or anything that is on the floor. Actually, it is an automatic fail X if you do it during the Therapy Dog test). Mom had the TDI test requirements pamphlet and we would go over all the steps, one by one over and over again. Mom and I really studied hard!

My mom is the Coordinator of the Pet Therapy program here at MetroWest Medical Center in Natick, MA and she was talking to one of the owners of a new TDI graduate. Her name is Libby. She is a 125 lb. Great Dane. She’s now a friend of mine and we have had play dates at the state park. Tell me that isn’t a funny sight! I can run underneath her.

Anyway, Libby’s Mom told my Mom that she should take me to the same Obedience training that she had taken Libby to. So mom called Alpha Dog K9 in Holliston, MA and I started my lessons. Christina is the owner/trainer of Alpha Dog and also a retired Canine Police Officer. I put on my best cute Katie Bear face, but I soon learned that I had better buckle down and Pay Attention. Christina spent a lot of time with the basic commands like Sit, Down, Stay and coming (Recall) when called …immediately, I might add … no “fooling around” like I usually did. When we did it wrong, we did it over and over again till we did it right then we got praise, pats and treats. TDI testing is also done at Alpha Dog K9, so every week Christina worked on several of the TDI test elements, like:

Meeting a friendly stranger, seeing people in wheelchairs, walkers, people with crutches, and the big food test. She would put a cookie down on the floor right in front of us and we had to “leave it.” Then Mom would call me and I had to walk right over it and not touch it. I am very good at that. Christina said that when her evaluator does the TDI testing that he actually heats up a blueberry muffin in the microwave and drops it right down in front of the pup …

Mom scheduled my test for May 30th and we worked everyday on everything we could to prepare. One of the big things you are tested for is proper, loose leash walking. When I am outside walking with Mom, I do a great walk; nice and easy, but when I am in the ring at obedience training on the rubber mat I can’t help but put my nose to the ground and do the vacuum cleaner thing and smell every dog that has ever been there before me.

Well, I did the same thing on my testing day and we had only begun our test and the instructor came over and told my mom that she was going to have to fail us because I wasn’t walking properly on a loose leash. Oooops … I was in trouble. We had worked so hard and I had messed up. Mom was mad.

Then the evaluator asked Mom if she would like to just go on with the test to see what other things we would have to work on for a future test. Mom said we might as well. We started again and this time I did everything just fine. There are 13 different tests and I passed all of them with flying colors. I forgot to tell you that I was also being evaluated at the same time for the Canine Good Citizen test which is almost the same as the TDI test except that the TDI test has the medical equipment in it and the CGC test does not.

I love my new pup job! My official TDI ID card and bandanna came yesterday and mom has already signed me up for my first visits at the hospital. I’m a professional working dog now. I even have my own business cards to give to the patients who want a picture of me.”