Testarosa - An Unlikely Therapy Dog
by Paulette BethelNearly eight years ago I had the privilege of whelping out a litter of eleven Doberman puppies. My dream, at the time, was to breed a Champion who would become both a Schutzhund III and an AKC Utility dog. Eventually, all the puppies were placed in various homes with the exception of a beautiful little ‘red’ girl, whom my husband and I kept and called Testarosa.
Testa went into the show ring. She did extremely well, winning every class in which she was entered. When she was six months old she went to Colorado to the DPCA Nationals where she and three of her littermates were scheduled to be shown. Mother Nature dealt her a left punch when she began her first season the day of her class.
Unfortunately, I didn't know enough to pull her from her debut in Denver and Testa had to endure the rigors of the show ring when she was especially sensitive about her hind quarters. For those of you who may never have seen a dog in the conformation ring, it entails a detailed examination by the judge who touches the dogs body to ascertain the degree of correctness of bone angulation, muscle tone and width of body. It can be stressful on dogs and was ultimately so on a young bitch who was experiencing the strange feelings so common to the onset of estrus. To make a long story short, Testa did not win her class and was excused for refusing to ‘show’.
The trauma of the experience made a lasting impression on Testa and she was never again to show well in the ring. There was no point in continuing to promote her in conformation. I am a person who really enjoys the challenge of the obedience ring and the sport of Schutzhund. I decided that Testa would excel in these areas and set about doing the training that is necessary to earn the titles offered.
Testa is very smart and loved the opportunity to use her mind. She learned quickly and well and was doing very good in Schutzhund. She passed the first level of testing and received her Begleithunde or BH.
This meant she was able to go on into higher levels of training. Next she tried for and received her WH or Wachlunde. This test indicated that she would be a good watch dog and her obedience was so outstanding that the judge declared her perfect in her execution of the many exercises called for.
Then we found out that Testa could not go on in her training. She had developed a spinal condition from a training injury and it would be painful and, perhaps, even fatal to continue. She had begun to limp and x-rays indicated that she was dysplastic, as well. The prognosis was not good. She wasn't yet two years old!
I decided to have a house pet. The problem was Testa came from a long line of working dogs with extremely high energy levels and a need to be useful. What could I possibly do with her that would utilize her intelligence and not subject her to the kind of stress that the competition world called for?
I had been using her mother, Onyx, in Animal Assisted Therapy for a couple of years. It was a way of helping people and being with my dog at the same time. I figured Testa would not be good for this because she was afraid of dogs and rather shy of people. (Remember her show ring days?) But, at the urging of a person I knew who was also in AAT I had her tested. Imagine my surprise when she was accepted into the Delta Society’s Pet Partner® program.
We began doing quiet, controlled visits. Testa seemed to enjoy her clients and was good at retrieving, standing for grooming and calmly taking treats from individuals that needed to use their arms and hands to meet therapeutic goals set by Occupational, Speech and Physical Therapists. She worked very well with people who were coming back from strokes or brain and spinal cord injuries. She was so well trained that she could do a lot of different maneuvers just by being given a signal or verbal command. For this reason she was often used with comatose patients.
Very quickly the therapists realized Testa would respond to a patient’s often whispered command to sit, or down or speak. She was soon being used to help people who had balance problems by walking with them while they used their walkers or canes, by those who needed to problem solve by deciding which color cookie to give her or by those who needed encouragement to use their voice by having her go in different directions or do various ‘tricks’. She even learned sign language and could do a variety of activities when an individual ‘signed’ to her.
There was one lady who was in an advanced stage of Parkinson’s and was afraid of falling. Testa stood calmly in front of her and watched every new person who came into the therapy gym. She was ‘guarding’ and it was deeply appreciated by an individual who often felt helpless.
Testa’s present client is a young man who has had both legs amputated below the knees and has lost his right arm and all but the thumb on his left hand. He had been very depressed and the initial goals for him were to willingly wear his prosthesis, his hook, and to pay attention to what was going on around him. The therapist hoped that Testa would arouse his interest enough to help him focus for five minutes.
From our first visit with Todd it was obvious that he would benefit from Animal Assisted Therapy. He wore his hook for the entire hour and interacted with Testa in an appropriate manner. As we have continued the visits he will groom her, pet her, select cookies and hide them and throw the ball for her. We use a tennis ball on a rope that he can hurl about twenty feet away and Testa loves to retrieve it and take it back for ‘just one more toss’.
What the two of them enjoy the most, however, is cruising! Testa pulls Todd in his wheelchair and he laughs and tells her to go faster. She is very proud of this and it is something to see this little red dog marching (and she does appear to march!) around and around the inner courtyard at the hospital with Todd holding the leash with his hook and telling her to go left, go right, go faster! Testa has had both her hips replaced and wears non-slip ‘boots’ to insure her better traction on the highly polished floors of various OT and hospital rooms.
Testa
has found something in her life that is her job and she is very
good at it. She has recovered from her fear of people although
she still is afraid of other dogs. She is giving something to
the world and getting so much back. Last year Testa was one of
only 12 dogs throughout the United States to appear on the Delta
Society Calendar Pet Partners 1996. She is featured for October
and is shown with one of her clients and with me. Who would have
imagined that such an unlikely candidate would end up being an
exceptional therapy dog! I love her very much and am grateful
to the therapists and clients who are willing to work with a
Doberman in the exciting and relatively new world of Animal Assisted
Therapy.