The Rational Basis® of Happiness Podcast

In the selfish path to romance. Download chapter one for free at Drkenner.com and amazon.com.

I was reading an Associated Press article, and here's a quote: "Charles Stenson's face brightened as a speckled Australian shepherd named Bart cuddled next to his hospital bed. 'You've got a pretty coat,' the 51-year-old heart patient says while stroking Bart's soft fur." Now, what's going on here? Why would there be a dog in a cardiac unit? Well, with me to discuss a relatively new field, a new profession—pet-assisted therapy—is a national pioneer of this therapy, Pearl Salata. Welcome to the show.

Oh, thank you very much. I'm honored to be with you.

And you've written one book, and you're writing another one right now on pet-assisted therapy, A Loving Intervention in an Emerging Profession.

Yes, and my first book has contributions from about 37 pet therapists around the country.

Very interesting. And you're also giving courses, aren't you?

Yes, I teach at the Community College of Rhode Island, a certificate program, a three-course certificate program in professional pet-assisted therapy. And anyone who would like information on the courses can call me at 734-1888, or any Lifelong Learning Office of any of the CCRI campuses.

And that's in Rhode Island, 401. And there are also pet therapists across the country, too. So let me begin by asking you, what is pet-assisted therapy?

Pet-assisted therapy is the profession by which teams—a pet-assisted therapy facilitator paired with their credentialed family therapy pet—go into nursing homes, schools, hospices, shelters for battered women, for homeless women and children, agencies for individuals with disabilities or mental health issues. The team of the person and the pet, who have been educated in the field, go in and make a difference in the patient’s life, the child's life, the senior’s life, or whatever population needs pet therapy.

What types of pets are used?

We work with primarily dogs. But the bottom line is, whatever pet the patient or the child or the senior loves.

My son would have loved snakes. What are you going to do with that one?

No, I don’t work with snakes, although I did once see a gentleman in New York who had a snake wrapped around his neck, and he had about 50 troubled teenagers absolutely enraptured. I'll bet! But, primarily, the pets that we work with are dogs. We do work with some cats. We also work with bunnies and guinea pigs. If the pet therapist has a cat who's friendly and loves strangers and can pass a temperament test, then hopefully that kitty will work, too.

So how are they trained?

Dogs go through dog training classes, obedience classes, and also classes in pet therapy skills to acclimate the dogs to fire alarms, school bells, wheelchairs, walkers, and all that kind of thing. Also, in my course here at CCRI, we have a professional internship where the student and the pet have to do 55 hours under a pet therapy mentor at a nursing home. We have three sites in Rhode Island.

A training site?

Yes.

I'm interested in hearing one of your favorite stories.

One of my favorite stories was when I was with my dog DJ at a nursing home in New York, and I had just been in the field about maybe two years. There was a lady in that nursing home who had lost both legs to diabetes, and she had refused to learn to move her wheelchair with her arms. So as a result, she was completely dependent on the staff to move her around—from her room to the activity room, to the dining room, wherever. And she fell in love with my dog DJ—DJ meaning "Dog of Joy," who was my first pet that I worked with for 12 years. DJ was a Samoyed. After I had seen this woman for several weeks, and she had fallen in love with DJ, I spotted her as I was coming into the activity room, and she saw me, and she said, "Pearl, are you coming over here?" And I said, "Sally, you can come to me." And she said, "You know I can’t move my wheelchair with my arms." I said, "Well, why don’t you try?" And she said, "You know I can’t." And I said, "You know what, Sally, DJ and I are going to wait right here as long as it takes you. Don’t hurry. We will wait." It took her about 45 minutes to move her wheelchair about 25 feet to the entrance of the activity room. Meanwhile, all the doctors and nurses were standing around with tears in their eyes. Some found it funny, but the end of the story is that after that, this woman was able to move her wheelchair all around the nursing home to visit her friends in other rooms.

What a breakthrough!

Yeah, and it was simply her love for DJ that motivated her. And that’s what professional pet therapy is: when the pet therapist knows the person's needs—what the doctor and staff are working on with the patient—and the pet therapist tries to fit into that treatment plan.

Right, individual treatment-based pet-assisted therapy. And of course, the goal for this woman was to move her wheelchair with her arms.

Right.

And I saw one case that I read online where a woman was calmed down. She was having erratic heart palpitations in a cardiac unit, and they used a dog, and it just shifted her focus. She calmed down, and her heart stabilized. Now for another person, they may freak out with that, but for her, she loved animals, and I guess they knew that. You had told me when we talked earlier that you would never go into a room, even in a nursing home, if one patient didn’t like animals.

Absolutely not. We are very respectful of the people.

At the same nursing home, DJ—another lady whom I’ll call Susie—had fallen in love with DJ also. And this lady had aphasia. She had had a stroke and couldn’t speak. Again, the treatment goal for this woman was that she should learn to speak again, or be able to speak. Unfortunately, the hospital staff, the nursing home staff, and even her family had given up on her. They’d even taken her out of speech therapy. They thought she would never speak again. That was it. Well, one day, I let DJ jump on the chair next to this lady’s wheelchair. DJ only jumped on the chair because it was part of our professional pet-assisted therapy guidelines, where pets in that particular nursing home were allowed to jump on a particular safe, upholstered chair so they could get on eye level with the patient. What happened was that Susie was holding DJ’s paw, and DJ kept giving her his paws alternately. And I finally said to her, "Susie, are you DJ’s friend?" And she nodded yes because she couldn’t speak. And then I said, "Susie, can you say 'friend'?" And I’m sure everyone in the audience can guess the end of the story: She did say "friend." And again, it was a breakthrough. Because of her love for DJ and the emotion of the moment, she was willing to put in that extra effort.

Did she start talking after that?

Well, she started saying a few words, and after that, they did put her back in speech therapy.

Wonderful.

You know, my mother-in-law had a stroke, but she had a dog she loved, named Kippy, and I think if you had brought that dog in, she would’ve found a voice to say something. So, I think this is a wonderful field. It’s a new profession. Could you give your website if people want to get in touch with you? This is Pearl Salata.

Yes, my website is DJPPat.com, and again, my phone number is 401-734-1888. I teach at the Community College of Rhode Island through Lifelong Learning.

Okay, well, thank you so much for joining us today, and I hope to hear more from you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Pearl. Take care.

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