Joy, Laughter, and Comfort. That is what the Handlers with the Cape Cod Therapy Dog
Program hope people feel when they interact with their dogs. The group that was founded
14 years ago by dog trainer Gina Hayes, hosts regular events for children at the Cape Cod
Museum of Natural History and takes frequent trips to nursing homes, schools, and special
needs classrooms to brighten people's days with their furry companions. We've done a
school in sandwich for special needs. We do localized events for awareness, either breast
cancer in October we've done an event for. We do Christmas holiday strolls and high schools
on colleges, mass art, often Boston. We've done Gina Hayes, who is the founder of the
therapy dog group here on Cape Cod. She's done Newtown Connecticut after the shooting.
She's done the Boston bombings with her therapy dogs. So we go everywhere and anywhere. That's
a good thing about being the therapy dog internationally. You are able to go anywhere
you want to go. Each of the about 20 handlers and dogs in the group gets certified by the
non-profit Therapy Dogs International. The group meets once a week to train and keep
up their obedience skills. It's our responsibility just to keep the dogs still training with
them and their temperament and just to be responsible with them, with the children, with the adults
to watch them, watch their behavior. So we don't have any instances. But it's good.
It's good for you as a trainer and a handler and to work with your dog. It's always a good
thing. At a recent children's event at the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History, kids
had the chance to interact with some of the dogs in the group. And the dogs had a chance
to show off some of their skills. We did musical chairs and mats with the children.
And we did some racing with the children and the dogs against each other with a remote
control car and the tunnel with the dogs and weaving in and out of poles. Just to kind
of involve the children in the games with the dogs. We like to do that whenever we come
to this event that we do once a month. Nancy Eaton, who handles Ellie, a black Moyan poodle,
said that Ellie gets as much joy out of being a therapy dog as the people do who get to
interact with her. So she is, as far as I'm concerned, one of those magnificent therapy
dogs that just knows how to be. And all I have to do is the obedience stuff. She knows
how to work. She loves working. She loves running. She loves frisbee, but she also loves working.
With the right amount of training, any dog that's sociable and loves people can become
a therapy dog. Basic obedience is your main thing first, whether your dog is two months,
three months old, four months old, or four years old. You do have to have a basic obedience
training. You can do that with Gina as well or another trainer, but she will guide you
and your dog towards the therapy dog test in that training. Basic obedience and then
advanced obedience as well. So there are numerous weeks of testing and then ongoing testing
as well, even after your dog. And you are certified. Dogs and children and adults, they
just interact well. And it's the behavior of the dog as well that is key. And if they
love people and children, you're going to have a perfect therapy dog, really. And again,
it's just about the training. So if they have a good temperament and personality, I think
it's amazing what they can do. Events like the one at the Cape Cod Museum of Natural
History are a perfect representation of what the dogs can do and how they can affect people
with their presence. The kids, they just laugh. They have fun with the dogs. They're always
amazed what the dogs can do. And just the dogs interacting with the kids too is rewarding.
Even with adults, you know, you look around and you see the parents or grandparents even
and they have smiles on their faces or they're laughing at the dogs, antics or whatever. It's
just a great feeling and it's rewarding.
