Are pets good therapy?

My parents were told that they shouldn't have pets when I was little due to my terrible eczema. I went out with my mother one day and we came home with three fish...Pookie, Poppy and Patch. We had them for a long time but their lifespan still wasn't great. So along came the hamsters Cheeky and Chubby. My sister took to the hamsters more than I did as I got fed up of being bitten. I must admit that they looked very sweet and when the vet had to put one of them to sleep she came out of the building crying. 

My sister finally managed to persuade my parents to have a rabbit each, which was by no means an easy task! My sister had a sweet black dwarf rabbit called Twitch and I called my huge grey bunny Snuggles. They had such characters and I loved Snuggles so much that I was distraught when she died. I even had to have the day off college and cuddled the dead rabbit for most of the day!

So then came the task of persuading my parents to have a dog. As I'm sure you can imagine, my parents weren't in agreement with me having a dog. I heard every excuse and reason under the sun including "think of your eczema" or "we haven't got room for a dog" or "they're too expensive to keep" or "who is going to look after it and walk it?" or "you're not well enough to look after a dog" and so the list went on. My sister wasn't fussed about having a dog so it was down to me to do the persuading and where was I to start? I tried to think of one of the smallest dogs I found appealing and settled on Yorkshire terriers as I knew that due to its size it wouldn't be noticed as much by my parents. I knew that Yorkshire terriers were one of my Grandmas favourite dogs so I also thought I might be able to get around my parents that way, but no they weren't falling for any of it. I changed my Dads computer screensaver to a photo of a Yorkshire terrier, I left photos of Yorkshire terriers in their shoes, by their pillows and anywhere else I could think of that they would notice. My mother spoke to a really old friend of theirs on the phone one evening and mum had evidently told her about me wanting a dog. She told my mother that a dog would help me to get better. I had been very unwell for a while and as a result I had lost all my hair and was wheelchair bound. I will never know exactly what this friend said to my Mum, but it worked and I am so grateful to her.

So, along came Bertie. There was me thinking that a little dog would be quiet and less noticeable!  Bertie was full of beans and such a little character. I asked the vet if she could recommend a good trainer and she looked at me and laughed! "You'll never be able to train him, he's far too intelligent" she said! We went to puppy training classes which was a joke as he would only do something if he felt like it and if convenient to him! He has lived in two boarding school houses where I worked and loved being with the children. He is also lovely with elderly people. I had the idea earlier that Bertie and I could volunteer for the 'Pets As Therapy' charity (petsastherapy.org) so that we could help others just as he had helped me. I went on their website this evening and looked through their pages. There was one section that discussed the main reasons dogs are deferred at an assessment. I went through the list: "jumping up" (whoops), "pawing, or putting paws up" (yay, innocent), "pulling on the lead" (ok, we still haven't mastered this), "reluctance/backing away when being fussed" (fine, no problem), "vocalisations such as barking or growling" (this is debatable as he can sometimes 'talk' to me, but he never barked at the children), "mouthing" (we occasionally play fight but he's never bitten anyone), "licking" (he never licks, he just gives me kisses and happens to give me quite a few), "taking food greedily" (never if it's cucumber or lettuce, but......). It seems that I have to admit to the fact that we don't seem to be up for the job (also known as failure before application!)!

So Bertie can't share his love, loyalty and comfort to others in volunteering settings, but he has given me the extra love, affection and therapy I needed. I suppose really he is my best friend. By the way the wheelchair has gone and the hair is back....thank you for the few words from a friend and of course, thank you Bertie!

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