Meet Dennis Kalodish and Alicia Chipy who train and partner with therapy dogs. Therapy dogs are professional visitors, making their rounds in hospitals, nursing homes and rehab centers. Dennis Kalodish parleyed his love for golden retrievers into a project in which he trains and certifies them to become “everyone’s pet” in nursing home visitors.. and even to serve as library reading partners. Dennis trains dogs through Therapy Dogs International.
Alicia Chipy’s Havanese, Dolly, has a temperament that’s perfect to be the family pet for children receiving extensive medical treatments at Miami’s Ronald McDonald House: Dolly even understands Spanish.
And join us next week, when we learn more about service dogs, like seeing eye dogs who are specially trained to partner with handlers who are legally blind; mobility dogs who are specially trained to partner with handlers with MS, Parkinsons or paralysis; and psychiatric service dogs who are trained to work with owners whose symptoms with Alzheimers, PTSD, epilepsy or agoraphobia find it possible to rejoin the world with their partner dogs by their side.
