Any Basenji Therapy dogs?

[vstripe]

I was wondering if there are any therapy B's and whats your story! How did you get involved, what kind of training did you do, do you visit with children the elderly? My boyfriend was waiting in Front of the grocery store for me the other day with Garrett and a couple was telling him they met a therapy basenji at the hospital!

[jenwilson]

I would love to participate in our local HABIT (Human and Animal Bond in TN) program, however my Hollie would not be an ideal candidate. She has too much energy and strange things weird her out… She was adopted from a shelter, we don't know much about her past.

I would be interested to hear any stories about B's being therapy dogs.

[annandael]

That's sweet. My B's aren't Therapy dogs…yet. But I will be taking them through some training to get them certified.

[basi]

One of my B's Cali was a registered PAT dog until we moved out here to Germany. I no longer do it with her as I don't speak the language yet, though she has been in the local English primary school to see the kids there.
I found it to be very rewarding and she loved doing it as she thrives on attention. She has visited the old and the young but I think she prefers the young more for some reason.
I took her to the home that my gran was in until she passed away last year and it was so nice to see my grans eyes light up when she went into the room. She had dimentia and didn't know who anyone was anymore and Cali was the only thing that she would react to as she has always owned dogs herself.

[tanza]

There are a number of Basenji Therapy dogs… I don't think the people are on this list, however

[elena86]

I used to always take Senji with me to the nursing home where my grandmother stayed for 1 1/2 years before she passed away. They allowed people to bring pets in to visit. Senji knew exactly where grandma's room was, even though it was down at the end of the hall. He also liked to jump into bed with grandma's roommate, who was a middle-aged stroke patient. He never got snarky or nippy at any of the other residents. It's like he knew they were old and disabled. The only time he's act up would be when he'd encounter the resident cat. :D