Ann Butrick Receives Service Award from TDInc

Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
CHEYENNE -
as Edited by Vanessa Forselius

Ann Butrick has a simple mission. She wants to show that dog breeds generally thought of as vicious, such as Dobermans and pit bulls, can actually be gentle dogs. To that end, Butrick uses her sweet and somewhat shy Doberman pinscher, August A Little Bit of Magic (known as Maggie), as a therapy dog in hospitals and nursing homes. Butrick, co-founder with her deceased husband, Jack, of Therapy Dogs Inc., was honored Sunday morning for 17 years of work with therapy dogs and service to the organization since it was founded in 1990.

Therapy dogs are used to lift the spirits of those in nursing homes, under hospice care, and in hospitals. The dogs can also be used to help troubled children, who often respond to an animal better than to human therapists. Additionally, in Cheyenne, the dogs are used at STRIDE Learning Center, Magic City Enterprises and the hospice’s bereavement program for children. "The dogs just work miracles," Butrick said.

Therapy Dogs Inc. now has more than 4,000 members nationwide and in Canada, said the group’s current president, Teri Meadows. The organization’s motto is "Change tears into smiles. Helping the forgotten to laugh." Meadows and Butrick were joined by fellow dog therapists and Therapy Dogs Inc. board members Billie Smith and Julie Yamane at Sunday’s ceremony, held at the Cheyenne Health Care Center.

The women reminisced about how they became interested in using their dogs as therapy dogs – starting with Butrick, whose husband got her interested in therapy dogs. She remembered that for years Jack, who was a Shrine clown, entertained people with the family’s Dobermans during the Frontier Days parade. Smith said her interest in therapy dogs started when she was in obedience classes with her Doberman, and the dog was shy. The dog didn’t warm up to protection training, but blossomed as a therapy dog, she said.

After several years on the dog show circuit, for Yamane, therapy dogs became a way of uniting her family when a long-term care facility asked for their help. "It got the dogs, the children and some help," she said. She raises Welsh corgis and also uses a Belgian tevuren as a therapy dog. Meadows’ journey into dog therapy started at a dog show, when Butrick spotted her outgoing American pit bull terrier showing off for the crowd. "The more people laughed, the more he showed off," Meadows recalled. Using the pit bulls and Dobermans as therapy dogs shows "any dog raised right can be gentle," Meadows noted.

Having a gentle dog is just one of the requirements for a therapy dog. The dogs and handlers are put through their paces as part of a pre-requisite test before entering the program. Butrick said the examiners look more for a dog that responds to the handler, rather than a strictly obedience-trained dog. In fact, she said dogs that have been trained for conformation dog shows often make good therapy dogs because they will stand and let people pet them.

"Not all people make good handlers, and not all dogs make good therapy dogs," Meadows commented. The dogs must be more than a year old, but elderly dogs are not encouraged either, due to the aches and pains of doggy old age. All dogs must be in good health, and the handlers receive training on the specifics, such as bathing the dogs before a therapy session. Some hospitals, such as Children’s Hospital in Denver, require the dogs to wear special coverings to prevent dander from spreading to those patients who might be allergic.

"In most local programs, the hospitals and nursing homes trust us to do it correctly," Butrick said. The dog and handler are monitored by Therapy Dogs supervisors during the training process. What a therapy dog doesn’t have to be is a pure-bred. Dog pound mutts are just as good. "Some dogs are trained early as therapy dogs, and others have a mid-life career change and get into therapy later," joked Butrick.