Our Puppy

If you follow our facebook or twitter you know by now that we recently got a new puppy. We have named her Rolo and she isn’t just any old puppy, we plan on having her certified as a Therapy Dog. If you don’t know what a therapy dog is, here is a bit of info stolen from the Wiki page: A therapy dog is a dog trained to provide affection and comfort to people in hospitals, retirement homes, nursing homes, schools, hospices, people with learning difficulties, and stressful situations, such as disaster areas. Therapy dogs come in all sizes and breeds. The most important characteristic of a therapy dog is its temperament. A good therapy dog must be friendly, patient, confident, gentle, and at ease in all situations. Therapy dogs must enjoy human contact and be content to be petted and handled, sometimes clumsily. A therapy dog’s primary job is to allow unfamiliar people to make physical contact with it and to enjoy that contact. Children in particular enjoy hugging animals; adults usually enjoy simply petting the dog. The dog might need to be lifted onto, or climb onto, an individual’s lap or bed and sit or lie comfortably there. Many dogs contribute to the visiting experience by performing small tricks for their audience or by playing carefully structured games. In hospice environments, therapy dogs can play a role in palliative care by reducing death anxiety. Although we have no intention of having our Rolo go visit hospitals for others outside of our immediate family we feel that having her certified as a therapy dog will be beneficial to our daughter as this will give Rolo the right to accompany our daughter places she may not be allowed in without certification. You might be asking yourself, how can someone who has an extreme ADHD, OCD, ODD daughter possibly have the time or patience to take on training a puppy to be a therapy dog? Well I will be the first to tell you, it isn’t easy. Life with an ADHD child is a balancing act to begin with and adding a puppy of any breed into the mix can make things for any family harder. Some things to take into consideration when adding a puppy into your ADHD family are: Dog Breed. All puppies are cute and loving but take some serious time to consider full grown size of the breed you choose, the general breeds temperament and the breeds intelligence. While smaller dogs may seem like a great option due to their size, some smaller breeds have a tenancy to bite. Intelligence is another thing you must consider when choosing a puppy for your ADHD family. Don’t just look for the worlds smartest dog breeds, consider what you want your puppy to be. Are you looking for a friendly companion or are you looking for a highly trainable guardian for your child? Lastly, once you have decided on what puppy you want, take the time to visit the puppy you would like to buy. Consider the puppies temperament during your visits, do they bite and chew on you? Are they able to relax and sit or lay next to you or your child? And most importantly, how does the puppy react to your ADHD child? These are all things you should consider before buying a puppy for your ADHD family. As easily as it is to instantly fall in love with a puppy seriously consider the compatibility of your family, ADHD children especially, and your chosen puppy. Nothing is more heart breaking for a child to have their excitement of getting a puppy crushed by the puppies incompatibility with them. We chose a Border Collie crossed with a German Shepherd due to both breeds intelligence levels, workmanship and general temperament. Our puppy especially likes to sit next to our children and just hand out. Although she is just a puppy and will chew or nip, she has a very calm temperament and can be hugged, kissed, pet and poked endlessly without becoming annoyed or upset. Even when my girl picks her up the wrong way and accidentally hurts Rolo, Rolo remains calm and shows her annoyance by whimpering. Once my girl puts Rolo down, Rolo immediately goes towards my girl and licks her showing she understands her being hurt was simply an accident. Rolo being highly trainable is picking up quickly on how our house works, she understands that she is one of the kids, she knows where her things are and she is already learning how to walk with the children to and from school, making a point to stop and sit before crossing the road even if the kids do not. Rolo also plays differently with my girl then she does with my son, understanding that my girl needs to play running games where as my son would much rather play tug of war. She even picks up on my girls emotions and makes a point to sit with her and give kisses when my girl is feeling down but unwilling to say so.