Tina Jullings established the not-for-profit group in November 2021 with her 4 pals Lorraine Joy, subscription positioning secretary, Claire Taylor, treasurer and Barbara Greenway and Ronnie Simmons, both Southend co-ordinators.
“We started out just the five of us with ten dogs between us and now we have 160 members,” said Tina, who is the chair of Essex Therapy Dogs.
“It has been a phenomenal success so far. I think people like the fact we are a local organisation and have a personal touch.”
People can register to end up being a member and employ their own dogs to end up being treatment dogs. Once they have actually gone through the procedure to ensure they appropriate they will be provided a positioning.
“We have so many wonderful stories from members who have taken their dogs to places and had amazing responses,”said Tina.
“One member spoke of a lady in a care home, who had not been speaking since she had arrived there, who then came to life when she saw the dog and started talking again.”
Although there are great deals of charming dogs out there, Tina says not all of them will make excellent treatment dogs.
“We go through a procedure to ensure the dogs are a good fit as treatment dogs.
They require to be older than 12 months, so they run out the naughty puppy phase, they require to be immunized and they require to not have health conditions that require them to be on discomfort medication as we desire them to be able to take pleasure in the sessions,” explained Tina.
“We likewise try to find dogs which are well acted and don’t leap up so we like to fulfill in a hectic location like a coffee shop or pub to see how they respond with great deals of sound and individuals. If they manage that well then, we understand they will manage being a treatment dog. We will likewise examine their actions to things like having their tail pulled because this kind of thing might take place throughout a session and whether they can take deals with carefully as a great deal of our customers will save them a biscuit or unique reward to provide to them. If the dog succeeds with all of this then we will provide the owner a possibility to end up being a member.
Story time – Essex Therapy Dogs at a Love Your Library occasion (Image: Essex Therapy Dogs)
There’s a subscription charge for which they will get a subscription pack that includes their ID badge and a kerchief for the dog to use throughout sessions and we would collaborate to discover a routine positioning.”
Search “Essex Therapy Dogs” on Facebook and at www.essextherapydogs.co.uk where you can register to the newsletter.
