For the past 8 years I have been doing pet therapy through Alliance Of Therapy Dogs. Gamber and Glory were my first therapy dogs then came Guilty, Slammer and now Gertie. The dogs need to be over one year of age before they can be considered for testing to become part of a pet therapy team. Gertie turned one last November so the end of January she and I were tested out by an Alliance Of Therapy Dog tester/observer. Because of COVID and not being able to do observations in a medical facility we needed to be evaluated in another location which was at a pet store for Gertie and I, we also needed to submit 2 letter of references from people that have witnessed Gertie and I together. I got all my paperwork in order, sent it in and a few weeks later we were approved to start making pet therapy visits.

Of course Gertie needed her own therapy collar and leash for visits. When visiting kids they really like to read words on a collar so I put her name, calm, friend and peace on her collar. We are sad that we still can’t go into the schools and visit the kids but we have other visits in the works so she can start making a difference. She will need to be rotated with the other 4 dogs as they are still therapy dogs too and need to make visits each year to keep in good standing with the therapy group.