Pat
& Steve (the husband)
Ernie
& Daisy
Great Danes
We, like several others, got involved
with Dreamworkers through the Obedience for Life class that they provide. Ernie, our youngest Great Dane, was a
stubborn, but excessively submissive puppy. We had always trained our
dogs ourselves, but he just wasn’t "getting it". We enrolled
him in the obedience class when he was 4 ½ months old. The class
did wonders to build his confidence and give us control over what became a 125
lb. dog.
While in the obedience class, the trainer told us about the Dreamworkers Therapy Dog program. I thought that my older Great Dane, Daisy, would be perfect for Therapy work. She is an incredibly sweet, affectionate, intelligent (as Danes go) and mellow dog. I brought her to the Therapy Dog class, where I learned the importance of early socialization. Consequently, the dog I thought was perfect for Therapy work did not turn out to be my Therapy Dog.
Daisy was 2 years old and had no experience with crowds of strangers or dogs that she hadn’t grown up with. We discovered that Daisy is afraid of strange dogs and doesn’t want them near her. She tries to make them go away by growling and lunging at them. She is not, however, actually dog-aggressive. She will happily play with these same dogs in her own fenced yard. She just doesn't deal well with the stress of unfamiliar surroundings while restrained on a leash. Daisy continues to make progress with her desensitization program.
In the mean time, Ernie passed his AKC Canine Good Citizen test and received his TDI certification (8/19/99) and received his DreamWorkers certification. He was a regular visitor to the Wellstar Dallas Nursing Home for 7 years until he was diagnosed with bone cancer. He was so popular with the residents that they had a Retirement Party for him shortly before he succumbed to the disease two weeks before his 9th birthday. We are now working on our next therapy dog candidate, Gretzky.
