Profile of a St. John Ambulance
Therapy Dog
By LARKIN SCHMIEDL Daily News Staff Reporter
Ivory
is a St. John Ambulance Therapy Dog, and Chris Redekop, her handler, adopted her two years ago. “I wanted her specifically to do pet therapy,” Redekop says. “I suffer from chronic anxiety, and so having her, I can do things I couldn’t normally do. I know firsthand the benefits of pets.” In her previous life, Ivory, a yellow lab, was a champion show dog. She lived most of her life in a kennel in Washington state. Now she’s retired and can lead a normal life, but Ivory is still special. “Her new job is volunteering,” says Redekop. “We go and do visitations.” The pair does two regular rounds, visiting Berwick retirement home and the Kamloops Christian School each once a week.
Redekop has felt the effects personally. She left her former job when she had a breakdown. “This is the first thing that I’ve done since I’ve been off,” she says, “and it’s taken a lot. With (Ivory), it’s amazing… all I have to do is just watch her.” Ivory is one of only five therapy dogs certified to work with children, which is why she helps out at the school reading program. “On Monday,” Redekop says, “one of the little kids came and put his head down on Ivory’s stomach, and was laying and reading to her. “Kids that are really nervous or struggle with reading… it just totally relaxes them, because they just read to the dog, not to an adult.”
Seventeen other dog-andhandler therapy teams visit the psychiatric ward, the hospital, the hospice and the library, where there’s a dogassisted reading program. Research shows their visits help people recover quicker from surgery and strokes, and reduce loneliness, depression and anxiety. FALL 2012 l KIBBLE
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