Canine care returns

WHO LET THE DOGS IN

Canine-assisted therapy plans a comeback

Lindsay Garvey

Suzanne Lavallee, president and founder of Stellina, with Margaux, her female Belgian Malinois. JESSICA ZIMMER

As pandemic restrictions ease, nonprofits that offer canine-assisted therapy are looking to return to schools, hospitals, and nursing homes. Board members are applying new best practices to ensure the safety of dogs, volunteers, and people visiting with the dogs.

“We did not hurry into this. Our goal is to make sure the experience is safe for everyone. Measures to protect the community include special sprays after a visit, a disposable paper pad on a person’s lap, and hand sanitizer for the volunteer who is involved,” said Sara DeCrevel, board president of Napa-based Paws for Healing.

Paws for Healing trains dogs and volunteers and provides canine-assisted therapy in Napa, Solano, and Sonoma counties. The organization typically has over 200 active teams visiting rehabilitation centers, mental health facilities, veteran’s facilities, senior care residences, and hospice and career support groups. Its Paws for Reading teams, which encourage children to read to dogs, visit public libraries and schools.

In mid-July, Paws for Healing started allowing a volunteer to bring one to two dogs a week to an assisted living facility in Napa.

“We’re tip-toeing into this situation by having the dogs in a common area for people with dementia. Residents come out one at a time to pet and spend time with the dogs,” said DeCrevel.

A volunteer offered a preview of the visits a week prior by doing a walk-through of the facility with the dogs. Residents could see the dogs from their doorways as the volunteers introduced themselves and the animals.

DeCrevel said precautions include bathing the dogs before visits with chlorhexidine shampoo. Chlorhexidine, an antiseptic, kills germs on skin but does not negatively affect skin and hair. Volunteers also spray and wipe the dogs with a chlorhexidine solution

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after contact with every resident.

“We wipe the paws and the top of the fur. Usually the dogs don’t mind. It’s extra petting to them,” said DeCrevel.

Volunteers keep visits brief, at most a few minutes for each person. They check with facilities staff to make sure protocols are up to date and being followed.

Paws for Healing is now talking with Queen of the Valley Medical Center and St. Helena Hospital about reintroducing canine-assisted therapy teams in fall 2021.

DeCrevel said the nonprofit is not actively training volunteers. Paws for Healing encourages its current volunteers to continue keeping their dogs ready for visits.

“The last time we took a group of dogs out to support the community was to visit firefighters in Santa Rosa in the fall fires in 2020. When I took the dogs’ uniforms out then, they knew what they were. They were dancing all around the room,” said DeCrevel.

DeCrevel added Paws for Healing is exploring new ideas for virtual visits to K-12 schools for fall 2021.

Stellina Psychiatric Service Dogs, a Napa-based nonprofit, is using summer 2021 to prepare to serve local residents with mental health needs.

Stellina’s mission is to provide psychiatric service dogs to individuals who need such dogs to assist them in mitigating symptoms of anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Psychiatric service dogs, a subset of service dogs, are individually trained to perform specific tasks for their person.

“The dogs may use physical behavior to calm their handler, such as nose bumping, (lying) on top of the handler, placing their head in the handler’s lap, gently leaning against the body, or licking their hand. In addition, a dog may work to create space between

Courtesy of Paws for Healing

A child visits with a Paws for Healing therapy dog before the pandemic.

Courtesy of Paws for Healing

A Paws for Healing therapy dog visits with a child before the pandemic.

Courtesy of Paws for Healing

A Paws for Healing therapy dog stands ready to serve.

Courtesy of Paws for Healing

A student reads to a Paws for Healing therapy dog, in school prior to the pandemic.

the handler and a person that is causing the handler stress. A typical method is standing in between the handler and their conversation partner,” said Suzanne Lavallee, president and founder of Stellina. Lavallee is also the founder of dog-ventures, a St. Helena dog adventure camp.

Lavallee said the point of a psychiatric service dog is to allow their handler to function in day to day life, just as guide dogs aid individuals with visual impairments.

“The dogs also provide companionship and unconditional love,” said Lavallee.

Lavallee said Stellina is now fundraising and contacting trainers to bring dogs to Napa Valley in the next two years. The nonprofit gained approval to become a 501c3 nonprofit in September 2020.

The organization wants to focus on working with four breeds, German Shepherds, Belgian Malinois, Dutch Shepherds, and Border Collies. These breeds have a long history of serving as solid and reliable working dogs, particularly as guide dogs and service dogs.

Lavallee said she grew to understand the need for psychiatric service dogs by helping three people in Napa Valley secure such dogs.

“Soon after the individuals got their dogs, I asked each of them what they got from the dogs and why they needed them. It’s those stories, which contain reasons ranging from anxiety and depression to the fires and PTSD, that motivated me to start Stellina,” said Lavallee.

Lavallee said she then invited professional dog trainers, counselors, and psychologists to join Stellina’s board.

“We wrote the business plan and got all the necessary steps done for the Franchise Tax Board and the Internal Revenue Service, through the pandemic. The shelter-in-place restrictions, two wildfires, and for some board members, evacuations, didn’t stop our collaboration. No matter where we were and what was on our plate, we collaborated by phone, email, and Zoom to get this organization started,” said Lavallee.

Lavallee said in several years, Stellina may be interested in establishing a community outreach program to bring dogs to schools.

“It may look a little different than a typical canine-assisted therapy program, but that’s fine. We want to serve members of the community looking to recover,” said Lavallee.