WEBVTT

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Welcome back to Chester's news wrap. When you think

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of therapeutic outlets, you might think of taking a

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walk in the park, journaling or even going to

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an actual therapist. But there is also the option

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of a therapy animal and for today's national Dog day

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, we're shining a light on one organization whose mission

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is to assist the community with our furry friends.

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The new york therapy animals organization is dedicated to bringing

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animal resources to human needs in health care as well

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as Children in schools and libraries. And joining me

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now is Polly baird, new york therapy animals,

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licensed therapy dog trainer and evaluator with her therapy dog

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Tommy. So nice to have you guys here.

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Tommy is absolutely adorable. So can you tell me

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what the origins of this organization are? Absolutely.

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So Tommy and I are a therapy dog team.

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Tommy is a rough collie and we volunteer together both

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ends of the leash, the dog and the huge

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and we like to give back to our community with

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many different programs and all different facilities including the read

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program, which is where Children work on loving reading

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and becoming better readers as Tommy is a reading education

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assistance dog. Okay, that sounds interesting. Tell

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me a little bit more about that. How is

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Tommy assisting in literacy here? Well, Tommy prefers

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books on dogs, especially lassie. I don't know

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if anyone knows class anymore, but last used to

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be very popular. It was a rough collie Tommy's

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a rough collie. Yes, I know sit and

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Children actually really love to read to dogs as you

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can imagine. And so their reading levels improve.

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They read to Tommy one day a week for a

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year and it's an amazing thing to witness because they

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develop a relationship with Tommy. They learn to love

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Tommy and just to love reading as well and they

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become better readers as a result of the program.

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You mentioned this reading program. What other ways does

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your organization help assist the community with animals? Well

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, we visit nursing homes schools, we do visits

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with colleges to help students prepare before finals. We

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visit hospitals. We also do a lot of office

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visits. We work on zoom. Now we do

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a lot of fun visits on zoom to help people

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stay engaged both in school and at work. Well

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, I can tell you that everyone here at better

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. Would love a visit from Tommy once in a

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while. Tommy likes the camera. Now it's National

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Dog Day. So let's talk about dogs what makes

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them specifically really great therapy animals. Well, dogs

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bring a really unique as you can see sort of

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novelty to really any space and they're a great icebreaker

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. So they allow people to communicate and talk about

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a dog in their life or a dog breed that

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they love. And so they're just a really special

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way that we can give back and connect with each

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other in a way that's just You can't even explain

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really the impact that dogs can have on our lives

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. They lower blood pressure and make us less stressed

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and less depressed and connect with each other in a

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really special way. Now we have the dog,

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the celebrity himself with us today. So let's talk

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a little bit about Tommy and his journey. How

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did you and Tommy and Tommy specifically become a therapy

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dog? Well, I'm also a therapy dog trainer

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and the processes that the dogs have to be at

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least 17 months old in order to participate. Uh

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that's also so that you have a relationship with the

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dog. Tommy is my dog. He lives on

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my couch at home and sleeps in my bed and

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is, we have a very strong relationship in order

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to become a therapy dog, dogs also have to

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know some basic skills like sit and stay and down

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come. They have to be housebroken for example.

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And then we teach them how to interact in many

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different spaces with different populations, how to work around

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medical equipment, how to engage with people in all

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different situations, young people, older people so that

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they're very comfortable and happy as well. It's important

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that the dog be reliable and really enjoy the work

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. So you mentioned a couple of the steps to

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kind of getting your dog up to speed. But

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I want to know what the process is like for

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people who might Be interested. Can just anyone bring

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their dog in. What if you don't have a

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dog, can you still sign up. There's definitely

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ways to be a volunteer even without a dog,

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but if you do have a dog and you're interested

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, your dog needs to be at least 17 months

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old. They need to know those basic commands,

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then you participate in a one all day workshop,

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you have a six week class and then there's an

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evaluation that you must pass as well in order to

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become an insured and certified therapy dog team. And

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for someone who maybe doesn't have the resources of the

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time to do this themselves, What are some other

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ways the community can support your organization? Well,

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definitely check us out on social media and instagram and

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support our dogs and learn more about therapy dogs.

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This is a very unique way to give back to

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your community that is really like no other way of

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volunteering. Well, Polly, I'm so glad that

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you joined us today and brought Tommy here with you

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. Thank you so much for your time today.

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We all enjoyed having you. That's probably baird new

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york therapy animals, licensed therapy, dog trainer and

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evaluator with of course or therapy dog Tommy. Now

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, for more information on the new york therapy animals

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organization, you can scan the QR code right now

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on your screen