By Susan Spisak
April 30th was National Therapy Animal Day and with Service Dog Month coming in September, now’s a great time to celebrate both! To honor the hardworking, loving canines as well as their owners/teammates, let’s look at various categories, as well as local groups and individuals who participate. (Other animals may be therapeutic, but the focus here is dogs.)
Emotional Support Animals (ESAs), particularly dogs, provide comfort, companionship, and reduce anxiety to individuals with emotional or mental health conditions. They can be any breed or age, but the pet needs to be prescribed by a licensed mental health professional with a valid ESA letter.
ESAs aren’t trained to perform specific tasks—and they’re not protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Thus, they aren’t considered Service Dogs and aren’t allowed in most public places.
Canine Good Citizen Dogs (CGC) and therapy dogs are trained to provide comfort and emotional support to people in various settings like hospitals, schools, and nursing homes, working as a team with their owners to improve people's lives.
CGC dogs are trained/ assessed through the American Kennel Club guidelines. Owners can train their dogs or go through this with an area trainer. If they choose, they can then volunteer in the community. They can move on for training/testing through a therapy program, following AKC guidelines or through organizations such as Alliance of Therapy Dogs (ATD) and Therapy Dog International (TDI).
Nancy Seiden is a tester/observer for ATD and created Golden Love Therapy Dogs in Wells for her own ATD certified Retrievers, Briggs, Angie, and Duncan aka “Marshmellow. “I trained all three myself with the help of many dog trainers and obedience classes,” she explained. She’s been volunteering for more than ten years and takes them to Portland International Jetport, Goodall Library, two Maine Health Maine Medical Center facilities, three college campuses, several senior living/memory residential centers, and more.
“I believe in volunteering and giving back to one’s community. Therapy dog work has been a way to spread smiles, joy, and comfort while volunteering with my certified therapy dogs.” She added it’s a wonderful sight to see patients light up with a visit, and as far as students, their focus, skills, and motivation is increased by reading to therapy dogs.
Animal Welfare Society (AWS) in Kennebunk has a Visiting Pets program. Stephanie Kelley, their Marketing Communications Manager, shared that it’s as popular as ever. There are ten teams of volunteers (pet owners) and their dogs. Some are AWS alums, and all are AWS volunteers. The teams visit schools, nursing homes, residential homes, and dormitories.
“Two of the most popular locations are UNE during finals weeks (to give the students a break from studying) and McArthur and Graves Libraries, where once a month the Visiting Pets participate in story time in their respective children's room. The children's librarian reads while the Visiting Pets interact with the preschoolers and toddlers in attendance.” Facilities within a reasonable distance can request a visit using their website form. (animalwelfaresociety.org/outreach/visiting-pets/)
Service dogs are vital to their Veteran’s/owner’s physical and mental health. There are many types of specially trained dogs including, but not limited to, those for the blind, hearing impaired, autistic, diabetic, or those who need mobility assistance or have PTSD.
Maine Paws for Veterans, aka MPfV was originally established as Embrace A Vet in 2012. Tracy A. Shaw, MPfV’s Executive Director, said they’ve graduated 178 teams combined. Their motto is “Serving Veterans with Invisible Wounds.” To that end, they only train dogs to ease service-connected Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Their dogs are trained to mitigate symptoms of PTS by doing deep pressure exercises and act as a barrier between the veteran and strangers.
MPfV searches for medium breeds often from rescues and shelters—a true win-win for both animals and Vets, and this is at no cost to them. They offer a “Veteran’s own dog” option as well. Richard, U.S. Navy vet and a recent graduate, shared this, “The training class tapped into my inner strengths. I saw my personal growth as well as my dog’s. The feeling of pride whenever we were in public was quite overwhelming. I felt a significant shift in my mental health and well-being.” (mainepawsforveterans.org/)
The 501(c)(3) Service Dog Strong, SDS, was co-founded in 2018 by sexual assault victims and Veterans Simone Emmons and Kristen Stacy. Kristen, now the sole head of SDS, said they’ve had 19 graduates. They rescue shelter dogs to become service dogs, then pair them with Veteran “survivors” of sexual assault and/or Military Sexual Trauma who’ve been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Their mission is clear: “People Saving Dogs, Dogs Saving People.” Once paired, teams go through a twenty-week training program. (sdsmaine.org)
Retired U.S. Army Sgt. Christy Gardner is Founder and President of Mission Working Dogs. Because Gardner’s accomplished much in her stateside life with her service dog by her side, this certified specialized trainer wanted those who’d benefit from trained canines to realize success in their lives as well.
Mission Working Dogs (MWD) trains mobility assistance and PTSD service dogs, therapy dogs, and facility service dogs. Lauren King, their Client and Services Coordinator, said to date, they’ve trained 21 service dog teams and 21 therapy dog teams. Their goal is to aid individuals with disabilities to live independent lives.
One special Golden, Boss, along with his handler, is being trained through MWD to work at area children advocacy centers bringing sunshine to their days. For info, missionworkingdogs.org/. Note, Lauren added they do need full and part-time puppy raisers.
Animal Trainer Clarissa Black created the non-profit Pets for Vets, Inc. in 2009 to say thank you to veterans. Pets for Vets strive to create immediate recognition, comfort, and security between a Veteran and his animal. Marianne Quinn said there have been changes, “There currently are four active chapters as the National office restructured how the program is delivered, utilizing a network of satellite trainers. The Portland Maine chapter is still active, and I continue as the Chapter Director.” To read their heartwarming success stories, and for all info, petsforvets.com/portland-me.
K9s on The Front Line (K9sOTFL) was founded in 2016 by Hagen Blaszyk and Linda Murray as a ME nonprofit providing certified, trained service dogs or companion dogs to military Veterans and First Responders affected by PTSD free of charge. They save at-risk shelter dogs, and they in turn save their Veteran/First Responders recipients--giving both their second chance at life with more meaning, hope, and purpose. In 2018, top graduate, Navy Vet, Jason Howe, went on to open a Jefferson City, MO chapter with his wife, Lynn Howe, a former RN, and it flourished.
In 2024, Hagen and Linda turned the reins over to Jason as the CEO/ President and Lynn as Vice President/Director of Operations. Jefferson City became the official headquarters with a new K9s On The Front Line and Diamond Pet Foods Training Facility. I spoke with Jason, and he indicated they’ll continue offering training classes in ME. For interested local Vets/First Responders, apply through their website, k9sonthefrontline.org/.
US Service Animals Online Training consists of easy-to-follow videos that outline animal behavior theories. There’s customized support, and it teaches pets to assist with various disabilities, including blindness, hearing loss, diabetes, mobility issues, and epilepsy. No breed or size restrictions apply. The cost is $349. (usserviceanimals.org)
College for Pets offers Service Dog programs in New England. There’s a combination of one-on-one, group classes, public access training, video lessons, and online support. The Puppy Program has participants train pre-selected dogs while the Adult Dog Program is for approved existing pets. Costs are $4,500+. collegeforpets.com.
