Hello Readers!  Today I am excited to publish my exclusive interview with Ms. Debi Krakar, The Founder and Executive Director Of The Austin Dog Alliance.  These are the nice folks that helped Morgan and I get started as a therapy reading team.  They have a great program for dogs who are interested in becoming a therapy team with their human!  Of course, there is much more than just therapy training at The Austin Dog Alliance.  I'll let Debi tell you all about that below!

Here I, Courage The Reading Dog, am interviewing Debi Krakar the Executive Director of The Austin Dog Alliance!

Courage Interviews Debi Krakar OF Austin Dog Alliance.

Courage: "Hello Debi, First I want to thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.  As the Executive Director for The Austin Dog Alliance I'm sure you are very, very, busy and I appreciate you granting me an interview! So lets get started!

People often ask Morgan what they need to do in order to get their own pets certified to do reading therapy, or other kinds of therapy work.  Morgan always recommends starting by contacting Austin Dog Alliance.  Can you tell us a little bit about how ADA helps therapy teams train and get certified?"   

Debi: "We have a pet therapy class for dogs that already know sit, down, come, stay, leave it and polite leash walking.  The ideal therapy dog LOVES strangers of all shapes and sizes." 

Courage:  "Can human kids train to be part of a therapy team too?"  

Debi: "Children from 10 – 14 can volunteer with their parents and their dog.  Teenagers who are 15 or older can test and visit by themselves."  

Courage: "What about puppies?"

Debi: "  Puppies should attend training classes as soon as they are 8 weeks old.  To pass the therapy dog test, we recommend waiting until the puppy is 18 months old." 

Courage:  "Morgan and I began training by taking ADA's Pet Therapy seminar.  Morgan found it helped her a great deal when she was trying to decide if pet therapy was a good fit for she and I.  Not all dogs enjoy pet therapy I'm told.  Can you tell me what sort of dog usually makes a good therapy dog?"

Debi:  "They must love all strangers and enjoy petting and hugging from strangers.  They also need to be neutral around other dogs.  They can get a bit interested in other dogs, but must be able to listen to their human handler, even if another dog is nearby." 

Courage:  "After Morgan and I completed our first Pet Therapy Training class we took our Pet Therapy Dog and Handler Evaluation.  I passed with flying colors, Pyrenees are notoriously calm, cool and collected, as you probably know.  But Morgan was very nervous. Our instructor Carolyn H., and I, really had to coach Morgan to get her to pass.  The examination evaluates the dog AND the human, is that correct?"

Debi:  "  Yes."  

Courage:  "What happens if one part of the team doesn't pass the evaluation?"  

Debi:  "Sometimes a handler needs a bit more training, just like the dogs.  We work to help both pass as a team." 

Courage:  "Once we passed our evaluation Morgan was still a little bit nervous about starting.  Luckily, we were able to go out and observe other therapy teams at work.  Do you recommend all new teams do some observing first?"

Debi:  "It really depends on the handler.  Some folks really need this step, others don’t.  We try to respect what each individual teams needs." 

Courage: "How many pet therapy teams do you have at the ADA today, and what type of therapy visits do they do?"  

Debi: "We have 120 therapy teams.  They visit about 180 different partner sites.  These include hospitals, nursing homes, colleges, elementary and middle schools, libraries, occupational therapy centers, recovery centers and more." 

Courage: "Morgan loves the support she continues to get from the ADA staff and volunteers, even now that we are not currently taking classes.  Any time she has a question she says she knows someone on the ADA team will help her find an answer.  Now I, Courage The Reading Dog, have one last question for this interview.  My sister, Craaaaazy Zoe (the chocolate Labrador) is a bit jealous of all the attention I get doing my therapy work.  Unfortunately Zoe is a little too... "bouncy" to do therapy.   Do you have other programs at the ADA that Zoe might like? 

Debi: " Zoe would likely enjoy agility.  She can run and jump and use her enthusiasm to win the game."  

Courage:  " I will tell her to check that out!  Thanks again for taking the time to talk to me Debbi."

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Readers,it is I Courage The reading Dog again.  I want to tell you there is something for everyone at The Austin Dog Alliance. There are programs you can get involved in where you and your family can foster and train a PTSD service dog.  There are all kinds of fun classes for you and your dog to take like Agility, and Nose Work classes, they also offer classes for basic obedience and more advanced manners. They even have a special class to help people learn  how to teach their dog fancy tricks.   In additon to classes, there is summer camp for kids and dogs!  Best of all, you can have your dog's birthday party at the beautiful ADA facilities (which include a kitchen, classrooms, and a gorgeous fenced park where your dog can run off leash).  Morgan thinks I should also mention to mention that you can have people parties there too.  So if you are looking for fun things to do this summer and you don't want to leave your dog behind (we HATE getting left behind!) please check out The Austin Dog Alliance right away!