(MY) Dr. Dog - animal assisted therapy

[Guest guest]

Animal-assisted therapy-The Star, 2nd June 2007

 

By SHOBA MANO

 

Dr Dog is a programme where dogs make weekly visits to hospitals, old

folks and children's homes as part of an animal-assisted therapy

programme.

 

Now this programme is coming to Malaysia through the Furry Friends

Farm (FFF), an animal shelter cum working farm in Kundang, Selangor.

 

The Dr Dog programme was introduced by the Animals Asia Foundation

(AAF) in Hong Kong. Jill Robinson, who founded AAF, says medical

evidence indicates that people who have pets enjoy lower stress and

cholesterol levels, a stronger immune system and less chance of

suffering a heart attack.

 

Since the programme started, AAF has witnessed the dogs changing many

lives. For example, two patients – an autistic child and a man

suffering from senile dementia – who had not spoken in years, began to

speak after several visits from the dogs.

 

How it all started

 

Robinson, who has been working in Hong Kong and China since 1985,

found it increasingly difficult to ignore the pitiful cries of cats

and dogs crammed inside cages at wet markets.

 

Dr Eddie the dog visiting a patient in hospital with Jill Roninson.

" I began to shoot videos and use them to campaign against killing

animals and wildlife for food and fur, " said Robinson.

 

In 1991, she introduced the concept of " animal welfare through people

welfare " when she read about animal-assisted therapy in hospitals

across the UK.

 

At first, Robinson's requests for her dog, Max to be used for therapy

were turned down by Hong Kong hospitals. She persisted, and one day,

the Duchess of Kent Children's Hospital relented.

 

" Max was not the least bit perturbed as the sceptical medical staff

and media watched us, " recalled Robinson of her very first Dr Dog

outing.

 

A depressed and withdrawn teenage paraplegic, who was confined to his

bed, was wheeled to the front. Medical staff did not expect him to

participate in this trial project, but Max had other ideas.

 

He went straight past the curious children to the boy, stood on his

hind legs and placed his golden paws on the side of his bed. The boy's

face lit up in a radiant smile. By the end of that session, Robinson

was invited to return with Max, and the Dr Dog Programme was born.

 

How it works

 

Participating dogs need only be vaccinated and neutered. A simple test

is also done to place the dog in the category most suited to its

temperament before it is sent out each week to various places. The

guardians only tag along.

 

" My dog, Ocha, went blind after an accident. I took her to a school

for the blind and the children wanted to know how Ocha found her food

and water bowl. It was a great opportunity for me to share how

intelligent animals are and the special senses they have which are far

superior to humans, " said AAF honorary director Gigi Fu.

 

Sabrina Yeap, Joy and Paul Cheong. - Picture by Shoba Mano

Dr Dog here

 

Meanwhile in Malaysia, the FFF's commitment to animals caught AAF's

attention. They were so impressed by the organisation's work that they

paid all expenses for two FFF representatives to train for six days in

Hong Kong to learn about the Dr Dog Programme. One of those who went

was Paul Choong, 50 (and his dog Joy).

 

Joy was a stray dog that had been attacked by Indonesian migrant

workers who called him haram. The attack, which was reported to have

taken place at the Ki-Park Sri Utara construction site in Kuala

Lumpur, was so violent that veterinarians were forced to remove his

lower jaw.

 

" I've accumulated a lifetime of heartache investigating animal abuse

for 10 years in Malaysia, " said Sabrina Yeap, 43, a former animal

inspector who founded the FFF and rescued Joy.

 

Yeap has fought to prosecute those who splashed boiling water on dogs

and confined cats for breeding in small cages where they were forced

to sleep on their own faeces.

 

" Despite all this, I've watched Malaysian courts give only token fines

to abusers. Even worse, they returned the abused animals to their

abusers.

 

" FFF is keen to educate the abusers as Malaysian society itself is to

blame for what happened to Joy. When animal abusers are not prosecuted

or are let off lightly, what message does this send to the public? "

she asked.

 

The launch

 

Yeap said there was currently no systematic education on animal

welfare in Malaysia. Now that the FFF is launching the Dr Dog

Programme, she hopes the government would lend its support by allowing

them to visit homes for the wayward, prisons and hospitals so more

people can benefit from the canine doctors.

 

Choong, Joy's guardian, is one of those who has been trained for the purpose.

 

" When I went to Hong Kong, I met Eddie, Robinson's Dr Dog. She had

rescued Eddie from a wet market where he was about to be killed for

meat.

 

Eddie is affectionately called Wong Jai, translated as Yellow Boy, by

the people he visits each day in Hong Kong. He is now an international

star, having appeared with Robinson on CNN's Talk Asia and National

Geographic's Dogs With Jobs.

 

FFF will launch the Dr Dog Programme on June 9 at Central Park, Bandar

Utama, Kuala Lumpur. A children's art contest and dog fashion show

will also be held.

 

" In view of the stigma faced by strays in Malaysia, FFF is inviting

only mongrels and mixed breeds to participate in the Dr Dog Programme.

 

" This is FFF's commitment to change mindsets and prove that these dogs

are just as intelligent and loveable as pedigrees, " said Yeap.

 

# For more information on how to participate in the contests and the

Dr Dog Programme, visit www.remembersheena.blogspot.com