A crowd of children, parents and grandparents visited Kutztown Community Library to see Heroic Dogs by Lehigh Valley Therapy Dogs on June 18.
“All of these dogs are heroes because they are therapy dogs,” said therapy dog handler Beverly “Dusty” Springer. “They weren’t born therapy dogs. It took a lot of effort on everybody’s part.”
Springer explained that therapy dogs do not lead the blind like service dogs. She said they are pets who stay with their handler and go through special training and complete a test. She brought her Labrador Retriever, Sam, to demonstrate the Canine Good Citizen Test, which includes the dog accept a friendly stranger, sit politely for petting, have good appearance and grooming, walk on a loose leash, walk through a crowd, sit and down on command, come when called, react politely to another dog, good or no reactions to distractions and supervised separation.
Three other handlers and their therapy dogs also presented at the program.
Linda Friscia-Oppe, with her Dalmatian Dalai, explained the importance of choosing the right dog for their family. She recommended doing research about dog breeds before adopting or buying a dog.
Sue Hartle and her Goldendoodle Nellie demonstrated proper pet grooming with help from a volunteer.
Ken Herr, Allentown, shared the story of his poodle, Nori, who was born with knee caps that wouldn’t stay in place. Double knee surgery corrected the condition. Nori is now a therapy dog visiting hospitals, nursing homes, schools and even competes in competitive canine agility. Herr hopes the children learn from Nori.
“Even when you don’t feel like it, stick with it and you’ll succeed,” said Herr.
Nori jumped over agility bars, showing her success story.
“It was really amazing to see the miracle story of Nori,” said Super Reader Joy Newswanger, youth services librarian. “Somebody born with knees that were wrong and now she competes in jumping and to see it live here with the video. I think that inspired all of the kids here. No matter how different you are, you can be a hero. You can do things you never thought you could. I was very excited that they came and shared these stories with us and made us look at dogs differently.”
Newswanger said therapy dogs visit hospitals, nursing homes, schools, universities, day cares and the library.
“Anywhere people are stressed, they offer comfort, calm them down and they can do heroic things that they never knew they could because of the presence of the dog,” she said.
The Heroic Dogs program is part of the library’s summer reading program “Every Hero Has a Story.” While there are more than 200 children registered so far for this year, Newswanger was surprised to see so many people come out for the Heroic Dogs.
“I knew dogs were popular. I didn’t know they were this popular,” said Newswanger. “I’m really excited that we’re off to a really big start… They’re already being Super Readers.”
