therapy dogs

Ordinary People Extraordinary Planet- One of My Favorite Radio Interviews!

Posted by Barbara Techel


From Radio Host Ray Lenoard:  Man’s Best Friend? Frankie is more than man’s best friend, she brings peace and comfort to those who are dying. Barbara Techel and Frankie you both are doing the extraordinary!!!

Click here to hear one of my favorite interviews with one of the coolest radio hosts, Ray Leonard!

A very special thank you to Luann Travis, Volunteer Services Coordinator of Sharon S. Richardson Community Hospice for taking part in this interview and sharing the importance and value of therapy dogs.

Frankie the Therapy Dog Visits Memorial Hospital

Posted by Barbara Techel

 

Getting ready for a visit!

Some of my most "Joyful Paws" moments are when I take Frankie out for our thearpy dog work.  We volunteer the 1st Friday of the month at Memorial Medical Center, the 3rd Monday of the month at Libby's House, Senior Assisted Living, and the 2nd Tuesday of the month at Sharon S. Richardson Community Hospice.

Therapy Dog work is so rewarding!  Each and every time we do a visit I leave feeling like a million bucks. It continues to amaze me at how doing this work enriches my life beyond anything I could imagine- helping to always put things back into persepective when I lose my way. I'm so grateful I can do this work with Frankie.

If you'd like to be a therapy dog team with your dog there are many great organizations you can get your training from:

Therapy Dogs, Inc.

Therapy Dogs International

Delta Society

I highly recommend getting the training and having your dog as a certified therapy dog, then just popping into places for a visit. Many facilities require that you are a trained team, though there are some that don't. But being certified means you are professional, as well as you are covered under their liability insurance in the event something should happen.  Also google therapy dog facilities in your area as many have smaller groups set up that can help you through the process and get you ready for your test with one of the organizations I mentioned above.

 

Are You a Bucket Filler?

Posted by Barbara Techel

I am thrilled to be taking part in a program with Brooklyn Elementary School based on the Bucket Fillers 101 concept created by a group of very creative teachers.

This year, the focus of the PAWS program (positive attitude + work + success) created by Brooklyn Elementary is making Brooklyn Elementary a bucket filling school!  From what I understand they have hundreds of buckets lined up in their Grand Hall as part of this concept.


Bucket Fillers, Inc mission is:

• To create safer, kinder, more respectful school cultures where children are ready to learn

• To create communities where all children grow up confident, resilient, caring, and responsible

• To strengthen, encourage, and support families to become bucketfilling families

• To create positive, supportive workplaces

• To make bucket filling a habit and a way of life, resulting in individuals with full buckets who are healthy mentally, emotionally, and socially.

This is the first year they are bringing in an author (me!) and a rolling dog (Frankie!) as part of their program!  36-year devoted 3rd grade teacher, Joyce Gilmour reviewed my newest book about Frankie being a therapy dog and yes, you guessed it, a bucket filler!  So it fit right in with their program.  A dog teaching bucket filling is bound to drive the message home in the most beautiful way!

So for our first visit Frankie and I met the children via Skype and I read them our first book.  We will meet again in January where I will read Frankie’s newest book about her volunteer visits to Libby’s House- a Senior Assisted Living Facility.

Frankie and I getting ready for our 1st Skype visit reading with Brooklyn Elementary

 

Then in May we will visit in person (and dog!), and what a day it will be!!

As I continue to prepare for the day we will all meet I came across this little essay about bucket filling:

We all have an invisible bucket.

And that is a great way to picture our feelings.

When our bucket is full we are having positive feelings…joyful, happy… and grateful.

When our buckets are empty we might be sad or angry… or any of these negative feelings.

We can choose to be a bucket filler or a bucket dipper. A bucket filler helps make other people feel good by the things we do and say; A bucket dipper does just the opposite.

The best way to keep our bucket full is to fill other people’s buckets… We are in charge of our buckets all the time.

~Stacey Lundgren

Are you a bucket filler?

If you are elementary teacher interested in having us visit via Skype for a reading or presentation or interested in having us visit in person, please visit our teacher page on our website for more information.

Check out our free ebook on planning an in-person visit or our free ebook on planning a Skype visit.