Every dog has its day in Guelph, and local pups and their owners are eager to share comfort with others. Sunshine Therapy Dogs, a Toronto-based non-profit, is expanding to Guelph and has had a warm reception. “We’ve had a tremendous response from the community here,” said Linda Sukk, executive director.
“Normally it takes us at least a couple of months to get a group together that’s large enough to do an assessment, but here it only took weeks.” Sukk, along with Guelph program director Lainie Clarke and trainer Maggi Burtt, came to Dubin Street United Church on Saturday Jan. 25 to hold an initial meeting in the gym with potential volunteers and their dogs.
Folks had self-referred and already had one interview, then brought their dogs in to complete an evaluation. “We’re just looking to make sure that the dog isn’t showing any signs of stress being in an environment where they are approached by strangers,” said Sukk. Linda Sukk, executive director at Sunshine Therapy Dogs, meets Frankie on Jan 25.
Burtt had either Sukk or Clarke approach the dogs one-on-one, then have the dogs walk toward them. She also made noise, dragged a chair around to mimic an accessibility device and then greeted the dogs herself. She petted them all over and made sure they didn’t mind being touched or held if the pup was small enough.
The goal is to find good-natured dogs who want to work and love meeting people to visit with folks who are vulnerable or isolated and need a “ray .
