Comfort Canines For Christ
"It's Not About The Dogs"
Canine Ambassador
Brady
TherapyDog Brady is a 4-year-old Cockapoo and a solid 17 pounds. His mom is a third-generation Cockapoo and his dad is a Miniature Poodle. Brady was born a single puppy, which is very rare, so we call him the “One and Only.” Not having any siblings is reflected in his personality. Brady thinks he is the only dog that matters and is the pack’s leader! This leads to another unusual trait of Brady. Since he has only trained with 5 other large breed dogs, he sometimes thinks he is a big dog too and loves to romp with his therapy dog friends when “off-duty.”
Brady completed training through intermediate obedience, earning the American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizen title. Concurrently, he got a very early start in therapy dog training at 9 months by doing shadow visits with highly experienced therapy dog teams, like TherapyDog Goose! Brady then completed a rigorous 53-hour therapy dog course offered through his volunteer therapy dog group. By 14 months,
Brady was doing his own therapy dog visits. His handler practices “training is for life.” Brady has completed a variety of formal and informal training to build the human-canine bond and to continually increase his skill level. Brady is co-certified by Alliance of Therapy Dogs and maintains his status through annual recertification. Brady now reflects the highest of therapy dog standards. In 3 years, Brady has completed over 256 total therapy dog visits. He is also cross-trained as a qualified substitute for fellow therapy dogs at other facilities. While he specializes in serving friends with disabilities, Brady is adept at working with friends requiring skilled nursing care and memory care.
Brady spends his 3 weekly visits at Easterseals (Adult Services) and its VIP Academy (High School). Easterseals trains and educates people with learning and physical disabilities. Brady visits, on average, 6-7 classrooms weekly, totalling 60-80 friends per week at Easterseals. After individual greetings, Brady interacts with friends through animal assisted activities. There are 12 different weekly activity themes ranging from Obedience, Tricks, Shell Game, Puzzles, Tunnels, Tic-Tac-Toe-Toe, and Painting with the Pups, to name a few. Each of these encourages maximum participation with each friend. Brady is very affectionate towards his friends, old and new, and they are very much attached to him. As a way to further connect with his friends at Easterseals and on Facebook, Brady actually talks! Most of his friends are verbal learners. Brady’s friends focus best through 2-minute videos. So, each week, via the smart TVs in each room, Brady delivers the Bible ``Passage of the Week.” You can watch and listen to Brady by visiting his Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/TherapyDogBrady and selecting “videos.” This has been a very effective communication tool. And now, as Brady would say. “Remember who always loves you,” Brady out!
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