'Your dog saved my life'

By Nikki Rajala

“Mom told me, ‘Your dog Spot saved my life!’” Dorothy Bernardy said.  

Dorothy Bernardy of Little Falls has worked with therapy dogs since 2007. Her dog Spot was rated as a complex dog, the highest level of pet therapy training, by the Central Minnesota Therapy Animal Association (CMTAA).

Dorothy Bernardy holds Spot, a Chihuahua, her first therapy dog.  Photo courtesy of Dorothy Bernardy

“One night I came from work late and Mom had waited to join me for supper. But when she walked across the kitchen and sat at the table, Spot, our Chihuahua, followed her. He looked at her and gave me a funny look. Again he looked at Mom and began spinning in circles. I asked Mom if she was okay. She shook her head and said she felt dizzy. Because Mom was diabetic, I thought she might have low blood sugar.

“Then Spot dropped to the floor, and I reached over to put my arm around her to catch her as she passed out. I gave Mom orange juice and called an ambulance. Though the EMTs checked her over, they couldn’t find anything obvious and left. But Spot would not stop sniffing her leg up and down and stared at me intensely.

“I was quite new to what pet therapy cues indicated, so I phoned my teacher, J.P. Martin, and learned what Spot was telling me — spinning meant ‘dizzy’ and sniffing up and down a leg signaled problems with circulation.”

She brought her mother to the Emergency Room and explained to the doctor what Spot had done. From his work at the St. Cloud Hospital, he understood that therapy pets have unusual intuitive skills.

The doctor found her mother had been bleeding internally, due to fluctuating Coumadin levels, adding that, if Dorothy hadn’t brought her in, she might not be alive by morning.

“I learned to say, ‘Show me, Spot,’ to clarify his reaction to a situation,” Dorothy said. “Afterwards Mom and Spot maintained a strong connection — if her blood sugar ever got low, he wouldn’t let her off the couch until I got home.”

As the activities director in St. Otto’s Care Center in Little Falls, Dorothy wondered if their residents could benefit from therapy pets. So when a flyer offering therapy dog training with J.P. Martin through CMTAA came across her desk in 2007, she enrolled in the course.

“But when we began, Spot thought he was still in charge. Our trainer had never met such a stubborn dog. Because the handler must be Alpha over their pet, J.P. recommended more obedience classes for therapy work. We took class #2, in conjunction with the therapy dog class. Spot still had his independent streaks, but became an amazing therapy dog.”

To work as therapy animals (other pets such as rabbits and small horses are included), trainers watch for crucial skills. Pets must have a good disposition and not be afraid of people, particularly strangers, as they will be with many unfamiliar people. Dogs must be obedient to work with the public. The bond between handler and dog and its potential to grow are also significant as pet therapy handlers must read their dogs and pay attention to their patterns. 

“Our pets teach us, we’re not teaching them,” Dorothy said.

Dorothy Bernardy holds Spot, a Chihuahua, her first therapy dog. The two began pet therapy training in 2007 with J.P. Martin — this dog saved her mother’s life.  Photo courtesy of Dorothy Bernardy

People interested  in doing pet therapy first go through several kinds of in-person training and online evaluations. CMTAA members are trained to evaluate the pet and their handler at one of four levels, but only ratings of “predictable” or “complex” allow them to pursue that work.

Not all pets are appropriate as therapy pets, she said, and some pets might need more instruction. One rated as “predictable” needs more human guidance in working with therapy situations, whereas a “complex” pet can handle more stressful situations.

“Spot was complex — I could put him on a patient’s bed with lots of IVs and tubing and he would absolutely stay there if  told him to stay,” Dorothy said.

Having worked with multiple comatose patients, her trainer J.P. knew the stages of comas and discussed how to work with them in class.

Dorothy was intrigued.

“A patient who transferred to our facility was comatose. He could sit but had little response and his hands stayed clenched. At first, I’d move his hand to pet Spot. One day I saw a thumb movement! He could then pet Spot with his thumb.

“J.P. helped me determine what to try next. When my patient could move his thumb himself, I’d walk in the door and ask ‘Good day or bad?’ He’d respond with a thumb up or thumb down. If Spot was there, his thumb immediately went up!”

Dorothy found various projects to strengthen him and hoped to get him to talk.

“Once he had a visit from his friend and his daughter. I had projects prepared for them and jokingly said to him, ‘You could at least say thank you.’ In a very soft rough voice, he said, ‘Thank you.’ That response brought us to tears.”

Later he transferred to a nursing facility in Watkins, Dorothy’s hometown, so when she visited home, she and Spot spent time with him as well.

Though Spot sometimes did what he wanted in classes, he did phenomenal things with patients, Dorothy said. 

“One day Spot insisted on going into a room at St. Otto’s. The woman in that room loved dogs and they connected immediately. Weeks later, she was dying, and we offered to sit with her. I put Spot up on the bed with her, but at first he didn’t want to be near her.

“I said, ‘No, we need to be here.’ I held her hand, with Spot on her other side. All of a sudden, he turned and stared at me intensely and a little tear ran down his cheek — just as she took her last breath.”

When Spot aged, Dorothy and husband Terry adopted a rescue dog, Charlie, a shih tzu-Yorkie, and watched while Spot led the way in training him.

Caroline Waytashek, a resident at St. Otto’s Care Center in Little Falls, loves the chance to hug Charlie, Dorothy Bernardy’s therapy dog.  Photo by Bill Vossler

“Spot could demonstrate for Charlie what an obedience command meant, like ‘Stay’ or ‘Sit down.’ Spot would stand next to Charlie, look at him and then do what I’d ask. If Charlie walked away, Spot would look again at Charlie — and then they’d both stay.”

Since then Spot and Charlie have passed away. The Bernardys tried another rescue dog who was afraid of people. Then they chose Woofie from a breeder, due to his strong socialization in early puppyhood. As Woofie is still young and learning people, he’s certified as predictable.

In addition to working at St. Otto’s all day, Dorothy brings Woofie in an evening a week to visit residents.

“Actually, some residents know my dog’s name better than mine,” Dorothy said. “I tease them sometimes, that there’s a human at the end of this leash.”

When Dorothy took her first therapy course from J.P., he was seeking someone to help and she stepped up to become a trainer. Being his assistant was an excellent opportunity to learn more as his knowledge went far beyond basic obedience training. When J.P. could no longer drive in the evenings, she’d pick him up so he could continue to teach.

Dorothy mentioned a pet therapy study done at the St. Cloud Hospital, proving how dogs assist by taking pain away from people. In the study, staff members checked pain levels of a patient and left. Then a therapy dog team entered to spend time with that patient. After they’d finished, a staff member returned to check pain levels — they had dropped remarkably. In addition, blood pressures dropped. CMTAA handlers share what they see with nursing staff who then bring that information to doctors to further investigate.

“Our pets know amazing things. The dog of one CMTAA handler stuck his nose into his handler’s mouth — an unusual thing. The handler knew to consult a doctor, and was diagnosed with esophageal cancer,” Dorothy said.

“When J.P. had hip surgery, the pain meds didn’t work so he was in excruciating pain and couldn’t sleep. We placed a Great Dane and a Chihuahua on his bed, one on each side of him. The dogs ‘locked in,’ which means the dogs matched their heart and respiration rates with the patient, easing pain removal. Our dogs worked on J.P., which allowed him finally to fall sound asleep, for two and a half hours.”

The healing gifts J.P. taught the handlers and their pets were returned to him.

Pet therapy training

Classes to train people and their pets are held two times each year, at 7 p.m. Thursday evenings at St. John’s Episcopal Church in St. Cloud. The cost is $175 for the first seven weeks. If they are ready, the team may be evaluated through PetPartners.org. The next portion of the course is 10 weeks long and covers more of how to read a pet, with hands-on practice, and costs $250. Those interested may contact Dorothy at 320-360-1555.