Therapy Dogs Help Girls With Emotional Problems
Program that helps girls with emotional problems finds dogs make a difference.
Jan. 3, 2007 — -- Studies have shown that owning a dog can be good for your health by lowering blood pressure and stress, and dogs may even be able to sense the onset of a heart attack.
Now there is evidence that man's best friend could soothe those who struggle with emotional problems.
Excelsior , a program in rural Colorado that matches pets with young girls at risk, has had remarkable success in helping the girls.
"I haven't really been stable through any home. I wanted to be involved in gangs and I've been in fights and not really been in a real stable public school," said Meagan, a 16-year-old member of the Excelsior program. All of the girls asked their last names not be used.
Tiffany, 13, has been at Excelsior since she was 11 years old. "Before this I was hospitalized, and before that I was like in different foster homes," she said.
Michelle, 20, said family problems led to her troubling behavior.
"I came here because of, you know, past issues with my family members and a couple deaths in my family and drugs and running away and drinking a lot of alcohol," she said.
During the last two years, though, the stories these girls tell have taken on a distinctly different tone, thanks to weekly visits from therapy dogs Winston, Abraham and Brando.
"They just bring out the good part in you that you don't always know how to bring out," Tiffany said. "And like, even if you're not very much a loving person, you can't help but love these dogs. Even if you're not a trusting person you can't help but want to trust these dogs because they're just so sweet and there."
The dogs, who visit Excelsior on Tuesdays for about two hours of therapy with the girls, are part of the Paws 4 Trust program founded by Jeanne Schoech.
"People that handle dogs that do this work really hope to touch a life," Schoech said. "If it's for one minute, it's better. And one day, it's great. But that's what we want."
According to counselors who work at the school, it's working.
Perhaps it's because many of the girls can relate to the dogs. Winston was rescued from a shelter, as was Brando, who was neglected and abused before he was adopted.
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