 I'd like to welcome everybody to Ignite the Spark. My name is Shar Pachnick. I'm the CEO, founder of a program called Horizons for Girls. And I'm excited about today's program because actually we're going to be talking about a resource that we use with our students and I find it very beneficial to students and actually to me, that's kind of cool. We're going to talk about therapy, emotional support and service animals. Sitting on my lap is Faith. She is a certified therapy dog that works with me at Horizons for Girls. And my guest today, and I'm going to let you introduce yourself, but Rebecca and I have known each other for several years, but I'll let you introduce yourself and then you've got two guests that you've brought with you. Yes, thank you so much for having me, I really appreciate it. My name is Rebecca Hinsman and I own Rough Academy Real-Life Dog Training. Rough Academy does obedience classes and private training classes or private training sessions in people's home and we've had this running for a little over seven years now and you and I have known each other for quite a decent amount of time. I mean I don't even know how long, we'll just say ten and we'll just go from there. But I first met you because I was looking to do some pet therapy certification with my dog and other people were looking for pet therapy certification opportunities and you were part of an initial organization that helped us do that. Now you have a new chapter, a new organization that you are participating in that is local which helps my clients even more because now they go through the obedience classes and they want to get their canine good citizen certification which they can get through me but now they can continue to add their pet therapy certification and go through the chapter that you established here in town. So it really helps us be able to get them from A to Z and really complete everything for that. So that has been very appreciative and then along those lines this year I started an organization called Positism. Positism Incorporated is a non-profit organization that trains service dogs for children with autism. One of the reasons why I came up with this idea was I do different community programs. So we have had a mentorship program at North High School where we taught high schoolers how to train and work with dogs and be responsible and I also started a reading program at Cooper Elementary School called Relax with Rover where the certified pet therapy dogs such as Faith come into the elementary school and the students read to the dogs. So it helps them gain confidence in reading, have a great day while hanging out with a certified pet therapy dog and all in all help the administration and the school feel better because they have awesome dogs to hang around with. So with Positism because I was doing a lot of things with community and families and kids it only made sense that I would continue to go in that path. So I had worked with an individual who was doing service dog training and I kind of caught the bug. What he was training for was not necessarily my wheelhouse, the families and kids were my wheelhouse. So I decided to start an organization with some great awesome passionate individuals and work towards training service dogs for families who have children with autism. Being that that is a need it's constantly around and it's 1 in 68 that's diagnosed it's really needed and in this area there's plenty of kids that need our help, plenty of families that need support and awareness about this. And so we did it. So my guests today are two of our very first service dogs that we are training. So we have Finn who is an English cream golden retriever and Issa who is a golden doodle. We got Issa when she was 9 weeks old and from doodles at Dewey Acres out of Stevens Point and we got Finn from Golden Choice out of Kiewaskam when he was 8 weeks old. So Issa was born on New Year's Day, he followed 3 weeks later and starting in March we pretty much had these guys and started doing our training with them. They are with us for 18 months. They have puppy raisers here in town. So the puppy raisers themselves are taking care of potty training, crate training, home manners and skills. Let's not do that in public, thank you. And they help us with overall basic obedience manners. So then what they do is they come to my facility 3-4 days a week and work on all of their basic obedience skills along with socialization, desensitization and then we're continuing to take them out in public. So one of the big things to remember when it comes to the differences is where faith is a certified pet therapy dog, she goes with you to help other people feel better nursing homes, assisted living, schools, that kind of thing, where these guys are actually going out in public, Walmart, Target, even hospitals along with RCS, YMCA. Are we getting really, really comfortable over here? Hey. Hi. So either way with these guys they need that public access because they're going to end up being with a family who has a child with autism who needs that dog there to be their best friend. One of the main things that service dogs that are assisted, assistance service dogs for children with autism do is they help provide confidence and a general relaxation and happiness for the child in the family. Children with autism have a tendency of getting overwhelmed in public, getting scared, having meltdowns and panic attacks if either something does not go along with their schedule or if something big happens and they can't address it mentally. And so what these dogs do is help create a sense of balance and a sense of being and their best friend right there. So some of the tasks that these guys are learning to do are, excuse me, we don't chew on that while we're on TV. Yes. But some of the things that we do with these guys and that they're learning is they're learning what's called deep pressure therapy. Deep pressure therapy is something where they actually are on top of you when you are having a panic attack or you're stressed or you are unsure. So her puppy raiser actually has a daughter who has CP and is a new wheelchair and they have a service dog as well and so they have taught her how to do deep pressure therapy so then she's kind of learning from her but she also has provided deep pressure therapy for Marin as well. One of the things that Finn does very well, he's not doing it right now because he's deciding to take a nap, but one of the things that he does very well is what's called deep gaze therapy where he stares at you for a longer period of time helping your stress level come down and helping you relax. Some of the other things that they're being trained to do is they're being trained to swim so that they can help if a child with autism goes into the water. Children with autism are very, they love water. They're drawn to water because it helps them feel unrestricted. The problem is that nothing in them tells them that they need to get out of the water so they end up drowning and so by teaching them how to swim and if the child goes into the water we're hoping to actually have them actually go in with the children and that way they can either bring the children out or be a component so the child can grab for them and can hang out with them. We're actually going today to someone's pool to see if our swimming practice at Three Hounds has really been good for them and we have a swimming coach who, she's a younger girl who hangs out with them and works with us and whatnot so we're going to simulate her freaking out and falling into the pool or going into the pool and seeing if they will go in after her. So that's super cool. And then the other thing that they're teaching or being taught is actually tracking because search and rescue is something that is very important. Children with autism will have a tendency of getting scared and bolting and running and if they're not attached and they're not with them and the parents can't find them we want to have the dogs actually help them search for the kids and find the kids. So we're doing tracking skills and that we're continuing to work on as they get older. And then the very last thing is anchoring which basically means that the child will actually be tethered to them and then they will be controlled by the caregiver or the parent. So if the child gets upset and wants to run and bolt they can't because the dog basically does not allow it to happen. So there's a variety of things that they're being trained to do, a variety of things that they need to be able to do in order to be successful with that family and ultimately they will end up having their AKC star puppy, their Canaan Good Citizen certification along with their pet therapy certification and their service dog certification through Positism. So they've got a long line to go. They are only seven months into their training so they have another year before they are complete and then families have to apply in order to see if they could have one of these guys. And we are giving these dogs to the families free of charge. They, we will help them in fundraising money back towards our program in order to help us out with the program but they, our whole goal is to be able to train, help them be where they need to be and then give them to the family free of charge as the families usually have enough going on to, to not have that to worry about as well. Well, so the Reader's Digest version, wow. And, and real quickly what intrigued me when I started doing this was actually a very good friend of mine. Jen is in Hartford, Connecticut and she has a, well she has several dogs but the one that I was really watching closely is, his name is Gizmo and he is a certified therapy dog and now he's been trained to work with the emergency personnel. The police department, the fire fire department, if they are working with a situation they will be called to that family or that site and they will actually provide, they've been trained to calm down those people in that trauma situation and she absolutely loves that, that kind of work to to see you know a very sweet little, little pet Gizmo is even smaller than her. But Gizmo, not afraid just to get right in there and in between the firemen and he just seems to sense where he is needed and he will come up. I've watched Gizmo work in school settings and he will, because Jen spends a lot of time in high school, and Gizmo will walk up to a student that is stressing out for whatever reason and Gizmo will lay right at the feet of that student and just stay there for the for the class period and that's neat because they just seem to sense where they're needed and that to me is really cool. Well we judge people and we say you know the dog is just going to say yeah this is where I'm needed and this is where I'm going and that's cool. Well and they have a lot of opportunities like that in a lot of different forums. They're starting to provide therapy dogs in airports now because people get very stressed and nervous when they go into airports. So they have certified pet therapy dogs that are just hanging out and you know people can come up and pet them and relax. They're starting to also have them in counseling centers and courtrooms to help children be able to relax when they are on the stand. So there's a lot of and you know from different people who've reached out to different areas within the the um Shiborgen area just on you know we need pet therapy dogs in here just to help relieve stress. People are finding out that stress happens everywhere and now as far as how the um how it is in in the overall national world it stress is just there and one way to relieve that stress is to is by bringing animals in. We've been very fortunate to have the administration in Shiborgen area be very awesome to be able to help us bring dogs in with past programs and these programs and I'm going to be hoping to get these guys into North High this summer or this school year so that they can start hanging out with them. They have gone everywhere from elementary all the way up to you know Lakeland University and just being around a lot of people and our main focus was socialization desensitization so that they just are good when they're out in public because then people are drawn to them more and more engaging with them and there'll be a point that they're going to start actually working and you can't necessarily touch them like we went to the food trucks last night and you know they're working at that point they're not able to be touched they're just in that environment and they do pretty well with that they engage when you say hi and then they go back to their their job when they're done but you know it whenever anybody is able to touch them they just feel happy which is you know what overall dogs make an impact for and you know that the biggest thing that we are also trying to educate about is the differences between different types of dogs because now there's emotional support pet therapy and service dog and a lot of people don't know the difference. Airlines are having emotional support animals on there and people are really pushing it as far as what type of dogs are on there. I've been on airlines where the dogs have been amazing and I don't know if what they are whether they're an emotional support or service dog or what they are but they've been amazing and there's also been other instances where they're not so amazing and so you know one of the things that we're trying to do is educate about the differences for that so that people understand do you actually need a service dog or do you just need an emotional support dog or is a pet therapy dog good enough because a lot of people suffer from anxiety that's the number one thing whether it's bipolar, ADHD, ADD, you know PTSD there's just so many types of anxiety that it can be handled in many different forums. We are training these guys specifically for children with autism because there are beneficial needs and serious issues that can be helped by having these guys where somebody who has basic anxiety but can still go to work on their own, can still drive places on their own, can still do their everyday functions, can look more towards the emotional support dog or the pet therapy dog and if you also want to create happiness to others a pet therapy dog is amazing and for these guys because they will have their pet therapy pet therapy certification if they do go to children's hospital with the child or they go to OT or occupational therapy, speech therapy and there are other kids there by having their pet therapy certification they are covered to be able to do some pet therapy if the children ask versus just for that child and the nice thing is that with the parent or the caregiver being there with the child pretty much at all times it's double duty so this is kind of that comfort where if they're looking this way the dog is still paying attention to the child or if something happens there's a secondary option there where some people just don't need that secondary option so we're definitely trying to educate a lot about service dogs, pet therapy dogs and emotional support dogs and the difference between all of them and I know you've seen a lot of confusion with that too. Oh yeah and it frustrates me that my pet peeve is when I see people that go to eBay or Amazon and they buy a patch and put that on their dog and they've done none of the training they've not been certified I mean she is insured for two million dollars I mean you can tell she's such a vicious dog. So vicious, so vicious, yes. She is such a danger that but it's she's in hospitals she's in nursing homes and it could so easily happen that somebody would trip over her and in today's society the last thing I need is for someone to decide well they tripped over her and they're going to sue me or they're going to sue that facility I mean you don't need that kind of accident happening and it's it's not that hard to become certified. No and so many people are you know when they look at the time and and effort that's put into the training they just get so discouraged or they say oh that's just too long I mean I had a client recently asked me about well how long will it take for this to be done and I explained the process and why and that wasn't good enough it needed to be done faster and so then I inquired more okay what exactly do you need and in talking with that client I actually found that the service dog adventure didn't necessarily need to happen the pet therapy certification would really be all that was needed but because they didn't know the difference there was confusion there and so then yes people say oh it's going to take two years to train a dog I'm just going to go on to the national registry of service dogs and register my dog and then I'm just going to go and buy the vest and everything and then I'm just going to take him to walmart and then that's it and I mean that unfortunately because people want a robot they don't want they don't understand they're dealing with a dog that can decide to do whatever it wants and that takes time to mature you know they just say well we we need it now and you know yes there's a lot of people out there there's a lot of people who can use a service dog yesterday but unfortunately there's only so many dogs and at a time and there's so many and they need that training that just because you have a diagnosis that says you need one doesn't automatically mean you should just get one and you know even having the letter from their doctor that helps them have an emotional support dog they feel that's enough and that's not enough so it is definitely it's frustrating on my end because I know all the time that it takes I mean these guys have already had 250 hours of training at which equates to about 12 000 dollars for my own money that I'm donating to do their training and that's only a third of it they're not done they have another year to go so if you it's basically going to equate to about 800 hours of training when these guys are done and completed and to try to put 800 hours of training in to two months doesn't happen yeah and people just don't understand that I mean when we walked in here you know a woman said I can't believe that they're this calm well yes but at the same point they know they're working and we've had them from eight to nine weeks old and when you take the vest off they're puppies they body slam they have a great time I mean they they love being puppies but ultimately you know all of that time that we've spent from eight to nine weeks up to now shows when we're out in public because they know I mean there's still dogs she still likes other dogs to play with she loves rabbits um anything that's food related he is 100 on and happy about so there's still challenges that we face with them because they're still puppies but ultimately you know all of the time that we've put in already shows and you know even my obedience classes that I run you know they're coming once a week for an hour for six weeks but they're doing all of that training on their own at home outside of that one hour with me and most of those dogs are nowhere near this primarily because in their mind they're just training a family pet they're training a dog just to be a fun animal but they're not training a dog to do a specific job or have a career and when it comes to these guys I mean with Finn his breeder breeds for calm temperament and a lot of her dogs go to be pet therapy dogs service dogs outside of just a family pet so you can tell I mean with him I can definitely tell that he has that those genes and genetics in him that he just knows that he's a working dog with Issa she was not originally chosen we didn't know we were going to get her but the original breeder that we worked with was not able to help us out so we went with a secondary breeder and when I told the breeder what it's looking for she said well this one can immediately do it I know she can do it and for our first dog she has been amazing but it definitely helps also having good breeders good genetics good temperaments versus just taking a dog off the street and saying well it's a nice dog and it does what it needs for me so it automatically should be something and people ask us you know do you use rescue dogs shelter dogs they said well that can happen but we decided to start with breeders and go from the beginning because then we can mold and frame them the way that we would like them to be and we can always look into that at a later time but with all the training that's put into this it's even more training if you have to take a dog to rehabilitate and then and because these guys have to be great with kids we need to mold that from the beginning I mean we were putting them at James Madison Horace Mann and Cooper early on and they were being bombarded with kids and just like you know bamboozled with kids and now they just love them but if they didn't necessarily have that training early on it may not have been that way and the other fun thing that we're training them is they go down slides so on the playground we do playground training and they go down slides and so as soon as the kids hear that they're going to go down the slide the kids are like can I go down with them can I do it and they're so excited and happy but again the reason we're doing that is so that when the child with autism goes to a playground if they're nonverbal this is their voice if they are verbal and high functioning they can have everyone meet their best friend and it creates those relationships and those bonds together cool they are I love it it's like they are just chilling yeah apparently you're it's very relaxing in here for them and they don't mind it at all yes real quickly I I've got an event coming up in September I've got a 5k and Faith even has her own team that she's put together to be a part of the 5k and the whole goal is to bring awareness to bullies and to try and stop bullying now I know you've got several ongoing different events if you want to mention one or two of them before we have to disappear sure yeah we definitely have this Sunday we actually have August 18th we have a goat yoga and beer and cheese pairing fundraiser so just imagine doing yoga while 10 to 15 one-week-old baby goats are running around you and jumping on top of you and pulling on your hair it's going to be awesome so we're doing that with clear farms and then in September on this 22nd we're doing a responsible dog ownership day event which will have agility obedience pet therapy service dog lure course obedience agility demonstrations a lot of different types of things talking about dogs so chiropractors just lots of information out there that's going to be coming so right now because we're in our first year of doing this we're doing a lot of community events and fundraisers and whatnot to get us out there and to gain money for our cause so we're definitely always looking for help and people to come out we have our facebook page that has the events there and we're going to be launching our website here within a couple days and that will also have our information on there as well excellent excellent so people want to get a whole review about just general training their family pets they can do that service pets emotional support therapy pets you're the go-to person and I always I always tell people you need something done with the pet the person to talk to is Rebecca I try very busy and roughacademywi.com is the website and it has even if you're just not sure just shoot us an email we can make sure you get to the right person I had somebody ask inquirer about pet therapy so I sent them straight to you as far as you know bringing some people out so if if you don't know ask me and I can direct you and help you out excellent excellent and as always if you want more information about horizons for girls you want to volunteer you want to make a referral to a student we've got a new school year starting definitely just check out horizonsforgirls.com we're always looking for more volunteers to help with the students middle school and high school so definitely be a part of what we're doing in the community whether it's for these furry friends or its students in schools you can definitely be a part of what we're trying to do thank you very much for listening to what we were talking about and I look forward to talking to you again next month thank you very much