From a Puppy’s Perspective

By Hazel Marie PFL Social Media Consultant

Your Puppy’s First Day

It starts out as just a normal day.  You are playing with your brothers and sisters under the watchful eye of your mom and suddenly new people arrive.  They play with you and say you are a good dog.  But then they pick you up and take you away!  Are you being dognapped?  Maybe you bark for help or whine a warning to your siblings.  You are confused and scared. What is happening?  Where are you going?

Now you have arrived at someplace entirely new with new people and new smells.  Maybe there are new dogs or a cat there.  You do not know what to do first.  Maybe you will play with the toys they are giving you or have a treat – Yummy!  A nap sounds good too because you are so tired from all the activity but oh-oh you have to go to the bathroom.  And you do. That upsets these new people.  Oh boy, you have a lot to learn.  How are you going to do it all?  What can you do to make your people say nice things to you?  Or give you another treat?

Then nighttime comes.  Now you are really scared.  You have never slept by yourself and now you are in a strange place without your mom or littermates.  Where is everyone?  You decide to howl or cry so someone can come and rescue you.

I wanted to give you an idea on a puppy’s first day and night to show you what a huge upheaval and change there is in our lives.  Think about how you would feel if you were suddenly taken away from everything that you have ever known and put in an entirely new place.  You cannot be expected to know all the rules or what you should be doing (or not doing).  You do not expect a baby to read the newspaper, make their own dinner or go to the bathroom on their own yet.  We are just that  – babies. Please be patient with us.  And as we are learning, teach us with kindness (and treats, lots of treats).

We guarantee that we want to be the best dog ever. You picked us out to be your best friend and we want to thank you with our unconditional love.   Let us work as a team to make that happen.

Dogs really do understand many of the words humans use.  But here is our secret.  We are even better at interpreting your tone of voice, your body language, and gestures. When you ask me “If I want a treat?” you usually do it with a happy tone of voice.  Okay not the best example because I learned that word treat when I was a puppy. When you tell me “I am a bad dog”, it is done with a low pitch or you might even yell it.  That is when I interpret that something is wrong.

We really want to know what our humans are thinking and feeling so we can make you happy. Looking into your eyes helps us to understand your emotional state.

Therapy animals are great listeners.  We don’t judge or make hurtful comments or give you unsolicited advice.  So when you get the chance to talk to one of us, pour out your heart.  Remember, “We’re listening.”

Let’s start with purring. Cats can purr when we are in contact with other cats, but also when we are interacting with humans and objects. We purr when we are kneading blankets or rolling on the ground or rubbing on items.  Most of the time we purr because we are happy.  But we can also do it when we are not feeling well.  And if we are meowing excessively or howling, a trip to the vet maybe in order to make sure that we are feeling okay.

However, when we are feeling fearful, we can growl. It’s our way of saying “Stay Away” or “Stand Back” or even “Leave Me Alone!”  If the other cat does not listen and continues to approach, that first warning can escalate into a snarl, spit or yowl prior to an attack.

If we approve of the other cat or in my case “that dog” that comes into the office, I greet him through nose touches. If I am really in a good mood and happy to see him, I will rub my head against him.

And for those of you that are wondering, we typically do not rub against each other’s backs. This is why cats normally do not like long strokes along our backs. The best places to rub us is our heads and along the sides of our bodies.

Finally, when it comes to listening and understanding you – oh we do.  Most of the time we just do not want to listen.

Sprinkles, our resident therapy bunny, shares her unique take on what has happened at Pals For Life over the past several years and how being flexible helped the organization move forward.

If there is one thing that we have learned over the past two and a half years is that being flexible is a good thing. During the early years of the pandemic when all of our in-person programs and events shut down, we had to reimagine how we could continue our mission “to bring pets to those that need them”.  So, we did events and visits by Zoom, sewed and sold face masks, produced reading videos with me for children and did walk abouts at some of our facilities.   It wasn’t the same by any means, but it was the best that we could do.

Last fall visits began to resume, and I reveled on being the center of attention again.  I even had my own event called “Bourbon With The Bunnies”. But then things changed again, and visits stopped in January due to a new COVID strain.   I had to become a media star again and did my own prognostication on 6 more weeks of winter and guess what I was right!  Now as the fall approaches our visits are back to normal and we are even doing in-person events again.

If all that stopping and starting to programs wasn’t enough, there was a big personnel change in the office.  Not only did I get a new “caretaker” but got a new friend too.  He is an awful big looking bunny, but he really is a dog.  I like them both but do enjoying playing the “Bad Bunny’ sometimes.

Now you may ask: “Sprinkles, do you have any tips on how to stay flexible?”  What helped the most was keeping in mind our mission and our commitment to our core values.  We were willing to try new things and kept an open mind to new and different ideas.  Many of these we would not have thought of trying before.  These new ideas brought opportunities to learn some new skills.  Volunteers sewed, we learned to how to produce videos and the new caretaker learned how to care for me. No matter what happened we tried to stay calm and positive. It is easy to want to return to the way things were before the pandemic.  But we do not know if they will ever be the same again.  All we can do is to think about possible opportunities and plan ahead for various scenarios.

In conclusion being flexible can be fun and can open up a whole new world.  I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Why am I telling you this story?  Sometimes being introduced to a new situation (for both humans and animals) can be overwhelming.   There is just so much to do and learn.  How am I ever going to do it you might question?  You take it step by step and build every day on your successes.  My Mom likes to say, “How do you eat an elephant – one bite at a time.”   Now I don’t want to eat an elephant but I do know when training with your pet, it is best to take it step by step and be patient.  Build on every success.  Some days will be good, some great and some a disaster.  But that is okay.  That is how the successful learning process goes.

I like being part of this new team.  There are lots of fun events to attend and people to meet.  I even got to host my own event, The Queen’s Tea.  Who knows what my next adventure will be, but I will be sure to keep you updated!

You will find me supervising the staff from my cat tree or on top of one of the desks.  Occasionally I like to pop into a Zoom meeting to let everyone know that I keep my eye on everything that happens here at PFL. It is not so easy since the staff has grown recently and now includes a dog!  But late in the afternoon, I do like to take a little nap in my new bed – the one that has crowns all around it.  It is just purrfect for a Queen such as myself.  If you can do it, I do recommend closing your eyes for a few minutes each day.  It enables your eyes to rest from the glare of the computer screen and can give you a little energy boost.  It always works for me!   Well, I have work to do – so until next time.

Sprinkles Says:

“Making a big life change can be scary, but living with regret is always scarier.”

There have been a lot of changes going on here at Pals For Life. Last Friday our President and Founder Paula Kielich retired and left us for the warm and sunny climate of Florida. As she drove away from the office, we realized it was the end of an era. It was hard for us as I am sure it was for her.

The same week, my fellow therapy bunny, Bubbles, took a big leap himself. As he has gotten older ( he actually is 100 in bunny years) his eye sight has been clouded by cataracts. This has made it increasingly difficult to get him in and out of his cage. So Kristen, our Program Director and Peggy, the new Executive Director made him a towel ramp so he could actually get in and out by himself. And boy did he love that. Now when it comes to “hop time” he can’t wait to use his ramp.

These changes were scary. Both for the person and bunny that implemented them and for those that were there to watch it. But neither will have to experience the regret of “If only I had”.

So yes, change can be scary but don’t let that stop you from taking a big leap.

Did you know that petting any of our therapy animals promotes the release of oxytocin, a chemical that increases the feelings of love and happiness in both the animal and human? Oxytocin, the same hormone that bonds mothers to babies has many functions including the stimulation of social bonding, relaxation, trust and stress release.

For those of you that have dogs, gazing lovingly into their eyes will increase the oxytocin level for you both. By building on this bond, training can actually be made easier. It is often why trainers will teach puppies the “Watch Me” command. This way the puppy learns to focus and make eye contact with their owners instead of focusing on so many tempting distractions. Although I wouldn’t recommend staring at strange dogs that might perceive your eye contact as a threat.

So you see petting that therapy animal is not only enjoyable, but healthier for you too!