Abbey the Therapy Dog
by Lorine Parks
The biggest blackest most adorable “program” ever, walked through the room and casually sat down on the floor. All eyes were on Abbey, a Newfoundland therapy dog. Abbey’s owner-handler Fred Froom explained that Abbey was wearing a bib, because “big dogs drool,” and a red kerchief, because that identifies her as a therapy dog (Service dogs, who aid the blind and the hearing impaired, wear a vest, he said).
Dogs like Abbey are used to cheer up depressed returning vets with PTSD. They also help frightened children of abuse, and patients with high blood pressure. The sight and touch of Abbey comforts the patients and relieves all those symptoms, at least temporarily, which aids their human therapists with their task.
Although any breed may be a therapy dog, it takes a special animal to qualify.
Training takes several months. The dogs are subjected to loud noises and unusual sights, such as walkers, wheelchairs and crutches, which many animals perceive as threatening. They have to like being hugged a lot, and temperamentally are not barking dogs. “A dog is born to be a therapy dog,” Fred said.
Sensitive to human feelings, these dogs can sense emotional vulnerability. After a session in a hospital ward, Abbey, who has also been a house pet for five years, sometimes needs to be alone with a toy, just like a human after a hard day’s work.
During this talk Abbey first stood, in the typical Newfoundland pose, for which she has won points in dog shows. She then sat attentively, then laid down, then stretched out. When someone near her coughed, Abbey looked up and kept her eyes on the person even though it was only a minor distress.
From the top of her nose to the end of her tail, Abbey measures 5’3,’’ and weighs 145 pounds. When used as a rescue dog, as she has been occasionally, when Abbey jumps unto the water, her long silky coat floats around her like a cushion, Fred said.
Fred has taken Abbey to the Long Beach Veteran’s Hospital. Although he did not serve, Fred said he owes the vets a lot. “I wanted to know what I could do,” and this is his way of paying back.