Let the Dogs Open the Doors to Better Understanding
Among Humans
1995 brought into our lives a little black male by the name of LeMils Midnight Devil. Since I was looking for a female to bring to the Junior High I was teaching at, I went to see Michelle Lewis and the female was gone and there was this adorable boy there. My excuse for getting a puppy was that I wanted to work with my Special Education kids with it when in reality it was an excuse to get another Doberman.
Little did I know the wonderful journey that this “Devil” would take us on. We had to give him a call name appropriate for the classroom so “Taz” seemed to work. The Superintendent of Mesa Public Schools was gracious in allowing me to have him on campus and said “we have tried horses, cows, and every type of animal to help emotionally disabled kids, so why not a dog; but don’t be optimistic.” The principal knew that I was determined and had the help of my Student Council kids to take care of him and that was the final ok I needed. I did some research on Therapy animals used with the Delta Society and at 10 weeks Taz headed to school.
He managed to win the hearts of every staff member and most kids. My students learned Tellington Massage which enabled them to calm down also. However, it was his unique ability to cue me into which student needed extra attention and that proved to be his most valued ability He would circle the room and lay his head on the lap or shoulder of these 7th, 8th and 9th graders each morning and then “cling” to the kid who appeared to need him most.
On weekends, Michelle would show him in conformation and my husband Joe would do obedience. His first point came the same day his first leg in obedience did as well as his second set of points and his second leg. He finished his championship with little effort and got his CD and WAE the following year. His CDX was a little more work in that he loved entertaining the crowd. He would jump over the jumps and when the students who took field trips to see him clapped, he would jump and jump with the dumbbell in his mouth not just the once, but maybe ten or twenty times!
My husband had a stroke in the middle of his training and I would use Taz as an incentive to get Joe to walk longer distances as well as an incentive to keep training him. Joe also took him through the Delta testing and as a “certified Therapy dog” he would take him to nursing homes and Superstition Mental Health to work with the younger kids during the summers.
Taz managed to appear in all the school yearbooks and faculty pictures and the Superintendent even gave him an award. However, one of fondest memories of him was when as Student Council Sponsor I took 400 kids to a water park and had to leave behind one of my students due to his behavior. Taz stayed with a teacher in her classroom and also supervised the student that could not go. When I arrived back to the building, they realized that both Taz and the student were missing. I figured he was merely sleeping somewhere, bored. We eventually found both of them cuddled together under a teacher’s desk in the office area. Another time, I was the Assistant Principal and had two irate parents in my office. Taz would spend the day under my desk or visiting in Special Ed classrooms or with certain teachers and their kids. But this day Taz left the Special Education teacher’s room by jumping the baby gate, which he had never before done, and proceeded to run into my office and sit between the two people looking at each one. The one father just laughed and said “I assume he is here since you don’t want us to start swinging!” By the time they had left my office all problems were solved and both of them would come to visit Taz at open houses and events. Taz cheered on the football, basketball and wrestling teams while entertaining the younger sisters and brothers of the players. He was the perfect recruiter for Student Council. While at Taylor I had some of the largest Student Council groups they had ever had. He would go visit with the kids nursing homes and attempt to go the wheelchair dances. When I retired from teaching the parents came to the retirement party and were more upset that he was also retiring and there would no longer be a “Big, black, beautiful boy” running in the halls, greeting kids, staff and parents. When one of the library aides was hospitalized with a stroke she wrote a beautiful poem about him and he would go and visit her at the hospital and jump on her bed (which the hospital allowed since it got Lola to move). He would snuggle with her and lay his head on her chest and gaze into her eyes. It was as if he were forcing her to talk instead of just laying there. She would attempt to talk to him and pet him. He continued to visit her at the rehab and her home until she finally passed with a second stroke.
When one of his favorite student council kids was killed in a car crash while she was a senior in High School, we went up the Intensive Care to visit and he was devastated. You could tell he knew what was going to happen since he didn’t jump up on her bed, but merely licked her hand. He went with Student Council members to the funeral and his presence at the gravesite was so appreciated by her twin sister and parents, but it was so difficult for me to deal with.
Our first year of retirement was a mixed blessing. He appeared to be ill and I ran every possible medical test on the boy. He would still show in veterans and do his obedience jumps at the park to the delight of kids there, but something wasn’t right. My vet decided he was depressed and we went every other week to visit the school and the old Taz was back. The Special Ed kids were delighted that he had to come back for his health since they thought they were giving him therapy.
While Taz was bred a few times and produced several breed champions, obedience champions and a rally champion, his biggest contribution to the breed was in his reproduction of Therapy Dogs. I really had not thought you could breed “Therapy Dogs”, but the two that we have living with us currently are clones of him. Having moved to Flagstaff, we have now been involved with Hozhoni Foundation, Paws to Read and a woman’s shelter. Viognier, his daughter hops up on clients beds at the Foundation who are unable to reach down to her and lays her head on them and gazes into their eyes, so much like Taz did. The Women’s Shelter is by far one of the most difficult places I have worked. These women and their children have been abused and forced to leave everything they have behind including their pets. These people are so very grateful for all time we spend with them and the kids so enjoying playing with Viognier. Hawk will go to Paws to Read at the library and enjoy the kids who will read to him taking turns while he patiently looks at them as if he understands every word they are saying. Paws to read is a fantastic volunteer program that allows elementary school students who have fallen behind in reading to practice their skills in front of an attentive dog that doesn’t laugh at them as their peers might. Children whose confidence has been destroyed feel comfortable reading to a dog and ordinary people are making an extraordinary difference merely by bringing their dogs and listening.
Similar to their dad, they will head for the door on the appointed day and if for some reason we don’t go, they will lay in bed most of the day! Several of his puppies are also Delta certified in different states and enjoy that unique bond with their owners and those that need them.
Taz left us just before his 11th birthday due to a benign tumor on his bladder. We knew it was time for him to go the morning he didn’t want to go to “work” or chase his squirrels (he had 3 squirrels that played with him for the 2 years he spent in the pines). He left us peacefully laying in our arms gazing into our eyes. Taking Viognier and Hawk to visit Taylor is difficult. In the main entry way there are pictures of the several principals that have served the school and hanging right next to them is a picture of Taz and his Student Council, beautifully framed and donated by the Council.
“It’s been said that animals open doors so that healing can begin.
Let us humans always
listen so that we hear opportunities knocking
on those doors, and
creatively work with our dogs to walk through--
Then discover the endless possibilities inside.”
Kris Butler
Therapy Dogs Today, Their Gifts, Our Obligations
Pat Policastro
www.tazzman-dobes.com
tazman_dobe@msn.com