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05-15-2010, 09:11 PM | #1 |
Yorkie Talker Join Date: May 2010 Location: Missouri
Posts: 14
| Bella Blue... Here is Bella Blue, my sweet and 100% Yorkshire Terrier! Bella Blue is a pet therapy dog at our local cancer center, hospital and adult daycare. She is very loved my many and all the doctors and nurses know her by name! Bella Blue knows 100's of tricks and loves to perform and work! A True Terrier!! |
Welcome Guest! | |
05-15-2010, 09:23 PM | #2 |
YT Addict Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Westford, MA
Posts: 382
| What a beautiful face! I be she's a sweetheart! What a great thing to do ... share your sweet dog with others in need. How does one go about doing this? I imagine you would need training for a period of time, right? Very interesting. I have thought that nursing homes would appreciate a therapy dog from time to time. I'm sure it would take the right temperment of dog to be able to do this, right? Thanks for posting. This is a very interesting post
__________________ Kathy, Trixie, Barkley, and Rascal Follow Trixie's pups progress at www.ladybugyorkies.blogspot.com |
05-16-2010, 03:54 AM | #3 |
I found Yorkie love Donating Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 1,488
| Welcome to YT. Keep up the amazing work Bella Blue
__________________ Cathy www.furbabyfashionhouse.ca Handmade clothing for your furboys and furgirls. |
05-16-2010, 08:42 AM | #4 |
Yorkie Talker Join Date: May 2010 Location: Missouri
Posts: 14
| Thanks we both love doing pet therapy! Bella Blue knows when we pull up that she is ready to work and her entire personality changes... I can't really explain it but its like she knows these people are sick and need some love. I knew I wanted a therapy dog before we started the search for Bella Blue. I had 3 other yorkies before Bella and 2 were "puppy mill" dogs and at the time I didn't even know what to look for I just wanted a yorkie. (However all of these Yorkies were great dogs and very loved but not healthy, all of them died before the age of 6 yrs old b/c of bad breeding.) I was determined to find a wonderful breeder that raised calm well breed Yorkies. This was not an easy task as I live in one of the worst states for puppy mill breeders. After about 9 months we found a wonderful breeder and bought Bella Blue. We brought her home at 12 weeks old and I hired a dog trainer to help me train her and I started the week I got her. After 5 days with us she could do a 30 sec sit stay and about 10 days she could do a down stay. We just kept building from there. Every week we added on to the old training and added a new trick or obedience pose. I then started classes with other dogs for socialization reasons. And at about 4 1/2 to 5 months old I started getting her out in the public. Petsmart, and friends homes. Then at about 10 months we started going to farmers markets & home improvement stores like Lowe's. These are great places to train due to the loud noises and wide aisles. Then we started working on elevators, walking on and off with a loose leash not pulling or crying. Bella did great on all of these tasks. Then I called a friend of mine who is in a wheelchair and got Bella use to the chair, walking up to and around it. We put peanut butter on the vacuum to get good with it being turned off then worked up to turning it on & walking around (not having to do any sit/stay while running). Bella Blue now is a wonderful, well adjusted, calm Yorkie who never barks outside the home. (In the home is a different story, she's allowed to bark in the house.) A therapy dog can not bark or ever growl in public. This is actually quite easy to teach them. That's about it. I hope this helps and isn't too much info! LOL! Thanks for asking. Below are pics of Bella Blue in her Therapy attire, id and tags. -Nikki |
05-16-2010, 01:15 PM | #5 |
YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Texas
Posts: 594
| I think its great that Bella is a therapy dog. A friend of mine just got 2 of his French Bulldogs certified and I wondered how a Yorkie would do at that. So Bella Blue is beautiful and smart!
__________________ Donna Mom to 6 Chihuahuas 1 Yorkie and 5 Cats! Ok...maybe I am a little twisted! |
05-16-2010, 01:23 PM | #6 | |
My Sweet Cupcake Donating Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: New York
Posts: 4,390
| Quote:
__________________ pam & armani the more you celebrate your life ~ the more there is in life to celebrate until one has loved an animal, part of their soul remains unawakened | |
05-16-2010, 01:24 PM | #7 |
Yorkie Talker Join Date: May 2010 Location: Missouri
Posts: 14
| Thank you BellaDonna! We love Pet Therapy and there's no better way to give back than have your dog give love to the sick and make them smile!
__________________ Nikki & Bella Blue |
05-16-2010, 03:57 PM | #8 |
Yorkie Talker Join Date: May 2010 Location: Missouri
Posts: 14
| Thank you everyone! I've just discovered this site and LOVE IT! Everyone is a Yorkie lover! Thanks for all the sweet words!
__________________ Nikki & Bella Blue |
05-16-2010, 04:35 PM | #9 |
My hairy-legged girls Donating Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: lompoc, ca.
Posts: 12,228
| Welcome to you and Bella Blue. How wonderful that you have found a great job for her, and one that she loves.
__________________ AZRAEL RAZAEL JILLI ANN |
05-16-2010, 04:45 PM | #10 |
Donating YT 30K Club Member | Welcome. Bella Blue is beautiful and smart. What a rewarding way to spread some happiness to those in need of it.
__________________ Cali Pixie Roxie : RIP Nikki; RIP Maya;RIP my sweet Dixie girl 1/17/08 http://callipuppyscastle.bravehost.com/index.html |
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