Riker began visiting retirement homes and Alzheimer’s facilities when he was just a year old. He accumulated more than 200 hours doing these visits and was always a hit with the folks he visited.
However, by chance I got a call from the director of a day care center for children who needed protection. The director wanted to give a therapy dog a try but the dog would need to love kids, be very tolerant of the kids’ actions, and be able to react accordingly should a child be too rough. Many of these kids had never been taught how to be good to animals. In fact, many had been raised seeing people being cruel to animals.
In addition, because the kids were under various types of protection, the dog’s owner would need an extensive background check and clearance.
I decided to give Riker a try since he loves kids and I already had a background check and clearance from my Marine Corps and military police days. It just needed to be updated.
Once I got that taken care of, Riker and I began visiting this day care center. I’ve written about a few of our visits in previous posts, so in short I’ll say Riker found his life’s work. I swear he’s happier there than he is at home. He gives kisses when kisses are needed, snuggles when kids need a hug, chases the ball when they need to play, and makes the kids laugh on a regular basis.
I stopped counting his visit hours when he went over two thousand.
I’ve been watching Riker to see when he’s going to be ready to retire. He is slowing down and is sleeping more. However, he still brings me a toy so we can play every evening. He still enjoys going to the dog training yard. He even continues to demo during the therapy dog classes. At twelve years of age, when I bring out his therapy dog vest, he turns into a younger dog. He bounces, whining, and trying to stick his head through the opening of the vest. So he’s obviously not ready to retire yet.
I’m so proud of my old dog I could just bust!
Photo: Riker by Liz Palika
Riker, who is twelve now, began losing some hearing about three or four months ago. I paid attention because he seemed a little depressed. He was eating well, urine and feces were fine, he wasn’t sore any place new, and he was sleeping well. But he wasn’t initiating play like he used to do and that’s different. We usually play a little every morning and he would ask to do it. He was also a little grumpy with the other dogs. This was before Paul passed away and there wasn’t anything else going on in the house to make Riker depressed.
Twelve years ago Riker was the puppy no one wanted.
He was certified as a therapy dog at a year of age and has been actively doing that volunteer work for the past 11 years. He’s still doing it but I have eased up on his schedule a little. He still tends to be a little over enthusiastic for the elderly but he’s been visiting a day care center for kids in the foster care system for several years. That’s a wonderful fit for him.