Charity’s Sweet Legacy – The Power of the Canine Human Relationship
I will take this opportunity to share our story, to celebrate a life well lived, to educate and inspire others to reach for the greatest gift, the unconditional love of a dog. The power of the canine human relationship. This reflects our story and the bond that will live on forever.
I look over at my beautiful yellow Labrador Retriever named Charity.
My heart is bursting with so many emotions. I feel so much love, as her and I have shared this amazing canine human relationship. A sense of pride and a depth of connection that is hard to put into words. I feel a deep sadness creep in…she is 12 years old. Dogs are not here for a long time.
She has taught me lessons in unconditional loving. Charity is a daily example of living life full of pure joy. This dog has the gift of being right here in the present moment. She has provided mentorship on how success is all about service.
I truly cannot imagine my life without her. But I know the reality of it all too well. I knew I needed to do something to celebrate her.
A legacy is a mark on the world that is honorable, compassionate and makes a difference.
It is joyful and it is full of heart, soul, and love. A legacy cannot ever be spent. It is so rich it is everlasting. It is the story of a life well lived. It is the pathway to making a difference for many, many years long after death.
Having a loyal friend to share the highs, the lows, the successes, the roadblocks, the tears, the ordinary, the exciting. Our canine human bond!
Charity has touched so many lives and has made a difference to everyone who has been lucky enough to meet her.
She coined the phrase “canine human bond” through her relationships with so many. I am grateful for the opportunity to tell her story and create her everlasting legacy.
COPE Service Dog Puppy in Training
Charity was acquired as a young puppy by COPE Service Dogs. Service dogs are specifically trained to do three or more tasks to mitigate an individual’s disability. Service dogs work for individuals with disabilities other than blindness or deafness.
Service dog types include: Mobility Service Dog, Seizure Service Dog, Autism Service Dog, Diabetic Alert Service Dog, Psychiatric Service Dog, Service Dogs for Veterans with Military-related PTSD and Medical Alert Service Dog.
There is a huge difference between Assistance Dogs, Therapy Dogs, and Animal Assisted Intervention Programs. There are governing bodies that outline the differences and the appropriate training protocols. For charitable organizations, Assistance Dogs International provides an accreditation process for standards of practice.
This is a Reading Buddy Program. The bond between the canine and the children builds confidence and supports learning to read. You can see there is a great deal of joy happening.
As part of my volunteer work at COPE Service Dogs puppy raising was requested. The organization needed a temporary puppy raiser for this little lab pup. Maybe a month was the commitment. She was already important. A group of women who golfed together had raised $10 000, to have the opportunity to name a service pup in training. I remember Jane Boake, The Founder of COPE, had the name on a little piece of paper in her pocket. We opened it up together and the name they had chosen was Charity.
A month turned into 12 years and holding!
Charity entered the training program to be a service dog for a person with a physical disability. Such important work. She was also enrolled in the Canines in the Classroom program. She came to work with me 3 times a week.
She played with the other dogs and supported many students who benefited from this program. As part of the program she went to elementary schools with her high school trainer for the reading program. She was a master. She loved all the students and they loved her.
This was a highlight for Charity and really allowed her to shine. This was the perfect way to learn to be a service dog in her eyes.
I was one of the instructors in the Canine in the Classroom program, so it was beautiful for me to see my students connect with her so impactfully. I also got to witness her magic with seniors. Her joy was my joy. In the back of my mind, ALWAYS, was the nagging thought that I would only have her in my life for 2 years. She would be matched with a life partner and she would leave me to do her work for the rest of her life. It is bittersweet though, as Charity and I would be helping someone so immensely but how would I say goodbye? So many opportunities for the canine human relationship to flourish.
After a year of training and being part of the classroom program, I had a gut feeling that Charity was going to be released from the program. Her spirit was so sweet, but she struggled with meeting strange dogs and even some people. A service dog always needs to be calm and confident, not reacting in anyway aggressively to another dog or person.
I will never forget when I got the news of her release and that I would get to keep her. I cried. As her puppy raiser I wanted her to be successful. I felt that bittersweet moment again. Sadness that she did not make it but overjoyed that I would not have to say good bye to my best friend.
After summer vacation I went back to teaching in the Learning Centre in Innisfil, ON.
Even with all the COPE dogs available for training and lots of opportunity for canine human bonding the students missed Charity. I brought her in one day to visit the students. It was clear to me that I had to work her into my program again.
It was important to be respectful of public access rights for service dogs in training. The COPE dogs were welcome in the school as they met the criteria for dogs in public. Charity was no longer a COPE dog so she came in the backdoor of the school and spent her time in the classroom. She was a pet dog providing therapeutic support to the students. She was my dog, I was the teacher. This was where the seed was planted in my mind for the Canine Ambassador Program at Sweet Charity
The canine human relationship with the students enhanced the safety and sense of belonging in our classroom.
Charity’s presence in the Learning Centre was multi-faceted. Her happy dance when greeting the students brought smiles. Even on mornings when smiling was difficult. She brought comfort by just being there to pet when there were tears. Her calm, confidence could de-escalate anger, anxiety, frustration, fear, stress in the students. They began to look for her and call her over in the early stages of an episode. She never turned a student down. Her consistent, non-judgmental ability to be there made our space safe. She taught self-regulations, mindfulness, behavior modification in the most kind way. The students synchronized their emotions with her calm, happy energy. The epitome of the benefits of the canine human bond.
Dogs synchronize with our emotions and we can synchronize with theirs. This can be organic in nature by merely petting a dog. It can be much more powerful when this is taught with intention. Teaching a student to calm the high energy of a dog using their own energy awareness and transferring it down the leash is amazing. Watching a highly charged student work on calming themselves, to support the dog they are petting, to be calm, is a biofeedback loop, which is hard to match. Immediate feedback from the dog is priceless. The opportunity for leadership empowers the student. Confidence grows through the canine human bond and magic happens.
The best stress reducer other than a biofeedback loop is exercise and time outdoors. Charity needed to be walked everyday at school. It became a bonding time for students, EA’s and teachers as we walked the track with Charity. Conversation, community building and exercise build right into the curriculum by having a dog in the classroom.
The first seeds were planted to grow a program where teachers and pet dogs and the canine human bond created could facilitate therapeutic opportunities in the classroom and the community as a whole.
Humble Beginnings of Sweet Charity Medical Assistance Dogs
It was a calling. I was inspired by many years living with type one diabetes and my absolute crazy love for dogs. When you can combine a passion with a solution to a problem it is empowering. Charity supported my learning and the charity was named in her honour.
Life Saving Diabetic Alert Dogs
The original vision and mission of the charity was to train dogs for children with brittle type one diabetes. This was ground-breaking work being done in the UK and the United States. Understanding the challenges of precipitous blood sugar drops without any symptoms to warn of the impending danger was all too familiar. Technology was developing to help with this life threatening situation but how wonderful would it be to have your canine companion recognize the odor changes in your body and alert you to an impending low with more accuracy than the technology at the time. The bond between the canine and the human was critical for this life saving work.
After retiring from my 33 year, career as a teacher, in 2013, I founded Sweet Charity. Charity and I embarked on a journey to discover how to do this life saving work. Blood sugar levels can drop quickly and without any warning. Charity’s contribution to the understanding and learning on my part is hard to fully explain. She was extremely good at recognizing the odor. The problem was her exuberant response to smelling the odor. Reducing her response to a chain of escalations beginning with a nudge needed to be taught. Her driven personality was not a good match for mobility service dog training. It was perfect for recognizing low blood sugar and wanting to communicate what she was smelling, but the need to not overwhelm the person with diabetes with her alert was our challenge. Charity would never be a fully trained working service dog either as a mobility dog or a diabetes alert dog, but she more than did her share.
Diabetes Alert Dog Program
Fast forward to the pilot project of acquiring the first cocker spaniel puppy from Nonnies Cockers http://www.nonniescockers.ca and with the help of JDRF http://www.jdrf.ca to select a child with brittle type one diabetes, who would be the recipient to receive the first Sweet Charity Diabetes Dog was monumental.
I will never forget the first text I got from the mother of this dear child that the dog had provided the first low blood sugar alert after being placed in their home.
To this day Riley still alerts Noah. The canine human relationship between Noah and Riley is one of love and life saving.
Sweet Charity Diabetes Support Dog Program
It came to my attention in consultation with the pediatric diabetes nurse at Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie, ON that there was a challenge not only with children experiencing brittle diabetes, but also children experiencing social, emotional, challenges of the diabetes diagnosis. Doctors appointments, hospital visits, painful injections, carb counting, loss of independence due to very very worried parents, was taking a toll on many children.
Another pilot project with a sweet little black cocker spaniel puppy named Jonesy and a child who was full of fear and angst about diabetes was undertaken. This initiative was very dear to me. Understanding the impact of the diagnosis of type one diabetes in the physical sense and the changes it brings to a family is mindboggling. To witness through the parent of this child the heart ache of how this diagnosis was impacting this child’s emotional well-being was something that needed to be addressed. Perhaps with the canine human relationship.
An emotional support animal is defined as any animal that brings comfort and support to a person with a psychological, mental or emotional disability. Emotional Support Animals are protected under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.
The value of this program and the knowledge of a previous board member to secure Trillium Foundation funding gave Sweet Charity the first substantial grant money to move forward. The greatest gift to a young charity can be money, but recognition by the Ontario Trillium Foundation meant the work mattered.
Canine Human Relationship promotes healing!
Michael Jones “Jonesy” left us far too soon. He suffered from a rare disease Neurofibromatosis (NF1). He is the son of dear family friends. Jonesy is named in Michael’s honor. The family has welcomed into their family a doggie named Indy. This pup has enriched their lives and supported their healing.
Sweet Charity School Program
Sweet Charity School Programs morphed out of the work I did with COPE Service Dogs.
The premise is including dogs in our everyday lives at schools to meet specific outcomes, created by a professional teacher and/or mental health provider. This pilot project, that Charity was involved in, at Nottawasaga Pines SS and Midland SS, was part of the mental health initiative at Simcoe County District School Board. Wendy Hunter, a licensed Psychotherapist and owner of In Support of Children, was instrumental in meeting the requirements of the therapy aspect of this program. The other volunteers that joined us were at the heart of the success.
This program was so impactful. The benefits to students, the flexibility to develop program and student outcomes that met the specific needs of each member of the group, the positive influence on the school community at large are only a few accolades. Every member of the community enjoyed the rich benefits of the power of the human canine connection.
Currently, I am working on the leadership team with Pet Partners to create courses and certification programs for professionals who want to add dogs to their services. Providing standards of practice and certification is of the utmost importance. I am proud to represent Educators.
Sweet Charity Canine Ambassador Program
The pilot project was embraced by Nottawasaga Pines SS and Midland SS. John and Tessie Dogster, were the first official Sweet Charity Canine Ambassadors. John and Tessie lived in the school community. She became somewhat of a celebrity.
This “therapy dog” strategy to reach many students, in many schools, across the county. Charity once again inspired the change to the lives of so many.
A therapy dog takes the natural desire a dog has to provide affection, comfort and support to people. The dog is managed by the owner to provide love and compassion to many individuals often in settings like hospitals, schools, long term care homes, hospice to name a few. The dog suited to be a therapy dog is calm, confident around new situations, loves people and enjoys being social. This is different from Facility Dogs.
The Sweet Charity Canine Ambassador Program has been grown across the Simcoe County School Board. Charity and I are so proud of this. In appreciation, I thank my students in the Learning Centre at Nantyr Shores SS, for loving all that Charity brought to our classroom. They were the driving force for all the students and school communities, who are benefiting today.
Our time spent with Sweet Charity Medical Assistance Dogs was long enough to see my vision come to fruition and ensure the foundation was built. The pride and sense of accomplishment is worth the legacy that Charity is being bestowed.
Charity will never be forgotten. She will continue to affect the lives of others through.
Our goal is to be able to offer these programs far and wide. Learning from the best will provide me with the tools to impact so many more people through the power of the internet. Shannon Mattern.
My involvement with Pet Partners provides standards of practice and the opportunity to stay on top of an industry that is growing faster than anyone could ever have imagined.
Please share...