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Testarosa - An Unlikely Therapy
Dog
 Nearly sixteen years ago I had the privilege of
whelping out a litter of eleven Doberman puppies. My
dream, at the time, was to breed a Champion who would
become both a Schutzhund III and an AKC Utility dog.
Eventually, all the puppies were placed in various homes
with the exception of a beautiful little ‘red’ girl, whom
my husband and I kept and called Testarosa.
Testa went into the show ring. She did extremely well, winning
every class in which she was entered. When she was six months
old she went to Colorado to the DPCA Nationals where she and
three of her littermates were scheduled to be shown. Mother
Nature dealt her a left punch when she began her first season
the day of her class.
Unfortunately, I didn't know enough to pull her from her debut
in Denver and Testa had to endure the rigors of the show ring
when she was especially sensitive about her hind quarters. For
those of you who may never have seen a dog in the conformation
ring, it entails a detailed examination by the judge who
touches the dogs body to ascertain the degree of correctness of
bone angulation, muscle tone and width of body. It can be
stressful on dogs and was ultimately so on a young bitch who
was experiencing the strange feelings so common to the onset of
estrus. To make a long story short, Testa did not win her class
and was excused for refusing to ‘show’.
The trauma of the experience made a lasting impression on Testa
and she was never again to show well in the ring. There was no
point in continuing to promote her in conformation. I am a
person who really enjoys the challenge of the obedience ring
and the sport of Schutzhund. I decided that Testa would excel
in these areas and set about doing the training that is
necessary to earn the titles offered.
Testa is very smart and loved the opportunity to use her mind.
She learned quickly and well and was doing very good in
Schutzhund. She passed the first level of testing and received
her Begleithunde or BH.
This meant she was able to go on into higher levels of
training. Next she tried for and received her WH or Wachlunde.
This test indicated that she would be a good watch dog and her
obedience was so outstanding that the judge declared her
perfect in her execution of the many exercises called for.
Then we found out that Testa could not go on in her training.
She had developed a spinal condition from a training injury and
it would be painful and, perhaps, even fatal to continue. She
had begun to limp and x-rays indicated that she was dysplastic,
as well. The prognosis was not good. She wasn't yet two years
old!
I decided to have a house pet. The problem was Testa came from
a long line of working dogs with extremely high energy levels
and a need to be useful. What could I possibly do with her that
would utilize her intelligence and not subject her to the kind
of stress that the competition world called for?
I had been using her mother, Onyx, in Animal Assisted Therapy
for a couple of years. It was a way of helping people and being
with my dog at the same time. I figured Testa would not be good
for this because she was afraid of dogs and rather shy of
people. (Remember her show ring days?) But, at the urging of a
person I knew who was also in AAT I had her tested. Imagine my
surprise when she was accepted into the Delta Society’s Pet Partner®
program.
 We began doing quiet, controlled visits. Testa
seemed to enjoy her clients and was good at retrieving,
standing for grooming and calmly taking treats from
individuals that needed to use their arms and hands to
meet therapeutic goals set by Occupational, Speech and
Physical Therapists. She worked very well with people who
were coming back from strokes or brain and spinal cord
injuries. She was so well trained that she could do a lot
of different maneuvers just by being given a signal or
verbal command. For this reason she was often used with
comatose patients.
Very quickly the therapists realized Testa would respond to a
patient’s often whispered command to sit, or down or speak. She
was soon being used to help people who had balance problems by
walking with them while they used their walkers or canes, by
those who needed to problem solve by deciding which color
cookie to give her or by those who needed encouragement to use
their voice by having her go in different directions or do
various ‘tricks’. She even learned sign language and could do a
variety of activities when an individual ‘signed’ to her.
There was one lady who was in an advanced stage of Parkinson’s
and was afraid of falling. Testa stood calmly in front of her
and watched every new person who came into the therapy gym. She
was ‘guarding’ and it was deeply appreciated by an individual
who often felt helpless.
Testa’s present client is a young man who has had both legs
amputated below the knees and has lost his right arm and all
but the thumb on his left hand. He had been very depressed and
the initial goals for him were to willingly wear his
prosthesis, his hook, and to pay attention to what was going on
around him. The therapist hoped that Testa would arouse his
interest enough to help him focus for five minutes.
From our first visit with Todd it was obvious that he would
benefit from Animal Assisted Therapy. He wore his hook for the
entire hour and interacted with Testa in an appropriate manner.
As we have continued the visits he will groom her, pet her,
select cookies and hide them and throw the ball for her. We use
a tennis ball on a rope that he can hurl about twenty feet away
and Testa loves to retrieve it and take it back for ‘just one
more toss’.
What the two of them enjoy the most, however, is cruising!
Testa pulls Todd in his wheelchair and he laughs and tells her
to go faster. She is very proud of this and it is something to
see this little red dog marching (and she does appear to
march!) around and around the inner courtyard at the hospital
with Todd holding the leash with his hook and telling her to go
left, go right, go faster! Testa has had both her hips replaced
and wears non-slip ‘boots’ to insure her better traction on the
highly polished floors of various OT and hospital rooms.
Testa has found something in her life that is her job and she
is very good at it. She has recovered from her fear of people
although she still is afraid of other dogs. She is giving
something to the world and getting so much back. Testa was one
of only 12 dogs throughout the United States to appear on the
Delta Society
Calendar Pet Partners 1996. She is featured for October and is
shown with one of her clients and with me. Who would have
imagined that such an unlikely candidate would end up being an
exceptional therapy dog! I love her very much and am grateful
to the therapists and clients who are willing to work with a
Doberman in the exciting and relatively new world of Animal
Assisted Therapy.
by Paulette Bethel -
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