National Capital Therapy Dogs (NTCD) Blog

M.G. at "Meet the Breeds" in New York, October 17

2010-10-26T10:14:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK - OCTOBER 17: M.G., a Shih Tzu, takes part in the “Top Dog” agility and obedience games during the second annual “Meet the Breeds” showcase of cats and dogs at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on October 17, 2010 in New York City. “Meet the Breeds” is hosted by the American Kennel Club and Cat Fanciers Association, and 160 dog breeds and 41 cat breeds were presented this year.

Editor's note: Burton Goldstein and M.G. are long-time NCTD volunteers.

NCTD 20th Anniversary Dinner Slide Shows

2010-10-11T10:37:00.000-07:00

National Capital Therapy Dogs, Inc. held it's 20th Anniversary Celebration on October 3, 2010 at
Ten Oaks Ballroom in Clarksville, MD.

Over 100 humans and many canine volunteers attended.

Wayne and Shari Sternberger, who founded NCTD in 1990 along with Jane Bartholomew, hosted the celebration.
Wayne prepared several great slides shows with the help of our volunteers who sent in photos.

Below are the You Tube links for these slide shows. Please watch them and enjoy!

The slide shows and the presentation slides are uploaded to You Tube for
folks to see and share. The videos can be found at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlLbGDMk2lU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67f97N1UtfE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVHWlAv2Rns and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfFGzrV3fpk

Goldie with Shellie Goldstein

2010-10-11T10:35:00.001-07:00

It was May 15^th, 2001, and longtime Shih Tzu breeder Lorraine DeSalvo had another litter. One female stood out, and Lorraine knew that “Marigold” was destined for great things. By the age of thirteen months, that pup had earned both her American and Canadian breed championships.

Marigold returned to Lorraine, and became one of the pack. The breeder was turning breed judge, and ending her breeding program after thirty years. She was placing their remaining dogs. But Marigold was her heart dog, and needed a very special home to be placed in.

One of Marigold’s distant cousins, same grandfather, had gone on to stardom, in obedience, rally, agility, and especially in therapy work. “M.G.” was quite the “poster boy” for the Shih Tzu breed. Lorraine was his proud breeder also. Knowing what Burton had done with M.G., Lorraine wanted the same for her Marigold. To be an active contributor. There is a very famous saying in the dog world ... “A balanced dog has titles on both ends.”

Shellie and Burton were already active in the local breed club, and along with Lorraine, were planning the hosting of their national specialty here in Frederick, Maryland, in 2006. It was at the holiday / planning party at the end of 2005, that Marigold made her first impression on Shellie.

Somehow that connection that Lorraine had wanted, happened. Within a few days, Marigold was living in our house, as a part of our family. She had never seen stairs, grass, nor rain. Breed dog don’t need to be house broken, and their house is a rambler. That was all reversed within the first few minutes in our house. She stood at the top of the stairs, looking down, when M.G. climbed back up the stairs, stood beside her, and climbed down. Marigold figured that if he could do it, so could she. It was raining outside, and when M.G. walked over to the tree and lifted his leg, Marigold got her first exposure to a house broken dog! She also became “Goldie”.

Within weeks Goldie had her C.G.C. (and her T.D.I.). After waiting the required amount of time, she became Delta certified, and has been visiting weekly ever since. Goldie has earned two A.K.C. rally titles, her C.D. obedience title, and her two novice agility titles. But she is a natural when it comes to interfacing with people. She never met anyone (who might possibly have a treat for her ... maybe, maybe) that she didn’t like. Who can resist that cute little “diva”?!?

Goldie is a natural born crowd pleaser.

“Treat ... did anyone say treat?!?”

Rossini and Puccini, Barbara Murgo

2010-10-11T10:31:00.000-07:00

Barbara Murgo is a long time NCTD volunteer, with her Irish Setters, Rossini, recently deceased, appearing above on CBS, and Puccini, below, left, with Ross in 2004. They visit at NIH and work in the READ program.

Dune and Tucker, Jeanette Golden

2010-10-11T10:07:00.000-07:00

NCTD is so lucky to include many long-term volunteers.

One of these is Jeanette Golden, who visited with her Labrador Retriever Dune at NIH, the READ program and other facilities until Dune's death,
and is now working with Tucker.

Dune is shown to the right relaxing
with one of his READing friends.

And here is Tucker practicing
his reading.

MG and Burton Goldstein At All-Star Championship

2010-09-15T09:01:00.001-07:00

Burton and M.G. have been visiting with NCTD for over 10 years in many settings. The article below was originally written for a breed magazine and an obedience club. It's a fascinating account of their experience at the All -Star Championship competition.

Article by Burton Goldstein

In the attached picture, you can imagine me thinking, "Do you have any idea how stressful it is to compete in three different venues, seventeen times in the ring?!?". And you can imagine M.G. thinking the exact same thing! But we did, and didn't do too badly.

The All Star "championship" is held every other year. It uses A.K.C. rules, and A.K.C. judges. Dogs have to qualify to be entered. There were 227 dogs from 16 different states, and 8 more dogs from Canada. There were 60 different breeds. There was one Shih Tzu.

Our portion of obedience was tournament style, just as the A.K.C. National Obedience Invitational is held. But at the N.O.I., we did one day, six rings, four exercises per ring, and when we were finished, after seven hours, we had done two complete sets of open exercises, two complete sets of utility exercises, and one set of group stays (96 dogs at the same time, 16 dogs per ring, 6 rings).

At All Star we competed in five rings, seven exercises per round, two sets of stays, over two days. This totaled three complete sets of open exercises and two complete sets of utility exercises. Not only were the judges A.K.C. obedience judges, so were several of their stewards.

While a dog still had to qualify to be entered, they could qualify at the novice level, or open, or utility. The top dogs qualified and competed at the "Super Star Obedience" level. 26 dogs competed at that level. 21 of them had their O.T.Ch. No O.T.Ch., but we competed at that level.

In rally, again dogs had to qualify, and they could compete at the novice level, or advanced, or excellent. The top dogs qualified and competed at the "Super Rally" level. 16 dogs competed at that level. We competed at that level.

In agility, there was only the excellent level. We competed at that level.

There were 13 dogs that competed in both obedience and rally. Only 2 of them were at the super star obedience and super rally levels. One of them was us. There were 4 dogs that competed in both agility and rally. Only 1 of them were at the super rally level, and that was us. There was ONE dog that competed in all three venues, at ANY level, much less the highest of all of the levels, and that was us. 17 times in the ring, in 3 days, all at the highest level of the completion, competing against some of the best dogs in the U.S. and Canada.

The event was held at the York Expo Center. One side of the building had the obedience and rally rings, while the other side had sod laid, and was where the agility was held. In between the competitions, there were games in each of the venues. The "Ultimate Rally Challenge" used every rally sign there is, and stretched out across the entire agility ring. Agility "Tunnelers Game" had 12 tunnels, while the "Weave Pole Challenge" had 60 poles. There were a number of "Obedience Games" (which I didn't get a chance to see).

Three rounds of seven exercises each and one set of group stays on Friday. That wasn't that bad, in comparison. Saturday and Sunday had both rally and agility running on opposite sides of the building, at the same time. Super rally had us running between advanced and excellent. So we were walking three different courses at the same time. Knowing that there could be conflicts, the judges were told to be accommodating. They had us run agility whenever we were available, in between rally competitions. Saturday has us doing two obedience rounds and one set of stays, then concurrently, two agility runs and two rally courses. Sunday was concurrently two agility runs and four rally courses.

Grouping in the various venues were not just small to tall. For example, our group of 26 super star obedience teams, might be from 1 (shortest, we were #2) to 26 (tallest), or might be split in half (14 to 26 and then 1 to 13), or might be split in thirds. Timing our appearance in the ring was challenging, since we were running between rings, and between the two sides of the building.

The host hotel cost a fortune, so we stayed for one-third the price, two miles away. A very nice banquet Friday night, included their big silent auction. Lots of vendors, and the host committee did a great job. We actually had a utility bar jump that we had brought and set up in our hotel room, as well as a baby gating stantion. Shellie worked the entire time, and made lots of new friends from all over the country. I even worked the agility table after we finished on Saturday. Goldie was the glamor girl and once she figured out that she wasn't competing (other than some of the games), she strutted her stuff as she loves doing.

35 exercises in the obedience ring, and 2 sets of stays. M.G. and I had three "brain-farts". On Friday, in round 2, a bad turn to glove three left him facing glove two, and no matter how much I pointed to glove three, he got glove two. 30 points off. In that same rotation, in the signal exercise, he was forging too much as we made the final turn, and too far in front of me to see my stand signal. He sat as I walked by him. 40 points off. Very respectable scores otherwise.

On Saturday, we were delighted and honored to have our friend, Don Levinson, as one of the distinguished judges, for round 4. In the fifth round, M.G. did not do the signals correctly, and we lost 40 points there. Those 110 points in those three errors took us out of the running, and put us in 20th place. But we still beat six others, and the Shih Tzu is not known as the typical obedience dog.

If you know me, you know that we don't do rally. At least we don't practice it, nor really compete in it. Once we originally earned our R.A.E., we might compete once a year, at our national specialty. I had borrowed a set of flip cards with the rally sign descriptions on them. I would take the course map, go to the side someplace, and read the interpretations of what we were supposed to be doing.

Three of the five obedience judges began the rally judges. At the super rally level, we competed under each judge, once for advanced and once for excellent. Six times in the various rally rings. The judges all told me that their rally courses never had as many signs as these courses had. One judge told me that they only hand write their course maps, so they had someone else design their courses, that could produce pretty course maps for the tournament.

We finished with a total deduction of 27, which means that we earned 573 points out of a possible 600, for an average score of 95.5. For not doing rally that seriously, I was delighted to finish in fifth place!

Agility was very different. While the judges were both A.K.C. agility judges, one is now a field representative. The rules were A.K.C., they used two standard courses on Saturday, and a hybrid and a jumpers course on Sunday. A hybrid course is a jumpers with one or two contacts on it. They had the teeter in the middle of the ring, and the course circled around so you used the teeter twice.

There was also a choice we had to make on the hybrid course. We ran obstacles one through ten, and then could go either to eleven, twelve, thirteen, and then fourteen, or we could do a difficult threadal from ten to alternate eleven, then directly to fourteen. Two less obstacles, and thirty feet shorter, but with the larger course's standard course time. On the jumpers course, there were twelve weave poles, six and six. You did six poles, then several jumps, and then another set of six weave poles.

This being a tournament, there were five-point minor deductions (like a refusal or a kicked bar) and ten-point major deductions (like a wrong course). Three-points for each second over standard course time. You were whistled back if you hadn't completed the course properly. The table was in the ring, but never used.

In round 2, M.G. ran past a jump. This was the final jump, obviously in front of the exit gate. We had to start a pin wheel there, and when I called him, I accidently gave him his signal to do a blind cross, which pulled him off the jump. We doubled back and just had a five point deduction and time faults. In round 3, we had to restart a difficult weave pole entry. A long, straight line to the triple in the corner, hard right turn, and he had run past the first pole. I know that we had been under time in our first round, but never had the time to get the standard course times for any of the other rounds. We didn't have the chance to run in our height group, just whenever we were available. We finished in seventh place in eight inches. (First through fifth places were won by some very fast paps.)

The "Ultimate Dog" competition was those competing in both agility and obedience. Of those competing at any of the various levels, we finished 12th overall. The "Super Star" division are those competing in agility and the "Super Star" obedience class. We finished SECOND. In the ultimate, ultimate, those competing in all three sports, at any level, M.G. was the only dog, but there was no official recognition.

This was not just a matter of competing in three sports, at the highest of levels, in a completely different format (that of a tournament), but doing all of it at the same time. Keeping my eleven year old dog cool, rested, and pottied, in between times in the ring, and getting him up for the different "game face" required for each sport, was the biggest challenge. I used an ice water soaked, terry cloth, "cool coat", and a battery operated fan. Not much socializing for him in between, just after each day's rounds.

The weather outside was scorching. The building was surrounded by parking lot, with the few grass spots a distance away. With a minute or two left before the Saturday group stays, I took M.G. out one set of doors to get to some grass. The door had locked behind me. We had to rush around the building to the opposite side, where a door had been propped open all day, but was locked now. We had to continue around to the front door, then back into the back of the building, to the ring where the others competitors were waiting. They knew that we would be there soon, so they held up the stays. Nice.

In obedience, we have earned all of the titles that we can, and realize that an O.T.Ch. is probably not in the future of a Shih Tzu today, even M.G. It was great earning the one O.T.Ch. point that we did, and therefore qualifying that year to represent our breed at the N.O.I. (At that time, we finished in third place in the toy group.) As the A.K.C. introduces new titles, we have earned them. M.G. is the only Shih Tzu to have the new obedience versatility title. Rally is a nice venue and entry point to formal obedience. We have the ultimate title there. In agility, we are midway to our M.A.Ch., but at eleven, might never get there.

So doing this all-in-one tournament was sort of one last challenge, to show that M.G. can do it all, perhaps not the absolute best, but can certainly play with the best, and hold his own. And he can do it in each of the sports, all at the same time. And that ain't bad when you're a Shih Tzu!

Volunteers at Greater Baltimore Medical Center

2010-09-15T08:56:00.000-07:00

This photo was taken at GBMCs Compassionate Caregivers Meeting. All of the dogs were given a heart-shaped pin for being a Compassionate Caregiver.

From Left to right:
Elizabeth Kenny and Hank

Cathy Gelb and Chloe

Sam and Remington

Betsy Campochiaro and Poca

Sandra Lumpkin holding Gunner

Mickie Pfarr and Hummer

In the photo below, volunteer Sandra Lumpkin visits with a patient.

photos submitted
by Elizabeth Kenney
and Sandra Lumpkin

Kennedy Krieger Volunteer of the Year

2010-08-16T06:17:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Stephanie Cooper-Greenberg, who received Kennedy Krieger Institute's Volunteer of the Year Award in May for her work with her Dalmatian, Mattilda.

Kennedy Krieger Institute is NCTD's newest facility and Stephanie is Facility Coordinator.
Several volunteers are visiting there with their dogs.

In these photos, Mattilda is enjoying stories read to her by children at Kennedy Krieger while Stephanie watches.

Stephanie and Mattilda also volunteer at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Photos are courtesy of Kennedy Krieger Institute.

Have Therapy Dog, Will Travel

2010-08-16T06:14:00.000-07:00

This is my partner Sophie-an 8-year old Cavachon. As you can see, she likes her role as a "bed therapy specialist." I am claiming her as the dog with the broadest experience in NCTD. We presently visit NIH, Adventist, Georgetown and the College Living Experience. But she also used to visit Sibley and, because of my job as Director of Facilities, she has helped me to get programs going in four other facilities in the past: George Washington, Krahnke Center, National Lutheran Home and Quince Orchard READ. She also became something of a celebrity last year when she appeared on the Animal Planet TV program Dogs 101, where she represented the Cavachon designer breed. She takes her job very seriously during her working week, but loves walking in the woods, fetching balls and chasing deer and squirrels in her week off.
Submitted by John Burrows, NCTD Director of Facilities

Cindy, Spree, Groovy and Yogi

2010-08-09T12:40:00.002-07:00

Cindy Knowlton has been an NCTD member for five years along with her six year old Belgian Tervuren named Spree. After watching an encounter that Spree shared with a mentally and physically challenged stranger when Spree was just a 16 week old pup, Cindy knew that therapy work would be in Spree's future, so she did her homework and chose NCTD. Cindy and Spree have enjoyed participating in the READ program at Faith Baptist Christian School in Laurel, MD for the past five years, and are looking forward to starting back again this fall. More recently they have also been visiting at Copper Ridge in Sykesville, MD. When Spree isn't wearing her vest, she enjoys agility most of all. Her favorite obstacle is the tunnel, which is obvious in the photo below. You can see Spree's latest agility videos at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_ywLQyAmhU

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbgJntK7rd0

Last June, Cindy added two more therapy dogs to the group: Groovy, a four year old Belgian Tervuren, and Yogi, a two year old German Shepherd. While they're both still finding their therapy dog paths, both have participated in the READ program at FBCS, and Yogi has also visited at Copper Ridge. When Groovy isn't visiting, he enjoys nose work training, with hopes of competing when the nose work program finally moves to the east coast. You can see video of Groovy training for nose work here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Lz3sNMJEkA

Yogi can often be found hiking the Appalachian Trail with Cindy's husband, Alan. More recently, he's discovered a new passion in dock diving.

You can see video of Yogi dock diving here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHobhgwGRtk

Spree, Groovy and Yogi share their home with three other dogs. Quasar and Cash are 12 and 11 year old Belgian Tervuren, and Grizzlee is a 9 year old German Shepherd. Together they keep their humans, who love them deeply, very busy.

When Cindy's not wearing an NCTD uniform, you'll most likely find her working with her dogs or playing with her camera, either privately or professionally.

2010-07-28T08:04:00.000-07:00

Is it a dog or is it a seal? That's the question that we always get. And, if it's a dog, what breed is it?

It is supposed to be a dog. No particular breed--just something that is huggable and lovable.

The logo is something that Shari and Jane designed in the early days of NCTD. I was the one who was tasked with creating the electronic version of their "vision." I used CorelDraw to create the logo, because it was one of the few packages in the early 90's that could create text that was wrapped along a curve.

The heart was an easy starting point. It represents the unconditional love that is provided by our animal partners. The family was from some clip-art that we found; I did some editing to have them clustered rather than have them strung out end-to-end. The diversity of the family represents the notion that everyone benefits from animal interactions. Even in a medical care environment, we expect that the patient is the primary interface, but we know that everyone associated with the patient--family and staff--benefit from the interactions.

And, that brings us back to the dog. Jane had a German Shepherd and Shari and I had English Setters. We knew that we couldn't use either of those breeds lest we make it look like favoritism. We also knew that we didn't want to use a carton-like character, such as Marmaduke. So, we scoured the clip-art for something generic. What you see is a slightly edited version of a dog that Jane and Shari thought was appropriate. No, we never did give the dog in the logo a name.

Last, but not least, is "The Caring Canines" tag line. The lawyer that we used to incorporate suggested that we should have two "personas"-one for the clients and one for the donors. We were advised that in the DC metro area it was best to have an "official sounding" name for the formality of doing business and seeking donation; ergo, National Capital Therapy Dogs. And, we wanted something "softer" for the clients. Twenty years later it seems that "National Capital Therapy Dogs" or "NCTD" says it all.

Wayne Sternberger

How It all Began

2010-07-28T07:46:00.000-07:00

Shari, Wayne, and Jane at the NCTD First Anniversary celebration

In the late 1980?s, formalized "pet therapy" was in its infancy. Most visiting programs were loosely organized; many were associated with animal shelters using transient animals. A number of us were involved in an organization that offered both assistance dogs and visiting dogs. Over time, the visiting dog program seemed to lose focus in deference to the assistance program.

We recognized that there was a need to offer a quality visiting program, and we decided to form a new non-profit to concentrate specifically on animal-assisted therapy and activities. In October 1990, Jane Bartholomew, Shari and I founded National Capital Therapy Dogs. There were six charter teams in the organization. The three of us were joined by Mona Shauffle with Rocky, Lynn Cooper and Magic, and Deborah and Jack Foley with Carolina. We coerced Ruth Chase into being our animal specialist. National Institutes of Health embraced us as our first facility. Soon after, Johns Hopkins Hospital became our second facility.

We set up our own evaluation protocol, incorporated, and started to slog through the process of becoming a recognized tax-exempt, non-profit organization. Jane, Shari, and I underwrote the operational expenses; we decided early on that we wanted our volunteers to be able to spend time providing client contact rather than conducting fund raising.

Through Ruth's training classes and informational exhibits at local pet food stores, we were able to recruit more volunteer teams. Soon we were offering "training," in the form of open floors, formalized evaluations for new teams; we even enlisted Ellen Shay to develop a volunteer handbook. We grew in size and added more facilities.

The rest is history. Twenty years later, NCTD is alive, vibrant, and serving more and more clients with the highest quality "product" that can be had.

Wayne Sternberger

Come to the 20th Anniversary Celebration!

2010-07-12T12:29:00.000-07:00

NCTD's 20th Anniversary Celebration is happening at Ten Oaks Ballroom, in Clarksville, MD on Sunday, October 3, 2010, in the afternoon. This event is free for NCTD volunteers. If you visit in one of our facilities, help regularly with our events, serve on our board, this means you. Invitations will be sent out soon. You will need to RSVP since this is a formal event. Canine partners are invited as well.

2010-07-12T12:17:00.000-07:00

National Capital Therapy Dogs' reading program helps children enjoy reading. Dogs like listening to the books and the children enjoy reading to the dogs.
Therapy dogs like Beau work with 3rd or 4th grade children in many local schools and libraries.

Mark and Michelle Cohen -- NIH Service Award

2010-07-12T11:34:00.001-07:00

Caption: Volunteers Mark and Michelle Cohen (middle) were honored by CC Volunteer Program coodinator Courtney Duncan for their efforts with animal-assisted therapy. “I am glad that we can help, it is so nice to see someone who is maybe having a tough time light up when we visit,” Mark said.

The Clinical Center Social Work Department honored hospital volunteers April 19 to 25 as part of National Volunteer Week, a celebration of ordinary people doing extraordinary things to improve communities across the country.

The 17th annual CC volunteer appreciation event on April 22 included a presentation of special recognition awards to nine volunteers based on consistency, reliability, hours spent, or “general overall wonderfulness,” as CC Volunteer Program coordinator Courtney Duncan said. Out of the 280 volunteers from the last year (currently 197 on board), honored were: Mark and Michelle Cohen, animal-assisted therapy program; Eileen De Santillana, Language Interpreters Program; Joanne Hill, Patient Ambassador Program; Saroja Kanesa-Thasan, Red Cross; Cynthia Kim, Patient Ambassador Program; Janet Logan, volunteering on OP 12 for 14 years; Monica Sullivan, Language Interpreters Program; and Armen Thomasian, Patient Ambassador Program.

In the celebration’s welcome, CC Chief Operating Officer Maureen Gormley thanked the volunteers for their contribution to the CC’s healing environment. “The care that makes this place human is the care that you give every day to our patients,” she said.

The Social Work Department also organized mini-celebrations in the volunteer/Red Cross lounge each day throughout National Volunteer Week, where volunteers were invited to meet and mingle with their peers.