Star Bright Therapy Dog - Darby

Darby is a Golden Retriever owned and handled by Becky Douglas, one of our local Bright & Beautiful evaluators. Darby is 2 years old and has a bright future.

Congratulations -- After completing the 4-day National Animal Assisted Crisis Response training workshop, Becky and Darby are 1 of only 5 teams currently in Florida to be certified as an Animal Assisted Crisis Response (AACR) team!

Darby passed her AKC Tracking Dog Test on October 21st 2007 under AKC Tracking Judges Joe Hamzy and Jane Craig. Darby's track was 455 yards with 4 turns and 47 minutes old.

At 4 months of age, Darby made her debut at an event put on by the Lifelong Literacy Coalition of St. Lucie County. Kathy Basile, executive director of the Children's Services Council of St. Lucie County and a member of the coalition, said the event will "stress how important it is to read to kids, because they then become good readers.

One of the biggest efforts by the Star Bright Dog teams is the Waggin' Tales Reading Program with the St Lucie County Library System. The Reading Program is designed to help children increase their reading skills. Common issues faced by many challenged children who, in addition to other problems, have had difficulty learning to read. These kids often have low self-esteem, lack confidence, find the tasks that they need to do to recover difficult, and are often intimidated and anxious in the presence of adults. These kids are able to relax and become less anxious when reading to a Star Bright Therapy Dog. They are able to focus on their reading, and find reading fun, which results in improved reading scores and improved self-esteem. This type of program demands a lot of the Star Bright teams. The handler and the dog must enjoy working with children – especially those who are at risk. The handler has to be flexible and ready to improvise; these visits are unstructured so the handler must be comfortable in such a setting. The handler must also be willing to learn basic techniques for teaching literacy, and, of course, should love to read. It is a must that the dog member of the team be comfortable with kids and not be stressed by crowds of children shrieking, petting, and hugging it. The noise level is often dramatic when working with children. Finally the animal needs to be able to lie quietly by the child while being read to.

Before a handler and dog team can participate in any of the Star Bright programs they must go through an extensive training and evaluation process. Darby and her handler Becky Douglas are involved in extensive training including tracking as they prepare for a future in SAR. On Sunday February 11 2007 at 6 months of age, Darby was certified by an AKC Tracking Judge as eligible to participate in a sanctioned AKC Tracking Dog Test. Check back to find out the latest.

Feel free to browse around and we invite you to come back often. We will be adding content and photos regularly. Check out some early photos of Music, another young dog during her early Therapy dog training.

For more information about the Star Bright Therapy Dogs or the Waggin' Tales Reading contact Dorothy Blair our Training Director/Founder by email: dot@starbrightdogs.org

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