There’s something about a dog.
Celebrity dog trainer Cesar Millan says that canines can smell your feelings, plus they are eager to please, making them a perfect furry therapist. Their sense of smell works 1,000 to 10 million times better than a human’s, which has made them man’s best friend for centuries for hunting and tracking. This olfactory superiority is now also used for sniffing out bedbugs, bombs, cancer and possibly, in the future, the coronavirus.
Put it all together and a pooch can be an ideal complement to a human who has work to do and can benefit from a dog’s superpowers.
Bringing smiles — even via Zoom
When it comes to Zoom calls, Cece’s a pro, says Laura Kaufmann Arst. She and Cece, a 4-year-old Havanese, are part of a volunteer dog therapy team that works with the Good Dog Foundation, whose tag line is “Dogs helping humans heal.”
The team’s duties include visiting nursing homes and care facilities to aid individuals with cerebral palsy enhance their motor and tactile skills. They also help Alzheimer’s patients in staying in the moment, and bring laughter to children in schools.
“Cece loves going on visits” says Kaufmann Arst. “She gets excited as soon as she sees her uniform,” she says of her Good Dog Foundation bandana.
Limited by the COVID-19 restrictions, Cece now provides virtual therapy visits via Zoom from home in Union Square. During a recent session with residents of an assisted living facility in Battery Park, Cece brought laughter as she caught a green bean from a tube that Kaufmann Arst, and her husband, Gregg Arst, had decorated with gummy bears.
During another virtual call, this one helping local university students relieve stress during exams, Cece answered questions like “Are you enjoying quarantine?” and “Do you like treats?” by placing her paw on one of three buckets labeled “Yes,” “Meh” and “Nope.” (For the record, Cece likes both quarantine and treats.)
Free training for Cece was provided by the Good Dog Foundation which also arranges their bookings.
Tracking with superpowers
Bedbugs can cause all kinds of nasty problems, from itchy bites to skin rashes, watery eyes, sweating, abdominal pain, chest tightness, difficulty breathing and lethargy. Needless to say, if the nasty insects have invaded your home or place of work, you want them out. Trouble is, they’re invisible, so hard to find “unless you have a canine bedbug inspector like Roscoe,” says Glenn Waldorf, speaking of the 12-year-old beagle his company Bell Environmental, based in Fairfield, NJ, sends out to customers’ sites.
Waldorf says that Roscoe won’t stop searching for the nasty insects until he finds them or declares a location bedbug free.
How does Roscoe tell his human co-workers where the bugs are? “When he finds them he won’t leave the spot until he gets his treat,” says Waldorf, noting that the beagle likes the challenge of locating them.
Two things qualify Roscoe to do this — his sense of smell and his education. “Roscoe has a degree from [a forensic-investigation training center that certified him] to sniff out live bedbugs and bedbug eggs and to pinpoint their locations,” says Waldorf.
Bringing comfort to the bereaved
Many of the visitors to Pete Moloney’s funeral homes on Long Island are comforted by someone they didn’t expect to meet — Kota, a 5-year-old Labrador-Weimaraner mix (pictured below with Moloney.)
“He brings a different dynamic to the grief process,” says Moloney.
Kota — who wears a vest with an American flag, a sign that says “Pet me, I’m friendly” and a pouch holding Kleenex — has been specially trained to comfort the grieving. “He knows how to work a room,” says Moloney.
Kota greets visitors individually, tolerates extended petting by strangers and listens to commands like sit, come, down and stay, and offers a consoling posture. “He isn’t startled by sudden movement or noise either,” says Moloney.
Moloney shuttles Kota between each of his seven funeral homes whenever a family agrees that they might benefit from his presence.
Although Moloney never knows exactly how much of a relief Kota provides, there was one time it was obvious. After visitors had left the wake of a young woman who had died of a drug overdose, Moloney found the deceased’s mother lying on the floor in tears hugging Kota. When the mother stood up, she looked at Moloney and said, “I didn’t think I was going to be OK, but now I know that I will.”
“I’ll never forget that,” says Moloney. “Kota did something that a human couldn’t do.”