'He just loves to be around people': Therapy dogs resume visits as pandemic restrictions ease
CBC
It's been a "terrible" 18 months for Derby the therapy dog.
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic brought many things to a grinding halt in March 2020, including the St. John Ambulance therapy dog program in Thunder Bay.
The dogs, which used to routinely visit places like long-term care homes and schools, had to stay home with the rest of the world. It stayed that way, with the exception of some outdoor visits, until earlier this year when four therapy dog teams were able to have their first indoor visit back to the Thunder Bay police station.
Sharon Wynn, Derby's owner, said the pandemic has been hard for the 10-year-old, 70-kilogram Newfoundland and huskie mix.
"Terrible, terrible," Wynn said when asked about what the last 18 months had been like for Derby. "When we started having outside visits he gave me so much attitude because that's not how we went to work.
"I think it makes them feel and good and I think all the extra attention they get helps too. He just loves to be around people."
A therapy dog is different than a service dog, said Jill Biggs, the coordinator of the Thunder Bay and northwestern Ontario program.
"[Therapy dogs] have to be gentle. They have to like people. They have to seek attention," Biggs said.
"They're happiest when they go up to people and get to cuddle and get a pet with them. They're wonderful, outgoing dogs that want to share their patience and their heart with everybody else."
Verlie Breitsprecher said the isolation was also really challenging for her and her dog Reba, a 10-year-old poodle.
"It was really tough. I felt, and Reba as well, felt that we didn't have a purpose in life anymore. We sat around. We went and walked around in the neighbourhood. The neighbourhood wasn't enough. We visited family but that wasn't enough. She likes to get out and she's the ultimate schmoozer. She loves her job."
Biggs said the program had about 50 dogs in Thunder Bay and the region before the pandemic, but some have not been able to continue.
"The program has certainly lost dogs over the past 18 months," she said. A lot of the dogs, they're older dogs. If ones were 11 at the time the pandemic hit, then most of them have had to be retired."
Biggs said the hope is to have evaluations in the coming months to add new dogs to the program.
The amount of money it takes for people to earn a living wage has increased across the province, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.
The toxic drug crisis has taken more than 47,000 lives in Canada since 2016 and the synthetic opioid fentanyl has become a household name. But now, what's believed to be an even more potent class of synthetic drugs is showing up in drug busts across the country: nitazenes.
The Liberal government and the NDP have agreed to introduce a two-month GST vacation on certain items before the holiday season, Radio-Canada has learned.
Veterinarians are warning Londoners to make sure their dogs are vaccinated and keeping clean after a deadly virus outbreak was declared in London this week.