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"The Other Side of Working Dogs"Letter recieved from Susan Perlman Dear Jamie:
I have enclosed a few pictures of my dog Kudzu, in hopes that
you will post one as your Picture of the Month on Coonhound Central. Kudzu is a 3 or 4 year old
Walker (or so I have been told) that I adopted over two years ago from the Humane Association
of New Mexico.
The pictures I sent you were taken at the VA Hospital in Albuquerque The VA has signed releases from each patient in the picture and they have approved me sending the pictures to you. Seeing Kudzu brought big smiles to the faces of both of these guys. Kudzu is very popular at the VA. Many of the patients are older men who grew up in the south hunting with coonhounds. Seeing Kudzu brings back pleasant memories that they tell me about as they are petting Kudzu. I am also in the pictures with Kudzu. I think these are great pictures; they show another wonderful side to coonhounds. Maybe you could call them "The Other Side of a Working Dog". When I take Kudzu to a facility, I get as much out of it as the people she visits. Thank you for your consideration. I really enjoy CC and have made several new friends here. There are so few coonhounds in New Mexico, so it is nice to have a place to go to talk about hounds. susanperlman@bellsouth.netAlbuquerque, NM 87106 |
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This site seen 55846748 times since 3/1/00
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She has a wonderful, loving disposition so I felt that she would make a
good therapy dog. We went through the training and are now a certified pet therapy team.
We are certified through Therapy Dogs, Inc., a national organization and are members of the
local Southwest Canine Corps of Volunteers. Kudzu and I visit patients, staff, and families at
the Veterans Administration Hospital and the University of New Mexico Hospital (including
Children's Hospital) all in Albuquerque. The power of these dogs is incredible-we have
walked into a child's room, they take one look at Kudzu and stop crying in a nanosecond; big,
tough veterans will put their arms around her neck and give her a kiss; a man deep into Alzheimer's
actually stopped speaking gibberish and spoke coherently when I put his hand on Kudzu'
head. Coonhounds are perfect for pet therapy-they are gentle, loving, and patient. I know
coonhounds are working dogs and since I don't hunt, I feel that this is an excellent outlet for
Kudzu. She gets very excited when I bring out her ID and leash that we use.
