BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — At the Open Door Network, therapy plays a large part in helping people in the community recover from trauma. Boston is a therapy dog in training, getting ready to help children walk down that road.
Just a little over a year old, Boston is more than cute. He has been training hard to help people through dog therapy. Boston’s mom, Erika Melendez, is a licensed therapist at the Open Door Network. She enlisted the dog in training with Marley’s Mutts after seeing people’s response to him.
“If someone is crying, he will learn how to pick up on that and lay his head on their foot or he will lay on their lap,” Melendez said. “With Marley’s Mutts, he will learn to cuddle, and if we are seeing older people, he will learn to come up to them so they can pet him.”
Because he is still in training, most of Boston’s interactions so far have been with staff, but already Melendez says he’s been comforting them on tough days.
“We have just seen a really big difference on the days he is here and have had staff members say ‘Thank you for bringing him. I had a really hard day and just seeing him made my day better,’” said Melendez.
Boston is a pit-bulldog mix, which has been a stigmatized breed, but Melendez says that makes him even more fitting for the people they see.
“A lot of the clients who do come in here feeling like they are broken, they have people that are telling them that, and I think Boston feels the same sometimes as well,” said Melendez. “Like there are people that don’t want to engage with him because of what kind of dog he is. This is part of what we’re doing here is that we want to show people that no matter what breed or human, you can re-create a life that feels good to you.”
Over the last decade, dogs have been increasingly integrated into psychotherapy and health care. We’ve all seen the viral videos of service animals who’ve been trained to assist people with a variety of everyday tasks. Dogs like Boston are proving to be an effective treatment for invisible disabilities as well, such as PTSD and anxiety.
A number of clinical studies have demonstrated that “stroking and interacting with dogs reduced cortisol levels and physiological stress markers in healthy adults.” The results of these studies show that through every part of a traumatic experience, the presence of a friendly animal, especially a dog, is helpful.
Boston is expected to begin fully working with clients at the beginning of next year. For more information on how to get help for your child or any family member, please visit the Open Door Network website.
