Ronnie

I was born on the 13th March 2004 to a beautiful dark golden-brown colored Golden Retriever named Chikoo. I was one of the nine siblings, jumping on each other, chasing each other’s tails, running towards our mom and the dear lady, Yaman with whom we all stayed. We were so many, all light golden like our Dad – Bluze.

It must have been difficult for our first human parents to remember us. So we were color coded. We all had different color satin ribbons, that’s how they remember our names. I was of course renamed several times, but my first name that Yaman gave me was Ronnie and my code was blue, light sky blue. I remember some of my siblings; they had funny names like Gotya, Bandya, Tikli, Chumki, Pari etc.

When we were two months old, people started coming home to see us, to pick a few of us as pets. I was careless of the lot and would always be doing some or the other mischief, least bothered to be ‘good’ to impress the people who came. But I remember when one of Yaman’s friend Minal came to see us. When she called us out, I perked my ears, tilted my head and looked at her. There was some connection between us. She called me ‘butterfly ears’ and said that I was very sharp and attentive. The other people who came to pick us up were looking for ‘pets’, ‘buddies’, companion for their kids etc. But Minal had come looking for a pup who could be a ‘Therapy Dog’. God know what that was!! No one had heard about it. But then she said to Yaman that I would be perfect as a therapy dog. She had selected me for a family who had a son who was not like other kids. Minal felt that I would be able to help this kid. So it was decided, a month later, I would be leaving my mom to be trained further as a ‘Therapy Dog’!!

For more on Therapy dogs, log on to our website: www.animalangels.org.in

I am Goldie

You may have heard of Dog being a man’s Best Friend, but have you heard of Dog as a man’s therapist?

Well, I am Goldie, a four year old Golden Retriever and I am a trained Therapy Dog! You guys must have heard of a Police dog or a watch dog but do you know what Therapy dog is?

We work as co-therapists with our human companions and together we help many people heal emotionally. I cuddle up with a boy who may be sad and bring a smile back on his face. I can lick a sick lady and make her feel better. A wag of my tail can lift the spirits of a lonely elderly person. A game of fetch with me can encourage a spastic child to pick up a ball and play with me.

I symbolize hope, innocence and motivation to get a better life.

I am one of the first trained Therapy dogs of India. Kutty, a female Labrador is my senior. She is India’s first Therapy dog; and an award winning too. Now there are many more therapy dogs like us, here in India. And we all work for an organization called Animal Angels Foundation.

This is my blog where I will share with you some heart warming, inspirational and some hilarious stories of our journey with my four legged friends and human friends.

www.animalangels.org.in

Visit our website to know more about me and my friends, and to know more about this “unique therapy”.