THERAPY WORK
Timberland Goldens is a supporter of dogs used in therapy and service work. We understand the foundation requirements that make a therapy/service dog prospect.A good therapy dog is a mixture of several important factors, but it mainly boils down to personality and training when it comes to these empathetic canines. The most important qualities of a therapy dog are:
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a calm demeanor
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patience
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confidence
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and a love of human contact.
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Golden Retrievers have been among the most popular dog breeds for years. As far as companion dogs, this breed is a huge hit. The Golden Retriever has many amazing qualities and is a top dog breed for a nearly endless list of reasons (ref: https://www.certapet.com/golden-retriever-service-dog/ ).​
Timberland Goldens began its journey with Therapy and Service Goldens, when we acquired a 3 year old girl named Dreamer. Dreamer is from a long bloodline of champions, and we knew from the moment we saw her, that she was the girl we were searching for. Not only did she have the calm demeanor we needed as a foundation for our Service and Therapy work, she also had the build and conformation to mother our future AKC champions. With her, we would need a suitable mate to sire our litters...
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Our selection ran far and wide. However, one clear winner was in our hopes. Chubby, a renowned Golden Retriever therapy dog, located near the prestigious town of Laguna Beach, California. Not only did Chubby exceed our expectations in the Therapy and Service field, he had earned his AKC championship title at on 22 months old! With his owner expecting a puppy from the Chubby & Dreamer litter, we were on our way.
On December 2, 2023, Dreamer would give birth to 10 beautiful, light golden puppies. This litter is known as the "Victory Litter" of 5 boys and 5 girls. Their growth rate was phenomenal. Their health was superb. Dreamer earned mother-of-the-year award. Our eyes were on each one, knowing we would be keeping a few from this litter ourselves.
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​At 8 weeks of age, each of the puppies were evaluated by two of the top show Golden Retriever kennels on the West Coast. The news was out...5 puppies had show quality conformation, a rarity among show Golden breeders! Now to wait to see their Therapy and Service qualities.
At the age of 7 months old, we had our first therapy contestant. Morgan was large for his age, with a weight of 85 pounds at 7 months old. He was not overweight, but rather had a bone structure uncommon for Goldens. He had a character that could learn easily. He was originally one of our top 5 show quality picks. He would make a fine services dog, with the ability to use his muscle and bone structure to complete any task. A few people in need came forward, however, one applicant stood out. A need for a therapy dog to do deep pressure (compression) therapy. BINGO!
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Lea R. wrote in to us: "I've been searching for a dog suited for service work and have been looking at many breeders, but am wondering if your dog would be a good fit for my needs. I am a 22 year-old woman with PTSD and panic disorder and would like to find a dog I can train for deep pressure therapy."
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We knew Morgan we be a perfect fit for this task. Follow Lea and Morgan's journey here.
UPDATE: Sent from Lea R. on July 14, 2024, only a few weeks after Lea adopted Morgan. She wrote us:
I also want to let you guys know that something extraordinary happened today about an hour ago. Everyone was gone on an outing and I stayed home to watch Morgan and a couple hours after everyone left I had a panic attack and fell to the floor and started crying. I called Mona (Lea's first therapy dog) to help since she's been trained in this area a bit and layed flat down so she would be able to apply pressure. Right before Mona got to me, Morgan eased his way between her and I, laid down next to me, and applied pressure against me. All of this was done by him without any cues or any training for this. After I began to calm down he immediately started licking my face which is another task that he hasn't yet been trained for, but is used for grounding. All of this combined helped me regulate in less than 10 minutes which is genuinely a record for me.