July 2018 – Meet the Team
When did you and Hans become a team? – June 17, 2017.
What other partners have you had? – No other pet partner. Hans is the first.
In what type of facility are you visiting? – We go to St. Luke’s Baptist Hospital at the rehab wing.
In what other Therapy Animals activities do you and your partner participate? – We participated once at a presentation of TASA at a public library, a de-stressor at the USAA corporate office, and an employee appreciation day celebration at St Luke’s Baptist Hospital.
Tell us something about your partner that we may not know. – Hans is a full blooded German Shepherd that we adopted as a rescue 2 years ago. He at times exhibited possible signs of abuse, but was also very gentle and loyal. He seemed to be a natural of a therapy dog with my elderly mother who had suffered a stroke, and she also very much responded well to his company and enjoyed his visits at her home. So we decided to try and get him into a local therapy dog group so we could help others with disabilities within the community. We felt it would be an easy first step in contributing and volunteering to give back to our community. We placed him in CGC training and he seemed to do very well and was gentle around the other dogs. He graduated with the CGC distinction and passed the TASA evaluation on the first attempt without a pre-evaluation trial.
What Therapy Animals leadership position(s) do you currently have? – I do not have any leadership positions with TASA mainly due to my work load/position.
What other leadership positions have you had? – None.
Tell us something about yourself that we may not know. – I am 59 years old and have worked in the automotive field most of my life, mainly as a Service Adviser position at car dealerships. I am now an independent vehicle inspector performing inspections at dealer service departments for extended warranty companies. I work weekdays usually starting out early with at times traveling within 150 mile radius of San Antonio and usually ending my days at approx. 4:30 or 5:00 pm and later that evening having to upload reports and pictures to the various warranty companies. Every Saturday I take Hans to the hospital for therapy visits. Unfortunately, there is little time that I would have now for any proper leadership role.
