 |
 |
|
|
Dog Plays Key Role In Healing By Brendan O'Reilly Following the shootings at Virginia Tech in April that took 33 lives and injured 25 people, some mourning students and faculty members on the Blacksburg, Virginia, campus found solace by stroking the fur of a border collie named Hero. Hero is a therapy dog, trained to participate in animal-assisted therapy. He is a registered "Pet Partner" with the Delta Society, a non-profit organization with the mission of improving human health through service and therapy animals. Dr. Ralph Diner, a 56-year-old Los Angeles psychologist who grew up in Noyac, is Hero's owner and colleague. Hero and Dr. Diner were invited to Blacksburg after the shootings on the university campus on April 16-though Dr. Diner said he has no idea why he and Hero were selected. "I don't know to this day who knew about me," Dr. Diner said, noting that a wealthy alumnus of the university might have thought that he and Hero could help students, faculty and their families during the grieving and healing process. Once they arrived in Blacksburg, Hero wore his Delta Society vest from 7:30 a.m. in the morning until 1 a.m. each day, for almost two weeks. "You put the vest on, my dog is an angel," Dr. Diner said. "You take the vest off, and he's ready to scrap and play like any other dog." The doctor did give his co-therapist a day off during their visit to Virginia, noting that Hero was in uniform for more time than he was accustomed to. "I stole one day to take him to a national forest to let him run without his vest and be a dog," he said. While on the job at Virginia Tech, Hero served as an icebreaker to get people to open up to Dr. Diner. The doctor said during his 12 days in Virginia, he counseled everyone from school bookstore workers to the janitor cleaning the bathroom to vice presidents of the university. He also spoke with survivors of the shootings, whom the school put up in the Virginia Tech Inn, the same place where he and Hero were staying. "They were very suspicious at first," Dr. Diner said, explaining that he heard stories about members of the press posing as priests to try to gain access to hospitals after the shootings, so he understood why people were wary of him. But after observing Dr. Diner around campus talking to university officials, survivors began to come to him for his services, which he provided pro bono. The only thing Dr. Diner was paid for was an assessment of what the college needs to do to improve its response to tragedies. He said that, in his opinion, large schools and companies lack aggressive outreach programs. "They have wonderful plans that have grown dusty," he said. "But really having never been in the trenches, they don't know what they need when 'the fit hits the shan'." Los Angles psychologist Dr. Diner earned his undergraduate degree from New York University and his master's degree and doctorate from the California School of Professional Psychology at Berkley. He also has a postdoctoral master's degree in clinical psychopharmacology from Alliant International University in California. He is among some 350 psychologists in the United States labeled as "medical psychologists," doctors whom the military and an expanding number of states allow to write prescriptions. Not every therapy dog works with a professional, however. Any pet owner can undergo Delta Society training. "We train the people more than we train the dogs," said David Frei, the director of communications for the Delta Society. The owners must be familiar with patient confidentiality regulations and show they know what behaviors are appropriate and how to control their dogs. Once the owners are trained, the dogs do most of the work. "We call it 'the therapeutic touch," but it's not just touch," Mr. Frei said. "Just having a dog walk into a room changes the energy in the room." He said therapy dogs are being used increasingly in occupational and physical therapy to ease the process for patients recovering from injuries or strokes. "When a physical therapist is putting them through exercises, it's hard work," Mr. Frei said. "You put a dog in there and say 'Here, raise your left arm and pet this dog.' They would do that more readily than if they would do it as a range of motion exercise." Dr. Diner has found that therapy dogs make patients more receptive to psychological treatment. He adopted Hero a year and a half ago after the death of his previous therapy companion, a yellow Labrador retriever. "I was looking for a dog with soulful eyes who would be able to do this kind of work," Dr. Diner said. He found those qualities in Hero. "Someone tied him to the pound door in Indianapolis without a collar one night," he added, "and when it came time to put him down, the head of the shelter thought he was too good of a dog." Hero was transferred to MidAmerica Border Collie Rescue, where Los Angles psychologist Dr. Diner found him during an internet search. After a few months of training, Hero was ready to go to work, visiting the terminally ill in hospices. "He's gone from a tragic abandonment history, where no one thought he was worth two cents, to actually being a hero," Dr. Diner said. When he is not conducting volunteer work with Hero, Dr. Diner is taking care of his Los Angeles psychology practice. He keeps a small clientele of wealthy and celebrity clients to support his philanthropic works. Dr. Diner moved to Los Angeles after retiring from a private practice where he treated mostly incest survivors. He was hoping to get a television show to challenge Dr. Phil and came close four times. "When the fourth one folded, right around the day my father died," he said, "I decided it's time to dust off my license and get back to work." Publication: Southampton East; |
||
 |
 |
