As
mature and “old soul” as she is, Katherine still has bouts of typical teenage
angst. Today was the perfect example. She texted me from school that she wanted to
come home early because she had a headache from crying all morning. Um, no.
“Tough it out,” I responded.
When she got home, she
started crying again - on her way to get her flu shot, so I didn’t take it too
seriously.
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| Teenage Angst |
First I had to rule out if
anything happened at school: feeling sick? bad test? boring teacher? boy
trouble? argument with BFF? bad lunch options? Nothing out of the ordinary.
“Everything is just so boring and it’ll never
get better.” Yup. Same old same old. I guarantee teenagers said the the exact same thing during the
paleolithic era.
So, next step: I asked her
about what was good in her life: GOATS. No surprise there. Goats make me happy, too. I would even venture to say that goats make
EVERYONE happy.
Why is that? Pygmy goats are
cute, funny, friendly, outgoing, manageable, personable, quirky, curious. The
perfect therapy animal!
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| Gigi the Therapy Goat |
I did some online research. There are a few examples, but not many. Meet Gigi. As of November 2012, she was a black and white miniature silky goat who weighed in at 20 pounds and visited a senior living center in Lincoln, Nebraska, three days a week.
Her mere presence helped the residents relax, lowering their blood pressure and anxiety levels. With a body temperature of 103, she was also a great lap warmer. When the article was published, Gigi was in the process of being certified by “an animal-assisted therapy organization.”
Next, meet George Merrywether,
who is a wether (hahaha, get it?). I found him on www.goatcompanions.com. Their webpage has a separate tab for “Animal
Assisted Therapy Goats.” [As an aside, I
would like to complement them on their photography, which is drop dead gorgeous!]
I clicked on George because he was the cutest. Highly scientific selection process going on here. Anyway, here’s what popped up:
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| George Merrywether |
Lucky me, he’s “in stock” so
I added him to my “cart.” (It’s an
online goat cart!! hahaha). E-commerce
is a beautiful thing. The “add to cart”
button was a little slow, but eventually he showed up – virtually, of course—in
my cart. I had the option to use Paypal
or a credit card to purchase my fella’. But I
already have too many goats, so I passed.
My point here is that this
breeder in Southern California has recognized the potential of goats as therapy
animals and hand raises certain animals with particularly well-suited temperaments.
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| Rapid City Council |
In some communities, however,
goats are not allowed to be therapy animals.
July 2015, the Rapid City Council rejected the appeal of a local
couple to keep pygmy goats in their backyard (within city limits) for use as
therapy goats to treat the wife’s bipolar disorder. Apparently, the goats were the only thing
that kept her “calm” and “sane.”
[BTW, that is not a pygmy
goat and I have no idea what they did to its ears. Just sayin’.]
But rules are rules, and
Rapid City zoning regulations do not allow livestock to be housed in city limits.
That doesn’t diminish the goat’s effectiveness as a therapy animal,
though.
Then there’s Seattle: “Top Five
Ridiculous Service Animals That Would Be Restricted Under Pending Washington
Bill” (Curtis Cartier, 3/9/11). Goats
are #1, followed by iguanas, pigs, birds, and monkeys. The article mentioned, but did not discuss,
miniature horses and snakes. Um, they think goats are weirder than snakes?
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| Seattle Weekly |
His
determination was based on this low-resolution photograph of a woman walking
with her goat in Walmart. The writer
thought that the goat looked disabled (why? She looks A-OK to me). He went on to generalize goats as “stupid,”
doing nothing more than making noise and eating shirt sleeves.
Obviously this Curtis Cartier
person has never been around a Pygmy Goat.
Sure, they might nibble on your shirt or your hair, but certainly would
not ingest it. Enough of that dummy.
My favorite is the Woodstock
Farm Animal Sanctuary in New York. Jennie Brown, a cancer survivor, founded this
organization in 2004 to rescue, rehabilitate, and house neglected and abused
farm animals.
She brings people to the farm to “frolic with goats in a large open
pasture, sit down with a pig who wants nothing more than a belly rub, cuddle
with chickens who seek out your attention or get nuzzled by some friendly
sheep!” (and learn about the “devastating effects of modern-day agribusiness on
the animals, the environment and human health.”)
I’m not sure who is therap-izing whom, but it’s all good, that’s for
certain.
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| Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary |
OK, sign us up. So, back to the Internet.
I found a suitable online site to
register my goat. “Service Animal,”
“Emotional Support Animal,” or “Therapy animal.
Hmm. Service animal requires the
handler to have a disability. Emotional
Support Animal requires a prescription from a licensed therapist, and Therapy
Animal requires a vet certificate.
Katherine doesn’t have a disability or
a licensed therapist, but the goat does have a vet. So let’s go Therapy Animal.
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| https://www.nsarco.com/therapy-animal.html |
I filled out the online information, measured
my goat for her vest, gave NSARCO my credit card and emailed NSARCO a photograph
of our soon-to-be-therapy goat: Wego.
The process outlined above is a bit of
a “come on.” Buried elsewhere on the
site are the details of the process:
1) Order membership online – forms and
such
2) Online application (not sure how
this is different from #1 … stay tuned)
3) Veterinary
certification
4) “NSAR Therapy Animal Team Assessment”
5) Graduate (basically) and receive
documents, vest, ID cards
Step 4 appears to be the most
subjective. Apparently, a third party
will assess Wego and Katherine (“Team Wego”) for their “functionality in a
variety of scenarios.” Hmmm. My thought is that Wego will go to retirement
homes, hospitals, nursing homes, preschools, etc. to visit folks. Will they do a test visit somewhere I
wonder?
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| Sunshine the Goat (www.goatspot.com) |
Katherine,
of course, has no idea that I am signing her up to take Wego to visit old people
in nursing homes.
She walked in a few
minutes ago and I announced my plan, whereupon she chuckled. “Well, she already goes to school with
me…” My thought exactly! We are halfway there...
Between you and me, I have an ulterior
motive. Shhh, don’t tell Katherine. I try to teach my children to “think past
their noses” all the time.
Too often they get stuck in their own
little worlds, wallowing in their own dramas and angst (i.e. “boredom”). They spend more time in front of their
screens than in front of real people, which takes a tremendous toll on their
ability to empathize and relate to people in “real time.” These little gadgets totally undermine their
connection with the outside world.
And that’s where my plan comes in. Numerous studies over the past few
decades have shown that volunteering improves a person’s general sense of
connection and well-being, increases self-confidence, provides a sense of
purpose, and reduces depression.
But I can’t just respond to Katherine’s
general teenage angst and crying jags with, “Why don’t you just go out and
volunteer, honey? It’ll make you feel so much better, I promise!” She might laugh me out of the house (which
wouldn’t be terrible in the short-term, I guess).
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| Katherine, Cloudy and Rojito |
She already loves spending time with her goats,
and sharing what she knows with potential goat clients and the local 4H
group. So I’m betting that it’s not too
big a leap for her to take Wego into nursing homes and hospitals.
And if, by some chance, Katherine reads
this blog entry, here’s what I have to say to her: "The three essentials of happiness are: something to do,
someone to love, and something to look forward to."
Therapy Goats covers
all three.
"Team Wego" coming up!
