A Dog Trainer Shares How Therapy Benefits Those with Anxiety

Hi Guideposts and All Creatures. This is Peggy and I’m here with Ernest and Petey here in upstate New York. Ernest is a certified therapy dog and Pete is a therapy dog in training.

We became interested in training therapy dogs several years ago when my husband was in the hospital with a very serious condition.

I was in the room sitting in a chair, anxiously waiting, and in walked this beautiful, big Bernese mountain dog. And he was a therapy dog but he didn’t go up to the bedside to Mike. He went right over to me and he sat down and he kind of snuggled up with me and I put my arms around him and I started crying and it was just the comfort I felt from him.

And when I saw he wore a little cross on his collar and I learned his name was Gabriel, I really felt like God had sent him to me. And I knew right then that I wanted to train therapy dogs and have therapy dogs to help other people too.
Nearly 40% of the population suffers from a panic attack at some point. And when they do, it can be confusing and frightening. So some of the things that help me is trying to keep my mind in the present. A lot of panic comes from worrying about what might happen. What if my car fell off a bridge or what if I got stuck in the elevator? And by keeping my mind at what is happening right at that moment, I’m driving safely down the road, the elevator’s moving safely between the floors, that helps me to ward off the panic attack.

If you’re with another person, conversation helps to distract yourself with some light conversation. And of course, patting a dog or a cat or engaging with an animal in some way is a great way to distract yourself, as Ernest here is showing us. And it also helps to focus your emotions on some other being besides yourself and get out of your head. Faith and prayer are a great help to me when dealing with panic attacks and anxiety. I pray a lot. I ask my friends to pray for me. I memorize scripture. Jeremiah 29:11. “I know the plans I have for you, not for calamity, but for a hope and a future.” And I really cling to that “not for calamity.”

I know it helps me a lot to know that God is with me everywhere. He brought me Ernest, and Ernest is here not just to help other people as a therapy dog, but also to help me when I’m feeling anxious, and that’s one of the best gifts and a blessing I’m grateful for every day.