Rosabella looks like any other dog. Cute, cuddly and fun. But she has an important job to do – she’s a therapy dog. She lifts up people’s spirits when they are feeling at their worst, drawing them out of their shell and bringing a smile to their face in the most difficult times. She visits schools, nursing homes, and hospitals simply to make people happy. Sounds like a dream job.
Her mom, Shana Horn, have visited multiple institutions in the last year so Rosabella, or Rosie, or Rosadoodle, can fulfill her duties. She has gone to The Jewish Home at Rockleigh, The Friendship Circle of Bergen County and The New York State Psychiatric Institute.
The latter is in Manhatten, and so Rosie and Shana have to use the New Jersey Transit express bus to get there, and like planes, the dog has to be placed in a carrier to get to where they need to be, unless their service dogs.
Confused? Service dogs and therapy dogs are no the same. Service dogs an individual, their handler, and are not supposed to interact with other people. However, therapy dogs are those you see in hospitals or nursing homes. They are encouraged to interact with a variety of people while on-duty. The training for these two different roles is vastly different.
Rosie did not like being in her carrier. She found it stressful, which in turn stressed out Shana. That completely can completely derail their mission to de-stress other people. So Shana knew she had to do something about the issue.
After figuring out who to contact and running into some roadblocks, Shana successfully got a hold of State Senator Loretta Weinburg, who understood that Rosie had an important job to do, and the carrier was interfering with that.
With Senator Weinburg’s help, the pair were given a letter that allowed Rosie to board the New Jersey Transit buses without that awful carrier.
For now, there does not seem to be a bill in the works to allow therapy dogs throughout the state to board the buses, but Senator Weinburg said this is only because New Jersey Transit has shown they are willing to work with therapy dogs and their handlers on a case-by-case basis.
A happy ending! Finally, Rosie can do her job stress-free.
If you want to know more about the difference between service dogs, therapy dogs, and emotional support dogs please visit this website.
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[Source: Barkpost]
