In the fall of 2014, Chestermere Therapy Dogs Society (CTDS) started by helping kids improve their confidence in reading out loud through its unique “Listening Tails” program that is held at the Chestermere Public Library as well as visiting seniors at Prince of Peace with the “Visiting Tails” program. As with most organizations, there are those lofty goals and ‘where we’d like to see ourselves in a few years’ scenarios, but the folks of CTDS never thought those goals would be accomplished so quickly.
Fast forward a year and CTDS finds itself helping more people, both young and old, through unprecedented growth in both the “Listening” and “Visiting” Tails programs. Now that the new school year is under way, CTDS finds itself in four (soon to be five) schools in both Chestermere and Strathmore, in addition to the library! On top of that, the seniors in our community are loving the “Visiting Tails” program so much that CTDS is now visiting Sagewood Seniors Community and Wheatland Lodge in Strathmore and Chartwell Eau Claire Care Residence in Calgary, in addition to Prince of Peace.
“Recognizing that dogs can help in more ways than being just good listeners or visiting seniors, CTDS created a third program in January called “Caring Tails”, which is designed to help individuals and families who are struggling with high anxiety or severe stress. The program allows people to be with the dogs and de-stress”, explained CTDS President and Founder, Steve King. Some examples of the type of help these very special dogs can give were experienced at Chestermere High School in recent months during both exam time and when a fellow student, Jaydon Sommerfeld, was killed in a tragic highway just days before the end of the school year. A few of the dogs that work in the CTDS program were also on hand at Chestermere’s first Suicide Prevention Day event held at the waiting room café. Given the heavy topic of conversation that night, many of the youth – and adults – found themselves engaging with the dogs and comments were made about how the interactions with the dogs ‘just made me feel better’.
And if that wasn’t enough, CTDS became a registered charity with the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency – which if you’ve ever gone through that process, you understand what a remarkable accomplishment it is to get finalized.
“I’ve been blown away by how the community has stepped up to support us”, says King. “People either already know, or are now starting to realize, the positive impact that dogs can bring to our lives. We have also been blessed by having some great volunteers who give of themselves for the programs: they just want to give back to the community and help people through their dogs.”
With 40 human volunteers and 33 dogs, the CTDS family is no doubt growing in leaps and bounds. President Steve King has some impressive goals for their organization, including expand the Caring Tails program into other areas, e.g. families in court, suicide prevention, other mental issues, expanding the Listening Tails program into Langdon and further into Strathmore, begin planning the CTDS facility “The Dog House”: committee, funding, etc. and even planning a ‘Canine Convention’.
As with any fast growing not-for-profit organization, the challenge for CTDS is to balance the demand for services with the supply of volunteers. “Although the quality of our volunteers is second to none, the requirement for more volunteers who have dogs is growing, particularly with the “Listening Tails” program at the schools”, says King. “I would ideally like to find more people who are available during the regular work week who have a dog with a good temperament and solid obedience skills. The culture of CTDS is to make the experience of our volunteers both enjoyable and fulfilling and we’re working diligently to make this happen. If anyone would like to learn more about CTDS or our programs, please check our website at www.ctds.ca, email me on steve@ctds.ca or call me on 587 581 5571” says King.
CTDS is opening doors and hearts in its quest to help people through therapy dogs and plans to expand into other areas of society wherever they can. As the tag says, CTDS is “helping people one dog at a time”.
