Maryellen Errigo’s - Rufus
Rufus is a very special dog, not to just me, but to the patients, seniors and children that he visited. Rufus has been retired from therapy work for almost two years now, we did 5 1/2 years of therapy work averaging 80-100 visits a year. This is his story….
Rufus was Born 8/8/02. Rufus was born in a shelter. his mother was a stray. Rufus was adopted from the Burlington County Animal Shelter in Burlington NJ. The shelter had no room , and was going to euthanize the entire family, luckily a rescue group stepped in and the entire family went into foster care.Rufus has 8 brothers and sisters.
I started out babysitting Rufus for his foster mom, and after a month decided he fit in perfectly with my other 2 dogs.. In October 2002 I officially adopted Rufus and he has never left.
I started regular obedience training with Rufus when he was 3 months old. We went to school 3 nights a week and saturdays, as being he is a pit bull mix I wanted him to be a breed ambassador and have people notice how well behaved he was. He was always a calm puppy, and my dog trainer mentioned to me that I should do therapy work with him.. I had no clue what that was 7 1/2 years ago, and luckily for me my dog trainer also did therapy work with her dogs, so training him was easy. We did a few classes with hospital equipment, people dressed up funny, and I noticed right away he adored the attention from everyone and had no fears of the equipment (wheel chairs, canes, crutches, hospital beds).
Once we graduated class after a year straight of training, we applied to take the AKC CGC test, (Canine Good Citizen) and Rufus passed the test with flying colors on September 2003.After that, my trainer suggested the Therapy Dog test, given by http://www.golden-dogs.org, well Rufus passed that in April 2004 , we then went for the Temperment Test, given by http://www.atts.org and he passed that test on 5/15/05.
We started out at the local hospital, visiting the rehabilitation patients and the mental health patients.. Rufus loved everyone he met and would curl up in anyone’s lap if they let him. We then reached out to nursing homes, and then assisted living homes.. All the seniors adored Rufus, he has such a calm demeanor and loved the attention. I then heard of a reading program at the local schools, where dogs come in and children with reading disabilities read books to the dogs to help their reading skills..We applied, interviewed with the teachers and principal of the local elementary school, and started that program. I took vacation time during the school year for this, as I work full time.. The children adored Rufus and he adored them. Their reading improved, they threw him birthday parties, plays and gave him more valentine gifts then I have ever seen..
Rufus has given back over and over, and always loved what he did..
The 5 1/2 years of therapy work was very rewarding for both of us, as we got to cheer up people and show that this breed is not what the media portrays them to be.
Here are 2 videos of Rufus, one doing therapy work and one a friend made in honor of his retirement.
http://wallacethepitbull.blip.tv/file/147911/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYdlh8_p8xQ
In January 2008 I decided it was time to retire Rufus, he was getting older, and I wanted him to be able to enjoy himself, as he was showing me he was ready to retire from therapy work.
He is now enjoying his retirement , but still loves to greet everyone he sees..
