Walt Braeger and Maizy, The Therapy Dog

The ADAPT (Able and Disabled Allies Partnering Together) Employee Resource Group (ERG) recently sat down with Walt Braeger (VP, Cloud Services) to learn more about his involvement with therapy dog assistance in his community.  Learn about the rewarding work they do and how you can be involved. 

What is the purpose of a “Service Dog”?  

• To clarify; Service Dogs are trained to help people perform tasks they can’t or have difficulty performing. Therapy dogs are trained to provide emotional support and comfort to a variety of people in a variety of situations. My dog is a Therapy dog.  

What attracted and inspired you to provide therapy dog assistance to the community?  

• Two things mostly. First, my mom was in hospice and her favorite days were the days the therapy dogs came to visit. Second, there’s a disproportionate amount of bitterness in the world. If I can do a few kind acts here and there, it hopefully offsets the bitterness with kindness just a little.  

Tell us about your dog “Maizy” and what makes her so special?  

• Maizy is 6-year-old Golden Retriever and has been a therapy dog for 2 years. She brings a nice blend of classic “Golden” friendliness and some pretty good obedience. It’s a rare occasion when we do not get a smile from someone when she’s working or when we are going to and from her work assignments.  

What was your most rewarding experience with “Maizy’” in the community?  

• There is not just one most rewarding experience, there are many.  When a cancer patient in immunotherapy treatment does not have to think about it for a few moments is a good thing. Meeting with patients experiencing a mental health crisis and seeing Maizy make a connection is cool.  Seeing Maizy connect with a non-verbal kid with autism is a joy. A lot of times it’s just about being present. You don’t have to be talking or engaging. Animals have a way of connecting that we as people could probably learn from.  

How can others get involved in registering and training their dog to be a therapy dog?  

• It’s really not that hard. Therapy dogs are a combination of personality and obedience. If the personality is there than it simply takes some basic repetitive training (and a lot of treat rewards 😊) The AKC (American Kennel Club) sponsors obedience training in nearly every city in the country and can be found by searching on the web for AKC training. Once your dog has a good grasp of obedience, there are several certifying organizations for therapy dogs. Two really good ones are ATD (Alliance of Therapy Dogs) and Pet Partners.  

After retirement in September 2023, are you planning to increase your therapy dog volunteer reach?  

• For sure. There’s no shortage of need across a variety of landscapes (Hospitals, Schools, Assisted Living, Airports, etc). Oh, and there’s no quota on kindness.

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