Should I take my dog to group therapy with me?

Lawrence

Lawrence

Member
Location
Colorado
Well, I have group therapy with a bunch of old guys on Thursday afternoons. All was well and good then the therapist in charge of our group started working at a different VA clinic. It is unsure by us if the therapists left on her own free will or just wanted to get away from us. Well to make a long story to a quite not so long story another therapist said he would take over the group. He told us that he is the only one that said he take over the group for nobody else wanted to. I keep asking him what his name is, and he keeps telling me what his name is even though I really remember what his name is. I think that his real name is Big Red because he is big and has red hair. ----- Well, this therapist has three dogs and lives somewhere out in the boondocks. He will bring one or two dogs to work with him which is good for us veterans for like to pet the dogs and like it when the dogs lay down by our feet. ----- Well, you see for me it goes like this my dog know I go to group therapy on Thursday afternoons every now and again. When I would come home after therapy, and he used to run up to me and bark and I would see his happy dog I love you tears. But lately when I come home, he smells other dog smells on me, I sit down on the couch and he sits in front of me staring straight at me, eye to eye. I am becoming concerned about my relationship with my dog, so I asked him if he wanted to go to therapy with me and still sat in front of me staring at me eye to eye and he started panting happy pants. ----- So, what do you think should I take him with me so he can see the other dogs and meet them? Then I will ask the new therapist what his name is again and tell him and tell him my dogs name is Zeus and see if he remembers what my dogs name is. Then explain to the new therapist and other guys what I am going through in my home life with my dog. My dog named Zeus.
 

It would be great to have your dog with you but I would ask your therapist if it's alright to bring your dog. He may not want to add your dog to the already 2 dogs of his own to the group. Your therapist knows best. If your dog is a certified therapy dog then your therapist must let you bring your dog. I'm pretty sure it's the law to allow your dog to be with you at all times with a few exceptions like inside restaurants.
 
lol..why don't you bring this up in Therapy, and get some answers.. this could keep you all going for a week or 2... :sneaky: btw your dog can't be called Zeus cuz this is our dog.. Zeus..
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Zeus2.jpg

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I really don't know what to do. I am having a similar experience here of the SF forum. Everything will be humming along, and the a new member starts posting. Their posts are strange and sometimes kind of disruptive to what has been going on. Many people even leave SF because of the new "smell". Many try to adjust to the newness in environment. Somehow....no matter what, we adjust....or not.
 
This is our Zeus (---🐕---) well for some reason I am not able to upload a picture. Zues is a red tick one half Red Healer dog and one half Bordar Collie. He has a red tick coat a little more than one inch long with a thin black stripe that runs down the top of his tail. He has red eyes that shine at you. He also has a few small black markings but is almost a red and color with white tics. ----- Thanks for the advice I think I will ask at the next meeting if he can go to group therapy also and that he told me he wants to attend. Sometimes I just have to cool my heels because I have been diagnosed with a few disorders and two of them are obsessive compulsive disorder and high anxiety disorder.
 
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Paco Dennis said:
He is invisible? You should have no problem taking him anywhere. :)
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Thank Paco I really like that one. :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO: -----You know Paco later on I was pondering on that idea, and it has lots of possibilities by telling the guys I will bring my invisible dog to group therapy. Sometimes at therapy I sit there and make myself invisible it was something I was taught as an aviator before I was sent to Vietnam. Flying out there with one helicopter and one crew we could hide out in the woods and behind great big rocks to avoid Charlie if we went down and survived the crash.
 
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Asking first is certainly the best advice, but part of me wants you to just take your dog next time. That's the only way to truly know if he will blend happily with the whole group, canine and human. If he or one the others gets growly or nervous then you can take him out -- and then you'll know.
 
NorthernLight said:
I think it's inappropriate for the therapist to bring his dogs. It causes problems for you, and perhaps for other participants. Why not ask Big Red to leave his dogs at home?
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Because his dogs probably ARE therapy dogs, and having therapy dogs around is good for people with emotional issues, keeps them calm.
 
NorthernLight said:
That wasn't mentioned, that I recall anyway.
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No, it was not specifically mentioned. But it WAS mentioned that the therapy was done at the VA unless I misread the place. The VA has very strict rules about the service dogs allowed on their premises. They must be professionally trained dogs and you must have proof that they are, professionally trained by approved trainers, despite what the ADA says.

I know this as a fact!
 
If you have a dog, you already have a therapist. Tell your problems, your misdeeds, your mistakes to the dog and he'll just sit there telling you in his own way that you are the supreme being, the perfect one, the golden idol of his life.

Now, if you have a cat, you already know how low on the totem pole you are.....
 

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