West Michigan Therapy Dogs Inc.

Happy Veteran’s Day! Today is a day of honor and remembrance for all who have served. We love to share our support for our veterans through therapy dog visits. Thank you, veterans! ???? #westmichigantherapydogs #veteransday #veteransupport

We are honored and thankful to provide pet therapy at the Kent County Courthouse! Yesterday, WMTD hosted a simulation of our Courthouse Therapy Dog program for WOOD TV8 to educate on the benefits of therapy dogs in the courtroom and to bring awareness to Senate Bill 248, which we are trying to help get adopted by the House of Representatives! ???? Senate Bill 248, which is pending in the Michigan House in amended form, would change the Revised Judicature Act to permit children 17 and under to be accompanied by a courtroom support dog when testifying in a criminal matter and expand the definition of “courtroom support dog.” We ask for your help to get this amended bill passed by the House before the year’s end.

In honor of Physical Therapy Month, we want to recognize all the hard work of the staff and patients at Mary Free Bed! Thank you for letting us be part of the work you do. ???? #nationalphysicaltherapymonth #westmichigantherapydogs Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital

Our teams were hard at work spreading love and providing stress relief to the NICU nurses at Corewell Health’s Helen Devos Children’s Hospital. ???? #NICU #Nursing #PetTherapy #WestMichiganTherapyDogs

Thank you for having us, Kent Career Tech Center! ?? Video credit: KCTC #pettherapy #therapydog #westmichigantherapydogs #westmichigan

Happy #NationalDogWeek! We’re celebrating all of our therapy dogs this week! Here are a few of our therapy dogs hard at work in their WMTD work vests. ???? #pettherapy #therapydog #doghandler

In honor of #DeafDogAwarenessWeek, we want to recognize Adeline and her handler, Pat! They have been a part of WMTD for the past 13 years. Adeline is a toy poodle and just turned 14 years old! Pat always grew up around dogs and started training Adeline for the Canine Good Citizenship Certification when Adeline was a little over a year old. It was at training that one of the trainers suggested that Adeline would be very good at therapy work because of her focus and motivation. Pat says that she had never heard of WMTD before, but “once we started classes, we fell in love with it; it was her [Adeline’s] niche.” Unfortunately, in the last year, Adeline has lost both her hearing and her sight. Pat says that this has presented some challenges for Adeline, but “we just have to make adjustments. When we go on visits, I have a little carrier that I take her in to look out for her because she can’t see”. But, even with the challenges that come with being blind and deaf, Pat says that Adeline is still happy and loves to go on visits to colleges during Exam Cram and to hospitals like Helen DeVos Children’s and Mary Free Bed to visit with children. Pat mentions that WMTD has opened her world up to see the needs of other people. She says that as a part of WMTD, “we can see that we make an impact–even if it’s really small, and we can just make someone smile. It’s comforting to know that other people can find comfort in Adeline and not just me”. Learn more about us: wmtd.org

We love "Making a difference...one wag at a time" at our hospital and healthcare programs. ??

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WMTD Asks for your support in getting Senate Bill 248 adopted by the House of Representatives! ???? Senate Bill 248, which has passed the Senate and is pending in the Michigan House in amended form, would change the Revised Judicature Act to permit children 17 and under to be accompanied by a courtroom support dog when testifying in a criminal matter (currently, only children 15 and under are eligible), and expands the definition of “courtroom support dog.” We need the community’s help getting this amended bill passed by the House before the year’s end. “Senate Bill 248, as amended, has passed the Michigan Senate and is poised to be adopted by the House. It needs our full support,” shared Hon. Kathleen Feeney, 3rd District Judge of the Michigan Court of Appeals and volunteer with WMTD. “The changes it proposes to MCL 600.2163a will permit children through age 18 to have a courtroom support dog with them when they need to testify in court regarding traumatic experiences (currently, only children younger than 16 years old can use them). It also expands the definition of ‘courtroom support dogs’ to include dogs that are ‘trained and certified as a therapy dog by a therapy dog organization in this state that the American Kennel Club recognizes.’ This expansion permits experienced and trained therapy dogs, like those with West Michigan Therapy Dogs, to provide this valuable service to children and vulnerable adults in our community.” WMTD had 22 dogs grandfathered in under the previous version of the statute because they were trained and provided courtroom support before September 27, 2018. However, most of those wonderful therapy dogs have passed away, and without SB 248 passing, WMTD will no longer be able to provide courtroom support dogs to the children and vulnerable adults in Kent County. You can help by contacting your Lansing, MI representative and asking them to pass SB 248 as amended to allow organizations like WMTD to continue their great work in the courtroom. We thank you for your efforts to make these vital and straightforward changes to the statute!