Shmulik walking his dogs in the desert.
“Dogs help raise the self-esteem of children”
Welcome to week 13 of our reality podcast, with Eric O’Grey in Spokane, Washington coaching Shmulik Shwartz in Lehavim, Israel to lose 140 pounds in 10 months so the two can run the Jerusalem marathon together in March 2017!
This episode features Efrat Shamir, a friend of Shmulik, who like Shmulik is a dog rescuer, dog trainer and dog therapy provider. There are so many facets of dog rescue and training that positively impact the lives of people. It’s one of the main reasons that I believe in and promote the principles of mutual rescue, and how helping animals helps people! This is a wonderful, heartwarming and informative session, please listen and learn more about how shelter dogs change human lives for the better.
In this episode, Eric, Shmulik and Shamir discuss:
- How therapy dogs provide emotional therapy to special needs children and disabled people.
- Dogs help children with special needs such as autism.
- Dogs provide a sense of relaxation and calm.
- Dogs feel everything that people feel. They have the same emotions.
- Dogs have reasons for shaking their body. Removing stress is one of them.
- Both Eric and Shamir have observed that when they enter a room with a dog in tow, people approach them easily and befriend them, since dogs are ice breakers.
- People easily strike up a conversation when you have a dog with you.
- How to choose a therapy dog in Israel.
- Shamir adopts her therapy dogs from the shelter. Every dog can be a therapy dog.
- The similarities and differences in training service dogs in the U.S. and Israel.
- The training of service dogs and therapy dogs. How they differ.
- In therapy classes, the use of dogs, books, art, painting, and drama help.
