Endeavor Health screens canine candidates for hospital therapy program through obedience, temperament tests

Who can resist the temptation of a frosted doughnut right in front of them?

A successful applicant of Endeavor Health's Animal-Assisted Therapy program, that’s who.

Prospective therapy dogs, accompanied by their handlers, underwent the doughnut test and other assessments of their obedience and aptitude for visiting hospital patients and staff Friday and Saturday at Edward Hospital in Naperville.

“You’re in an acute-care hospital setting, so we’re looking for the best of the best,” said Cynthia Brooks, who, with fellow evaluator Susan Jakobs, put six dog-owner pairings through their paces in the first of two sessions Friday at Edward Hospital.

“The point is to bring some happiness, some peace, a bright part in people’s day who are in the hospital, or they have loved ones in the hospital. It’s great for staff as well. Staff and visitors get a real boost from seeing the dogs,” said Brooks, of Naperville.

The seven people at Friday’s morning session had applied first by visiting endeavorhealth.org/give/volunteer. Brooks then called them for more information on their furry candidates.

Dogs must meet nearly a dozen requirements. They include current vaccination status and a veterinarian’s rabies certificate, ease with other dogs and people, being at least a year old, and being able to perform commands without treats. Dogs can’t be “overly vocal,” and handlers must be at least 18.

One overly vocal dog didn’t make it into the Edward Hospital meeting room where Friday morning’s evaluations took place, excused due to aggressive barking at the entrance.

Four advanced for further training May 30-31. Two others didn’t make the cut.

“I was really 50-50, I just didn’t know,” Elmhurst resident Nancy Ritter said of the prospects of Barkley, a 4-year-old white Labrador retriever.

“She’s so exuberant, I didn’t know if that was going to knock us out or not. But she handled it well.”

A fine line, exuberance.

Plainfield’s Dave Thomas said his Scout, a 6-year-old boxer-border collie mix, just wants to play when he stares at other dogs, but that may provoke a reaction. And sometimes, Scout growls.

Neither can happen in animal-assisted therapy. In an exit interview, Jakobs gave Thomas a list of trainers for group obedience lessons for Scout.

“She’s supersmart, so I’m confident I can get her around those two issues,” said Thomas, of Plainfield.

Occasionally, owners will cry if their dog is excused, Jakobs said.

“It’s like I’m Simon Cowell,” she said, though she’s hardly a brutal judge.

In 2002, Jakobs began the Endeavor program with Patty Kaplan, who has since retired. Brooks was among the first volunteers and is now supervisor of the Animal-Assisted Therapy program, which selects dogs to serve in Elmhurst Hospital and Edward and Linden Oaks hospitals in Naperville.

Brooks has had three of her own dogs in the program, all Yorkshire terriers. Therapy dogs have made more than 270,000 patient visits at Endeavor hospitals.

Research indicates that patients, hospital staff and caregivers feel less stress as a result of these interactions. Patients’ pain levels and blood pressures may even decrease.

Hospitals themselves may benefit from increased patient satisfaction scores and even greater bed availability from shortened patient stays, research shows.

Starting when Naperville volunteer Linda Nemeth — whose yellow Labrador, Amelia, was the first dog in the program — pounded on the door to gauge dogs’ reactions, the dogs were tested first in small groups, then individually.

They needed to obey commands, walk alongside their handlers, and remain calm when they are touched, approached, and encounter volunteers using canes, crutches, and walkers.

Jakobs employed the “exuberant nurse test” and one with a doughnut placed in the middle of three dogs, down on their bellies. A slight lunge, but none bit.

“Remember, dogs will react to a situation. It’s the recovery we’re looking for,” Jakobs said.

Patty Plattenberger of Villa Park heard the news she sought when her Jilly, a 4-year-old mini Bernedoodle, was approved. Plattenberger’s first cheerful experience with therapy dogs came when she was in the hospital for an operation.

“She’s a very smart dog,” Plattenberger said of Jilly.

“Dogs need their brains to be exercised. So I think it’ll be good for her, I think it’ll be good for the patients, and I think it’ll be good for me.”