JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. –
The 87th Air Base Wing Security Forces Squadron in partnership with the Bright and Beautiful Therapy Dogs organization hosted a visit for service members and their families at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J. on 23 June, 2023.
Bright and Beautiful Therapy Dogs is a non-profit organization that trains, evaluates and qualifies dogs and their handlers to become certified therapy dog teams. Once certified, teams may visit nursing homes, assisted living facilities, homeless shelters, schools, libraries, universities, mental health facilities, and more.
The visit was a first for the Joint Base, where support for Comprehensive Airman Fitness and the resiliency factor across the Joint Force remains a top-line priority for leadership.
“The Bright and Beautiful organization acts as a liaison between a facility and the certified therapy dog teams,” said Renee Gyuro, Bright and Beautiful K-9 handler. “We have to renew our membership annually to continue to volunteer for visits. As a certified therapy team, we are also insured under the Bright and Beautiful organization.”
Therapy dogs with the Bright and Beautiful organization do not have the same level of access to places that a service dog would. Unless invited, therapy dogs are not allowed into planes, grocery stores, post offices, or restaurants.
“It's important to note that our therapy dogs are not service dogs, we are to be invited to the places we visit,” said Gyuro. “These therapy dogs are our actual pets and we volunteer our time to make these visits with them.”
In order to certify for the program, the dogs need to know basic obedience commands such as sit, stay, down, come, heal. However, the nature of their visits requires specialized training so they can remain calm in certain environments.
“The dogs should not react to medical equipment such as walkers, canes, wheelchairs,” said Gyuro. “Also, they shouldn’t overreact to loud noises, such as a metal bowl falling on a tile floor. They can react in those situations, but they should recover quickly. Most importantly, they need to display a friendly temperament towards unfamiliar people and other dogs.”
Any dog that has the right temperament can become a therapy dog, requirements such as being a purebred, are not a part of the organization's screening process.
“My one dog is a three legged beagle and labrador mix,” said Gyuro. “She is a favorite among children with disabilities because they can relate to her disability.”
According to a survey conducted by Ohio State University, 83 percent of Americans surveyed self identified as having high levels of mental and emotional resilience, when in fact 57 percent actually scored as resilient.
With this in mind, It’s important for service members to take time during the rigors of the day-to-day operations tempo to destress as much as possible. In the case of Bright and Beautiful therapy dogs, service members may achieve better than desired results in just a few minutes of interaction with a therapy dog.
“There are so many benefits to this experience like stress relief, improved mental focus, as well as a calming effect for anxiety or depression,” said Gyuro. “We just want to make people happy and smile. If we can brighten their day, even for a few minutes then it's worth our time to be there.”