We have dedicated this page and those linked on the
left to our students and their dogs. Each month we will showcase one of
our current students and their dog below. Check back regularly to see if
it may be you!
Pictures of our agility and obedience classes, our students who are competing, and those who have accomplished major milestones with their dogs can be
found on the linked pages to the left.
Enjoy!
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Student of the Month
Sharon Antoszyk and her dog
Nikki

Sharon and Nikki have been attending our Saturday morning obedience classes in Reedy Creek Park for about 6 months now. We knew that Sharon acquired Nikki from the prison training program, but we had no idea how talented Nikki was! In class she is a normal, active, outgoing Golden Retriever. When she goes to work, she gets down to business. We asked Sharon to share Nikki's responsibilities as a therapy dog with us. Here is their story.
Nikki is a Golden Retriever who is part of a
non-profit program called paws4people™. Nikki
was trained by female inmates at a US penitentiary in Hazelton, WV.
Nikki originally entered the program to become a service dog.
She was not calm enough for the work but she did show promise
with working with children in the
schools. She has earned
certification as an educational assistance and rehabilitative assistance
dog. Nikki and I started working together in June 2008 and she graduated
from the program in July 2008. I
am a physical therapist in the public school system.
Nikki and I work with the physically disabled students
encouraging them to move. Nikki often provides the right kind of
motivation to get children to lift their head, reach, stand and even
walk. Nikki and I also work with
speech therapists and teachers to encourage learning of basic
educational tasks and verbal communication.
Asking Nikki to do a command/trick and rewarding her
behavior with a treat often is a huge motivation
to talk. Students who cannot yet
speak will use augmentative communication devices to “speak”
to Nikki.
Nikki also visits the local hospital on a regular basis.
She never fails to impress the patients with her tricks like
turn, speak, high five, sit pretty, saying her prayers and even
“reading”. Nikki keeps her skills
sharp by attending dog obedience class regularly.
Nikki is eager to work, highly food motivated and ready to learn
more skills.
Sharon
Sharon has also made a YouTube video to share Nikki's work with
everyone. Here is the link. Please watch. She is awesome!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z0NCIvjmm4