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