Pat Seybold has a passion for dogs.
That passion led her to own and train therapy dogs. Helga, a Redbone coonhound who is Pat’s primary therapy dog, was found abandoned in a barn.
“As a hunting dog, Helga is smart, very focused, but very laid back,” Pat says.
Those are all qualities that therapy dogs need, she says.
Pat led Helga through 10 hours of training in Frankfort to prepare for her certification exam.
At Collins Lane Elementary, Helga helps second-graders learn to read.
“One boy refused to read aloud because he was afraid,” Pat says. “But he was able to read aloud to Helga.”
Children appreciate Helga’s gentle approach and enjoy her warm, soft fur. Helga often rests on the table on which the children lay their books while they read. The children know that if they get too rowdy, Helga gets up and leaves.
As members of the Animal-Assisted Crisis Intervention Response Team, Pat and Helga visit places after a catastrophe. Helga is often the bridge people need to talk about their feelings. In 2008, Pat took Helga to Northern Illinois University in DeKalb to meet with students following the campus shootings. While petting Helga, students talked about how they missed home. Through this slight beginning of sharing feelings, Pat and Helga often convinced a student to seek needed counseling. Students later rated therapy dogs as the most helpful intervention after the shootings, Pat says.
With a dog like Helga, you don’t have to give something to get something back, Pat says. She loves that therapy dogs instinctively understand what people need.
“They take people for who they are,” Pat says.
