Diva is a 5-year-old white Standard poodle belonging to Catherine Congle, who has been a therapy dog evaluator for Pet Partners for over 10 years. Standard poodles are close to the perfect dog. They are highly intelligent, gentle, intuitive, natural learners, great with kids, and highly trainable in addition to being beautiful with the ability to be groomed in so many ways.

Since Catherine is a therapy dog evaluator, it stands to reason that Diva is a certified therapy dog. She provides comfort in many stressful situations, having participated at the request of the police department to be present during “Every 15 Minutes,” a very “real life” exercise done with high school students, police, and parents where they spend several days in a mock death of one of the students as a result of drinking or texting while driving. Diva has received an award for her participation in helping the students through this very lifelike trauma.

Not too long ago, Catherine and Diva were preparing for a 6-hour flight across country. “I was really looking forward to watching the TV during the flight,” says Catherine. As they waited for the plane to take off the flight attendant announced a slight delay as they were waiting on one passenger who was connecting from another city. Catherine was trying to get the TV in front of her to work as the flight attendants made another announcement – all the TVs were working with the exception of the bulkhead seats where she and Diva were sitting. It was going to be a long 6 hours without a TV.

Suddenly, a tall thin man rushed on board and sat on the aisle seat of their row. He looked tired and frazzled but relieved he made this flight. “I introduced Diva and myself to him and explained we would not be having any TV entertainment on this flight. Diva sat by his feet and seemed to know he needed some attention. He immediately reached down and started petting her telling me about his dogs at home and how pleased he was at this very emotional time to be sitting with Diva,” recalls Catherine.

“He told me he lived in Virginia and just made this flight to Long Beach due to a family emergency. His son who was in his late 20’s was hit on his motorcycle and was in the hospital in critical condition. He was not sure if he would be alive when he arrived in California or if he would lose his leg. We talked about his son and his family while he cried and stroked Diva, who eventually made it into the middle seat to be closer to him. She laid down by him the entire flight. What would typically seem like a very long flight went quickly even without TV entertainment, which was obviously meant to be.

“As we were landing we exchanged email addresses so I could find out how his son was doing and he wanted to keep in touch. He said to me if it wasn’t for Diva he would never have survived this flight alone as he was in so much pain and anxiety over his son. He was so grateful,” says Catherine. They kept in contact and the man’s son survived and was taken home to Virginia to recuperate.

Diva enjoys being part of a team that gives back to the community by volunteering for events, support for high schools, colleges, police departments and hospitals. She has also volunteered for Special Olympics, programs for children diagnosed with cancer, hospital visits and more. In her “spare time” Diva also does runway shows. She is from a show line of champion poodles and loves the camera. You can see Diva and her “brother” and up to 100 other standard poodles, walking along El Paseo in Palm Desert as they participate in the Standard Poodle Club of the Desert’s Poodle Parade on the first Saturday morning of each month.

For more information about Every 15 Minutes, visit www.everyfifteen minutes.org/aboutus/

Visit the Standard Poodle Club of the Desert’s Facebook page.

“Scruffy” was a 15 year-old Cairn Terrier-mix who, up until early June, was the official mascot of “Paws & Hearts” Animal Assisted Therapy.  “Lucky” started the organization, and a few years later, Scruffy came along. For years, Lucky and Scruffy made three weekly visits to Eisenhower Medical Center together.  The “boys” also made presentations all over the valley to health care facilities, Rotaries, service clubs, pet clubs, library reading programs, and were always at health fairs and adoption events.

Lucky passed away five years ago. Scruffy became the lead dog of the organization, visiting Eisenhower solo for well over a year while training all the incoming dogs. Soon, “Maddie” came along, and Scruffy trained her to become a therapy dog. Scruffy always had a very gentle and quiet demeanor.  Where Lucky would almost jump up on the patient and want to kiss them, Scruffy was always the Ethel Mertz of the group, a great co-star. He would hang back, settle in beside the patient and gently lick the top of the patient’s hand.  This hand kissing really became Scruffy’s trademark over 10 years of visits.  That was how Scruffy conveyed that he wanted the patient to feel better.

Scruffy was adopted at our second dog walk fundraiser.  Christine, from Pet Rescue, used to bring dogs for adoption to our events, and that year she brought Scruffy (that was the name she had given him).  What a mess he was—literally! He was a little beaten up and very scared.  Apparently, a woman driving to work one day in Indio found him tied up to some discarded furniture outside of an abandoned house.  She got him into her car and took him to Pet Rescue. Scruffy had been taken out for a walk with a few other dogs and broke away and went running down Highway 111 and the poor volunteer thought he was a goner.  The next morning when Christine came to open the shelter at 6:30 am, there was Scruffy, asleep on the stoop.  The poor guy had found his way back and slept outside all night.  Christine put him in his kennel and she said that he slept for the next two days! 

When Scruffy met Lucky, magic happened.  The two boys, as they became known, hit it off immediately, and for the next nine years were inseparable.  They complimented each other beautifully. Lucky taught Scruffy how to be a therapy dog; to pick up signs the patients were giving off and how to properly respond.  Scruffy’s favorite visit days at Eisenhower were Tuesdays and Thursdays.  He started off his rounds by visiting patients in the Mental Health department. They were usually just finishing breakfast in their small dining room and Scruffy was allowed off-leash to visit the folks.  Some of them would purposefully drop a bit of scrambled egg on the floor for him, but his favorite thing was when a patient dipped their finger in the maple syrup and let him lick it off.  This was reward enough for his visits!

As much as Scruffy loved visiting seniors, he was totally animated when visiting children.  It didn’t matter the age, Scruffy just moved right up, face-to-face with a child.  He actually gave kisses; he would play, and let the children pet him anywhere.  He always elicited a ton of smiles and thank-you’s from children and adults alike!

At the ripe old age of 14, Scruffy was diagnosed with diabetes and a few months later, Cushing’s disease.    His visits at Eisenhower had to stop because he couldn’t do all the walking, but he took over the Wednesday morning visits at the Lucy Curci Cancer Center.  There he could sit on the ottoman, visit with the patients, dispense kisses, and in that little body of his, continue to make a huge difference.

Sadly, on June 9^th it was time to say good-bye and Scruffy joined his brother Lucky at the Rainbow Bridge.  The last couple of months without Scruffy at home, at the office, or on visits have been pretty tough.  That Big Bear will be a tough act to follow.

“Miss ya, Big Bear! You were a one-in-a-million dog, and you’ve made thousands of patients smile because of your visits!  Dad was incredibly proud of you!”

Our 2016 Annual Dog Walk-Fundraiser will be held in memory of  Scruffy and will take place on Saturday, November 26^th at the Westin Mission Hills Golf Resort & Spa.

For information please visit our website, www.pawsandhearts.org  or call (760) 836-1406