I am an OT, who although registered currently in full time study to become a dog trainer. I have already trained and used my dog in stroke rehabilitation and now want to help those who have had strokes, to train their own dogs up to do 3-4 tasks for them. I would love to hear from any allied health, nurses, team leaders about any potential candidates for this programme. I am not looking at doing OT with them as I'm not employed by specific DHB or organisation and so would be looking to work with their current OT/PT/SLT to help build goals around how they would train the dog. The person would need to have a support person(spouse/ family member) to assist and ensure the dogs welfare. There would be a screening process for the dog an person and would identify what they wanted to do and what the dog would be capable of. We don't have public access rights yet but I am working with someone who can do that if we feel its appropriate
I am currently in Auckland but happy to look at travelling especially Wellington and Hawkes Bay. I am in a unique position to be able to help train up some therapists as well to support the training with their clients. This can be acute or community setting but the training would be mostly based on when patient was discharged but can start the process in hospital
Please feel free to contact me for more details and criteria.
mckiernan80@hotmail.com
Thanks