Pet-icular kind of love | A loving life of service

Connie is a nine-year-old Labrador “with a bit of golden retriever in her”, while Meg is a three-year-old golden retriever “with a bit of Labrador in her”.

Neta, a recently retired sand play therapist, who worked out of Tatura, got the pair of golden-haired beauties from renowned K9 Support dog trainer Tessa Stow in Warrenbayne, who was training them to work in courts supporting victims of crime.

Neta fostered Connie on weekends as a puppy to test their compatibility. She said foster dogs before hadn’t been a fit, with one reacting to other dogs who were barking “six blocks away”.

“You can’t have that during a session,” Neta said.

“Connie worked out well with some of the children that I work with, because they were in foster care, and they said, ‘Oh, we go to people on weekends, just like she did’.

“She’s absolutely superb as a therapy dog.”

When Connie stayed for a longer period over Christmas, Tessa suggested the five-month-old Lab stay with Neta permanently, so that she could continue training her, her way.

Neta was working with abused and neglected kids as young as two, who’d had their power taken away from them.

“They could work with the dogs to give some of their power back,” Neta said.

“Nobody else works with little ones like that because they say they can’t talk yet, they can’t tell what’s happening to them.

“Well, in this case (with the dogs), we don’t need to have them tell me what’s happening.

“It’s powerful stuff.”

Neta has had other animals in the past — farm dogs, pet dogs, cats, fish and mice, and “all the rest” — but Connie, who is now also in retirement with Neta, was the first co-working dog she’s had.

When Connie was about seven years old, a seven-month-old Meg joined the team.

“They had to find out who was the kingpin,” Neta said.

“Connie gets out of the car first and Meg would wait.

“Connie likes to walk behind me. Meg always walks in front.

“So Meg’s looking back to see if I’m still coming and Connie’s behind me, watching.

“They have their places, but they are good friends.”

Neta said once their vests came off, the pair of pooches became regular, playful dogs.

To demonstrate, she removed their leads in The News’ conference room.

They immediately took off, chasing each other around the tables, playing and wrestling, enjoying being momentarily off-duty.

“That’s them being normal dogs after concentrating on what had to be done,” Neta said.

“They weren’t working every day.

“If they had a busy day, and they got weary, you could see, and I had to take them home in between clients.

“They had places that they chose to be their beds.

“Connie’s was underneath the table with her mattress. Meg liked to go in a crate.

“So if they were in their beds, they had their safe spots, and the clients knew not to be talking to them. They always needed a place to be able to get away.”

Neta hasn’t kept any other pets at the same time as Connie and Meg, with service dogs a big enough commitment as they are.

“Even though we might not have been working, there were still things that I had to do, like touch their ears, touch their paws, so that they didn’t react,” she said.

“And normally you wouldn’t do that if you were a stranger, but they have to be aware of that, because somebody coming in might do that.”

Neta firmly believes that animals make an incredible difference to people’s lives and people seeking help are more likely to choose therapists who are assisted by animals these days, whether it be guinea pigs, rats, chooks, horses, donkeys or dogs.

“Now there are schools that have dogs and kindergartens that have dogs and they’re in hospitals, and there’s a wonderful rapport with all that,” she said.

“They’re not support workers, they’re not guide dogs or anything of that nature, they’re my co-workers.

“And then when they’re home, they’re pets as well.”