My Experience With Canem

Esta entrada se publicó en For Crying Out Loud, Peter! a las 20:50:39 08/06/2012
My Experience with Canem

We started out as usual, with me getting into Paco’s car near the Canem Center for Assistance, Therapy and Education (www.canemterapia.com). In the back of the car, in her carrier, is Nana, the therapy dog, the star. She been through all this a million times before and is quiet, justpuffing occasionally to let us know we have someone else in the car.

Paco is smiling, well, Paco is always smiling! He asks about my day, "All right," "How’s yours?" I say, just making conversation. "Well I'm not bad considering I've only had 3 hours of sleep!" Suddenly, I'm much more focused on the road. A thousand things go through my head in a millisecond, "should I talk to him, does he seemalert, are we near a school, are there are children playing near the road, should I offer to drive for him ...?"

Before I say anything of what was going through my head, Paco continues, "This week I am teaching a course in the center, working hard at my other job, right now a co-worker is substituting me so we can make this visit to a school for children with intellectual disabilities, andthis weekend I'm teaching another course at the center!” "One of these days I'll have to leave my other job to devote 100% to Canem, but with the crisis ...,” and with that I understand everything.

He not a risk taker, he does what he does because somebody has to do it and so far there is nobody else. I also realize that he is more alert than I am. This is what motivates him, what encourages him,what gives him the strength to go on with 3 hours of sleep and more. I relax and ask about where we are going today. It is a new site for the company and Paco wants to make a good impression, because he only gets one first time.

He tells me that the kids we are going to meet today have a severe level of disability and Paco is worried because the standard prepared activities may not beappropriate for them. We will have to see how it goes and try to adapt on the fly. Flexibility is the key here. Paco says, "Take my bag from the back seat and take out that thing that looks like a coaster." Paco starts turning his body around toward the back seat, and I start to worry again. "Don’t worry, Paco, I see it!" I say, trying not to let my voice shake.

It is a white plastic disc, and at firstglance, I have no idea what it is. The only clue is a small strip of VELCRO ® on the back (which means it’s meant to be attached to the harness that Nana wears during the activities). "Well, Paco, what is this?" With the look of dog that just ate the cat, he tells me "It's a lamp that attaches Nana’s harness and when the kids press it, it lights up!" As he says this, his face lights up, and nowI couldn’t see any sign of fatigue.

Paco lives for them. Just to improve their communication with the outside world (with their families, educators, caregivers, doctors, etc...), to improve their self-esteem, or to help them out of the bubble of "I'm different from the others" or to help them make friends, or to help distract them from the pain of physical therapy, or the effects of chemo. Inother words, try to improve their lives in the best possible way, through the media that he understands (the dogs).

Paco is a dog trainer and much more. His experience began by training guard and explosives detection dogs in the military. His business experience followed the same path of training guard dogs for security companies but he also began a period of "home obedience training " where hecame in contact with "assistance dogs" where the dog is not only the pet the family but also an integral part of the life of the person with a disability. It was in this work where Paco saw something that attracted him much more than training German shepherds to attack intruders or detect bombs.

So Paco left Canem Adiestramiento and formed Canem Training Assistance, Therapy and Education...