Meet Mable, St George’s Beloved Therapy Dog - Amy van Rensburg

Mable (shown in the photo above) is a seven year old Springer Spaniel and Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross breed. Despite only being a therapy dog for around two months, students at St George’s College have taken a unique liking towards her, with crowds of eager students of all different years rushing towards the library every monday to visit her. 

Mable is the successor to her sibling, Badger, who recently retired as a therapy dog after around 10 years due to his condition of arthritis. According to Sara Allom, the owner of both of the dogs and a parent at St George’s College, Badger was always very emotionally intelligent and even before he received training to be a therapy dog, there were many cases in which he provided struggling individuals comfort. One of the most significant moments being when he lay next to an unwell family member on their hospital bed for around 5 hours before they sadly passed away. During those 5 hours there wasn’t a moment where Badger didn’t have his head on the unconscious person’s hand. “It was almost as if he knew that they were about to die,” Sara informed me and apparently that was when she knew they had to use Badger’s extraordinary gift to the fullest. 

Both Badger and Mabel went through their assessment process with the charity ‘Pets As Therapy’ and they were both quite long processes due to the many distinct but vital requirements which the therapy dogs must meet. One of the most important requirements for therapy dogs is that they can’t become stressed or anxious from loud noises, this is because therapy dogs spend a lot of time in special educational needs schools (SEN) where there is a lot of loud noises. Other essential factors, which the charities take into account, are that the dogs aren’t aggressive when being fed; as the dogs are often given treats during their working hours, and also that they’re happy with crowds of people, so that they don’t become anxious or scared by the large groups of people that they work with. 

Therapy dogs work in various different environments such as hospitals, schools, cancer centres and nursing homes, and act as a method of emotional support and comfort for people of all different ages and backgrounds. Before speaking to Sara, I was completely oblivious to the incredible impact in which these dogs have had on so many once suffering people. Some children have apparently become overwhelmed with joy and burst into tears upon seeing Badger. They also experienced profound personality developments from completing an exercise in which they read to the dogs, and due to the warm and unjudging environment, they can finally grow in confidence and feel comfortable in the presence of others. Therapy dogs have also been widely useful and beneficial to university students and adults during stressful and frustrating times. It's been scientifically proven that just by stroking the dogs, massive amounts of serotonin and endorphins are released, and due to this, stress and anxiety levels are lowered significantly. Not only do therapy dogs lower stress and anxiety levels, but they have been known to increase self esteem and empathy, and prevent heart attacks. In some cases therapy dogs have even detected cancer in patients. 

When speaking to some of Mabel’s many visitors last Monday they told me that “just by stroking Mabel it makes me feel calmer, it’s like my worries just go poof!” And when asked what her favourite part of being a therapy dog volunteer was, Sara said “it’s the way that it unites so many different people, I have people of all different ages from sixth formers and staff members, to first and second years come to visit Mabel and Badger.” 

Therapy dogs are becoming a crucial part of today’s society and have proven themselves to be extremely rewarding and outstanding ways of dealing with struggling mental health. If you wish to donate to any charities, here are the links to some trusted ones:(http://petsastherapy.org/) and (https://www.dogstrust.org.uk/)