Congratulations to Deb Zdanowicz and and her dog Shane for a successful new team evaluation on 05/20/2023.
Congratulations to Barb Weir and her dog, Ellie and Stephanie Gerst and her dog Dozer
for successful new team evaluations on 12/06/2022.
Congratulations to Jacque Welker and her dog, Maggie Mae for a successful renewal team evaluation on 12/06/2022.
for successful new team evaluations on 12/06/2022.
Congratulations to Jacque Welker and her dog, Maggie Mae for a successful renewal team evaluation on 12/06/2022.
Use this link to read more about Pet Partners of Prescott at Taylor Hicks Elementary School
Check out this article, published in the Prescott Dog September/October issue, about the Read With Me program at Prescott Valley Library.
Prescott Dog article about the Read with Me Reading Program
Laure Zaffuto letter to the Prescott Courier June 18, 2020.
Editor:
We are finally starting to open up, people coming out of isolation, continuing social distancing. It hasn’t been easy, this isolation. The elderly decline without the social interaction, children have pent up energy. We all know this and know the stress. This isn’t new.
I’d like to visit about another segment of our population that have been impacted, our registered therapy animals. Therapy dogs, and I have one, love people, they live for their interaction with people of all ages. My dog Bailey, loves children. Whenever he sees children, he dances, looking at me asking, “Can I, can I, can I, Mom?” So I asked our Pet Partners headquarters, how can we open up, visit those people, of all ages and practice safe visits so our animals can be happy visiting their people? The answer is masks, lots of hand sanitizer, small groups, and social distancing. Headquarters sent out a very good protocol for us to follow and asks that we also follow local state guidelines. We follow the guidelines that are most conservative. Perhaps soon we can get back to what our animals (and us handlers) love to do, bring comfort, love and support to the children and to the people we visit and care for.
Laure Zaffuto and Bailey
Editor:
We are finally starting to open up, people coming out of isolation, continuing social distancing. It hasn’t been easy, this isolation. The elderly decline without the social interaction, children have pent up energy. We all know this and know the stress. This isn’t new.
I’d like to visit about another segment of our population that have been impacted, our registered therapy animals. Therapy dogs, and I have one, love people, they live for their interaction with people of all ages. My dog Bailey, loves children. Whenever he sees children, he dances, looking at me asking, “Can I, can I, can I, Mom?” So I asked our Pet Partners headquarters, how can we open up, visit those people, of all ages and practice safe visits so our animals can be happy visiting their people? The answer is masks, lots of hand sanitizer, small groups, and social distancing. Headquarters sent out a very good protocol for us to follow and asks that we also follow local state guidelines. We follow the guidelines that are most conservative. Perhaps soon we can get back to what our animals (and us handlers) love to do, bring comfort, love and support to the children and to the people we visit and care for.
Laure Zaffuto and Bailey
YAVAPAI COLLEGE CANINE BUSINESS INTERVIEW
Susan Rubio and Laure Zaffuto were interviewed for a canine business class at Yavapai College. Here is a link to the video hosted by the college site - no sign in is required.
https://yavapai.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=e0a11054-4639-43dd-8ff0-acc60179d9f8
Here is one student's impression of Pet Partners: "I think the Pet Partners is a great organization. I think it would be very rewarding to see the people’s faces light up. It seems the organization is cautious in their screening and takes the evaluation very seriously, so they know they are getting a good team. They won't just let anyone with a dog be a part of their program, and this is a good thing as animals can be very unpredictable. I think they have a very good thing going on."
02162021
Susan Rubio and Laure Zaffuto were interviewed for a canine business class at Yavapai College. Here is a link to the video hosted by the college site - no sign in is required.
https://yavapai.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=e0a11054-4639-43dd-8ff0-acc60179d9f8
Here is one student's impression of Pet Partners: "I think the Pet Partners is a great organization. I think it would be very rewarding to see the people’s faces light up. It seems the organization is cautious in their screening and takes the evaluation very seriously, so they know they are getting a good team. They won't just let anyone with a dog be a part of their program, and this is a good thing as animals can be very unpredictable. I think they have a very good thing going on."
02162021
A Passion of Sharing With Others
There's one place that therapy handler Susan Rubio and her dog, Baxter, can't wait to visit post-COVID: the library. Prior to the pandemic, Susan and Baxter were building relationships with the kids at libraries in Prescott, Arizona. Susan coordinates reading programs at these area libraries.
With Baxter (click on link to read entire article) at her side, she also volunteers her time to directly benefit
these children.
04/22/2021
There's one place that therapy handler Susan Rubio and her dog, Baxter, can't wait to visit post-COVID: the library. Prior to the pandemic, Susan and Baxter were building relationships with the kids at libraries in Prescott, Arizona. Susan coordinates reading programs at these area libraries.
With Baxter (click on link to read entire article) at her side, she also volunteers her time to directly benefit
these children.
04/22/2021
First-graders Ava Butler, Jessica Kaawaloa and Alexandrea Williams (left to right) read with Bailey, a dog with the Pet Partners of Prescott. (Nanci Hutson/Courier)
By Nanci Hutson | HutsonNanci
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meSIiqDU7HU&feature=emb_imp_woyt
Sacred Heart Catholic School first grader Audrey Stephens delighted in reading the play “The Contest” with her classmate Evan Moore and a guest she couldn’t resist snuggling with every now and again.
At the end of story time, Audrey was rewarded with a nuzzling kiss from said guest – one she gratefully received as her eyes twinkled and mouth widened in a smile beneath her school-required cloth mask.
Audrey and Evan weren’t the only ones treated to the authentic affection – their guest is an equal opportunity lover of children who enjoys hearing their voices as they gain confidence reading aloud.
Bailey is not just any guest, however. He is an apricot-colored, curly Standard Poodle, who with his handler Laure Zaffuto, visits area schools as part of the “Read With Me” pet therapy program through the all-volunteer Pet Partners of Prescott organization.
Pre-COVID-19, Pet Partners’ 32 volunteers and their trained therapy dogs visited schools, hospitals, long-term care facilities, libraries, juvenile detention and other public events. Since the pandemic, however, the volunteers and their dogs have been quite limited, with schools just beginning to reopen and allow the dogs to visit again.
At Sacred Heart, these canine guests are beloved and prove a real encouragement to the children as they are building up their confidence as independent readers. One day last week, Bailey was visiting a first-grade class and Golden Retriever Oro and his handler Kathy Pessin spent time with a second-grade class. A third volunteer Susan Rubio and her terrier mix Baxter also paid a visit to the school.
Pessin said she started a few years back volunteering with hospice and then one-on-one with hospital patients. The reaction to both was “amazing” and she looks forward to when she can return.
In the schools, Pessin and Zaffuto said the dogs bring yet their own brand of magic and comfort to the children.
Whether a child is anxious, happy, sad, or maybe even restless, the dogs accept them just as they are and the children respond. Any observer can witness the irresistible pull that attracts the boys and girls to touch, hug, and engenders gentle “kisses” from these all-accepting animals.
“They just snuggle up to the dogs and tell them all their troubles,” Pessin said.
Studies show that simply petting a dog can calm a person, lowering one’s blood pressure and anxiety level, Zaffuto said. She said she and Bailey started their therapy work together in hospitals, and there was nothing like watching a patient’s eyes light up when he walked into the room. “That type of emotional connection helps people heal,” Zaffuto said.
In school settings, children equally gravitate to these dogs’ unconditional affection and acceptance, a major plus in these unsettling times when children, teachers and administrators have all been forced to learn and educate in all new ways, school staff has told Zaffuto.
Upon entering Janice Barrett’s first-grade classroom last week, Zaffuto and Bailey are immediate celebrities. The children are animated, eager to take turns reading with the tall, stately and well-groomed pooch on a carpeted space in the rear of the classroom. This day’s assignment is to read aloud their first play, “The Contest.” Bailey gladly absorbs the random affection.
Before beginning to read, Zaffuto offers each child a chance to get introduced, encouraging them to gently pet Bailey under his chin. They quickly learn he will reciprocate their soft strokes with his own brand of hugs and kisses.
“I think it’s fun,” enthused Audrey who couldn’t resist stroking his paw as she turned her pages. “I really like reading.” Class partner Evan found Bailey the perfect listener as Zaffuto assisted with new words and phrases.
Sacred Heart Principal Shelly Cooper was clear she enjoys the dogs coming to school as much as any student.
“Not only is it good for my social and emotional health, the kids really enjoy them,” Cooper said. “The social/emotional experience is huge.”
With the Prescott Unified School District reopening for in-person instruction at the lower age level, Zaffuto said plans are to restart reading visits in their elementary schools. PUSD Superintendent Joe Howard said he expects they will be the most welcome visitors on campus.
“We’ve had then come to the district office,” Howard said of the renovated Washington School on East Gurley Street. “Those dogs do good for all of our hearts.”
Howard said he admires those willing to undergo handler and dog training so these pets can be a comfort to others in settings, especially in these unparalleled times of confusion and stress for students, faculty/staff and families.
“It’s just like in our homes,” Howard said of the “beautiful friendships” people are able to build with pets. “To read a book WITH A DOG makes everything better!”
“It really is about unconditional love,” Zaffuto concluded.
03/02/2021
Cruiser at the Dewey-Humbolt Library with the Read with Me Program
Slide Show
Slide Show
2019 Prescott Christmas Parade
YRMC-Paws Are Warm Support
Dec.7, 2019
For more pictures see the photo gallery page.
YRMC-Paws Are Warm Support
Dec.7, 2019
For more pictures see the photo gallery page.
'Meet at Hero' was held at Petco, on Oct 12, 2019. The Petco Foundation and Pet Partners of Prescott invited the public to meet Helping Heroes at Petco in Prescott. Guests learned about the transformative impact that therapy, service and/or working animals have on lives every day. |
Use this link to read The Daily Courier article: Meet Pet Partners of Prescott ‘Helping Heroes’ therapy dogs
Baxter and Megan enjoyed all the attention at the
YRMC Celebrate Life Expo
on September 7, 2019
Use this link to read the Prescott Dog article about the 'Read with Me' Program at Prescott Valley Library.
Use this link to read the Prescott Courier article about the 'Read with Me' program at the
Prescott United School District.
31Aug2019
If you would like to have us at your local library, use the 'inquiries & questions' page.
Read the Prescott Valley Librarian Referral
Read the Prescott Valley Librarian Referral
Forest Villas Hotel 3645 Lee Circle, Prescott, AZ 86301
This is the Pet Partners of Prescott Preferred Dog Friendly Hotel.
The hotel is conveniently located at the edge of Prescott – just minutes from historic downtown, yet close to Prescott Valley. Lynx Lake is three minutes away and offers loads of recreational opportunities on a beautiful, alpine trout lake. Hike, fish, boat or have a picnic – what a way to spend a day. "Go somewhere" on vacation with Forest Villas – it's a getaway within a getaway.
To receive our discounted rate use the code PET. Booking needs to be directly with the hotel, online or by phone. If by phone mention PET, online put PET in the comment sections.
This is good for Pet Partners of Prescott clients, guests and volunteers. Contact at: 800 223 3449 or www.forestvillas.com.
07022019
This is the Pet Partners of Prescott Preferred Dog Friendly Hotel.
The hotel is conveniently located at the edge of Prescott – just minutes from historic downtown, yet close to Prescott Valley. Lynx Lake is three minutes away and offers loads of recreational opportunities on a beautiful, alpine trout lake. Hike, fish, boat or have a picnic – what a way to spend a day. "Go somewhere" on vacation with Forest Villas – it's a getaway within a getaway.
To receive our discounted rate use the code PET. Booking needs to be directly with the hotel, online or by phone. If by phone mention PET, online put PET in the comment sections.
This is good for Pet Partners of Prescott clients, guests and volunteers. Contact at: 800 223 3449 or www.forestvillas.com.
07022019
National Therapy Animal Day, April 30, 2019, was celebrated in Prescott, AZ.
Recognizing the amazing things therapy animals do every day.
This Prescott Courier article tells all about it.
See how Pet Partners of Prescott brings smiles, eases anxieties. Read the article in The Prescott Dog.
All About Pets: Therapy dogs bring lots and lots of smiles.
Read the article in The Prescott Courier.
Read the article in The Prescott Courier.
Starving, Injured CRUISER Is Now a Healthy, Happy
‘TRIPOD’ Therapy Dog. Read the article in The Prescott Dog.
‘TRIPOD’ Therapy Dog. Read the article in The Prescott Dog.