Gay Cropper & Mr. Gruffyd Babayan.
Today, I interviewed one of my favorite therapy dog people, Gay Cropper of Manhattan. Gay and her Brussels Griffon, Mr. Gruffyd Babayan, work as volunteers with Angels on a Leash, the therapy dog program started by David Frei of the Westminster Kennel Club.
Gay says Mr. Gruffyd Babayan was an unlikely prospect as a therapy dog when they started, years ago. A friend signed her up for a talk about therapy dog work at the ASPCA. She wanted Gay to get Mr. Gruffyd Babayan involved. “I laughed. I told her, ‘He would never be able to do that. He won’t do anything I say. He’s the least obedient dog in the world.’”
At the end of the talk, trainers gave tests to dogs who had taken the course. One person had cancelled, so Gay and Mr. GB took their place. She said, “I knew he couldn’t pass it. I just wanted to see what it would be like.”
She spoke too soon. Mr. GB passed the test. Perfectly.
Mr. Gruffyd Babayan, with no training, did everything the dog was supposed to do. He stayed at the end of the leash while Gay walked away. He sat on command; ignored food put down to tempt him, and ignored the intrusion of other dogs. When put on the laps of three different people in wheelchairs, he sat quietly while they petted him or were rough with him. He did all the basic commands. He qualified.
Gay was floored. At home, she asked him to repeat those behaviors; sit, stay, and ignore food. “He looked at me like, ‘Are you crazy?’ He would never dream of doing that.”
Gay and Mr. GB started by doing the “meet and greet” at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital. Mr. GB was a hit from the beginning. Everyone smiled at the sight of the ugly canine ambassador.
Gay says, “When he’s working, he just knows he is meant to be very quiet and calm. He always does the right thing. Nobody has to tell him.”
Gay and Mr. G.B. started a regular weekly schedule. Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital on Tuesday nights. Ronald McDonald House on Fridays. Mr. G.B. couldn’t read a calendar, but he quickly learned to tell what day it was. When his tall, elegant mistress laid out a nice outfit for herself on the bed and pulled his green “Delta Society” scarf from a drawer, he would start barking madly and racing through the house. Gay thought to herself that no one would believe this dervish of a dog was the careful, obedient animal who positioned himself so gently next to sick children.
After more coursework and testing, Gay and Mr. G.B. graduated to “Animal Assisted Therapy Dog.” Now, instead of “meet and greet,” Gay and the Griff go to the physical therapy department and get a specific assignment.
In the beginning, Gay wasn’t sure how Mr. Gruffyd Babayan would do with this. It was one thing to sit in laps and tend to bedridden children. This would require that he follow commands. Walk, stay, and lay down, things like that. He had a policy of not following commands. So, on their first day, Gay was full of trepidation.
The therapist explained that they needed to get an eight-year-old girl up on her feet. She refused to use the bars to hold herself up and walk because she hurt. She wanted to be left alone. The therapist pointed to the bars and said, “Can you make him back up along here, and I’ll get her to follow?”
Gay looked dubiously at her Brussels Griffon. “I don’t think so,” she said. “He’s never done anything like that. I don’t think he can walk backwards.”
The therapist was disappointed. She’d seen other dogs do the maneuver. It hadn’t occurred to her that there were some dogs who couldn’t. “Okay, then, just get him to walk there, any way you can. Maybe she’ll follow.”
The girl’s eyes sparkled when she saw Mr. Gruffyd Babayan. But she winced when she tried to stand. When she reached out towards him, the therapist directed her arms onto the bars. Gay wasn’t sure wondered how to direct Mr. Gruffyd Babayan. But he moved past her and stood directly in front of the girl. Their eyes locked. Then Mr. Gruffyd Babayan backed up.
Gay tried to pretend she wasn’t shocked. He’d never backed up in his life, as far as she knew. Backing up is hard for a dog, with four legs to coordinate.
The little girl took a step forward; Mr. G.B. took a step back. Then they repeated the maneuver. They moved all the way down the bars that way. At the end, the little girl was allowed to sit and clasp Mr. G.B. to her chest.
The next child they visited was alone in his room. Mr. G.B. licked salty tears from the boy’s face. The little boy said, “I’m so lonely. I miss my dog. I miss my house. I miss my family.” Gay let Mr. G.B. spend a few extra minutes in that room. The boy had been hospitalized for months; sometimes up in the Intensive Care Unit, then back down to the pediatric floor, then up to the ICU again.
Gay and Mr. G.B. have visited kids with heart transplants, liver transplants, bone marrow transplants, cancer, leukemia, diabetes, and brain tumors. They’ve seen children with abdominal pain, bladder infections, scratched eyes and crushed hands.
Gay says, “It’s so simple. It’s easy for us to do. Just visit a child in the hospital. But it means so much.”
Gay points out that she and Mr. GB are just one of the many teams of Angels on a Leash who work in the hospitals every day. There are dogs of every breed. Every day, they make new converts to the advantages of Animal Assisted Therapy. For dozens of kids, these little dogs are a brief respite from a painful day.
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