KD Sunday Spotlight: Top Dog Therapy Team brings joy and 'pawsitivity' to those in need
GREENSBURG (KDKA) - In today's KD Sunday Spotlight, we're highlighting a team of dogs working to bring joy and comfort to people of all ages in western Pennsylvania.
Top Dog Therapy Team was recently voted the second-best nonprofit in Westmoreland County and we got to visit their training facility in Greensburg to see how they're touching lives one paw at a time.
Dogs can unleash a certain type of healing power, you could call them therapists with fur.
The canines on the Top Dog Therapy Team are pros at providing conditional love.
"Our dogs are trained for people to hug them, to cry on them, they are trained to be around emotional distress as well," said Rodney Little.
It's a story of tragedy to triumph and Army veteran Rodney Little was in a motorcycle accident and became paralyzed from the waist down. His dog, Sarge, who has since passed away, stayed by his side in the hospital and rehabilitation center.
"Sarge was the only happiness I got and I didn't realize it in the moment of my storm, but he brought other people happiness too," he recalled.
Little's best friend became a certified service dog and helped him recover at home until he could walk again.
The Top Dog Therapy Team was then born in Westmoreland County.
"I started learning that words didn't mean a lot anymore but the comfort that a dog can give you, you didn't really need to speak any words, no words need spoken, and that love, that attention, that affection that Sarge manifested for me, I took that and started giving it back to others," he said.
His team is made up of more than 100 human volunteers and 86 therapy dogs with many breeds and mutts, even some as small as four pounds and as big as 107 pounds.
"Izzy is 3-and-a-half-year-old Coton de Tulear," said Sharon Danko. "It's her personality and how she loved everybody and lit up the room when she walked in, wagging her tail."
"This is Harper, she is 17 months, and she is a golden doodle," said Garrity Bungard as we met Harper. "She's brought so much joy to my life in doing this."
Some of the pups, like Molly, are still in training.
"This is Molly she's a gold retriever she is 4 years old, and this is her sister, Micah," said Dick Boyle. "I'm looking to retire and hopefully we start doing more visits to schools and hospitals and nursing homes."
The dogs visit facilities in eight counties to provide comfort to children in classrooms, bring joy to the elderly in care homes, and lift patients' spirits in hospitals and recovery centers.
"We let the dogs' actions come alive and each one of these dogs brings uniquely something special to the team and aside from just people who are at medical centers, educational centers," Little said. "We also have two dogs here today they are also part of our bereavement team. If there's a school that has a teacher, or a student who passes away they can call us at midnight and we'll be there the next morning."
Their trainers work for Little's business, Youngwood Top Dog Services, and as you can imagine, a lot of work goes into training the canines.
"About 6 to 8 months on average before they obtain certification then their working purpose is to go love, attention, and affection to everybody they come across," he explained.
Little's next goal is to buy a piece of property so they can build three training centers.
"One for the disabled veterans that we work with, one for our medical patients and children, and one open training bay with hopefully a future doggy swimming pool that we can add in there too," he said.
Once the pups get their blue vests on, they're ready to get to work and make visits complete with wagging tails, cuddles, and kisses.
"This kind of comfort that started with one dog has grown to over 80 dogs, from one facility to thousands of facilities, from one county to eight, and we've magnified and professionalized it and put training implementations and checks and balances in and it's really grown into something beautiful," Little said with pride.
Turning pain into something "paw"sitive, while keeping the first Top Dog Therapy canine in their hearts - always.
The organization's fifth annual cookout is happening at New Stanton Park on September 30 and while only Top Dog Therapy dogs are allowed to attend, all humans are welcome to come meet the pups while enjoying food and games.
Donations can be made on their website where you can buy a brick for the new facility in honor of a pet or veteran.
If you would like to see an organization highlighted in KDKA'S Sunday Spotlight segment, send Jessica Guay an email at jguay@kdka.com
