Hello! My name is Finley and I am a black lab with a big job! I am a therapy
dog for the Rehabilitation Institute of Kansas City (RIKC). I come from a
long line of companion animals. My great-great Cousin Smoky helped her human
companions in World War II by running a telephone cable through an underground
pipeline and providing comfort and entertainment to the troops. She was a
brave dog. I have brothers and sisters who help people in nursing homes,
schools, and hospitals. I feel the luckiest of all because I get to help
children like Amy relearn how to do everyday
activities like brushing her teeth, dressing herself, and walking all on her
own. She’s in my therapy group every week, working as hard as she can to
return to being the active little girl I know she can be! Did you know the average human walks 10,000 steps each day? When Amy first came to RIKC after her accident (RIKC staff tell me it’s called a Traumatic Brain Injury or TBI), she could not walk at all. After weeks of therapy, and a lot of my kisses, she can now walk more than a mile without much assistance. Someday soon, she’s going to be faster than me! I will have to run to keep up with her, but I don’t mind. I love Amy and all my friends at RIKC.
My family tells me this blog is going to share some stories with you throughout the year about what’s going on at RIKC. Every once in awhile, you will get to hear a few stories with me, but even better, many times you’ll get to hear stories from former participants in our programs! We’ll try to post the occasional event or program update for you, too, because I’d love for you to come to our events so you can shake my paw!
Happy
reading,
Ms.
Finley, Therapy Dog
