Brandy and Val

Several weeks ago mom spoke about my smelling like a wet sneaker and my fur feeling oily.  She though that maybe I had the skin disorder seborrhea, a common skin disorder in dogs, or perhaps my thyroid was acting up or maybe even something else.   The vet gave us a medicated shampoo which I reluctantly let mom and dad use on me twice a week during swimming season.  I sure smelled a whole lot better but I’m not sure the problem was tackled. I have not been swimming for about a month now and my fur/skin and odor appear to be back to normal without the aid of the shampoo.    Good news for us but the mystery remains.  Let’s hope history does not repeat itself next season.   No one says, “PHEW, Val, you stink!”  anymore.  I like that.

What do you think was the cause of the smell and change in my coat?

At Brandy and Val, LLC we try to “do good where good is needed.”  We love to share ideas and thoughts with you so if you have any suggestions or dog or community service topics you’d like to talk about, contact me or post on our Facebook page or Twitter feed (#BrandyandVal).

There are tons of cute dog videos around, this is one of the the cutest of late that Brandy and Val would like to share with you.

Now through the end of September, Brandy and Val will be making a special donation to National Disaster Search Dog Foundation with every sale of BRANDY AND VAL’S FAVORITE THINGS and mini-Brandy and mini-Vals. Visit our website.  Our mission at Brandy and Val is “to do good where good is needed” and it is through the sales of our books and toys that we hope to improve the lives of children and animals.

So, a few weeks ago marked the end of another school year helping out the kids afflicted with autism spectrum disorder.  We think we did a lot of good stuff and so saw major progress.  In retrospect, probably more progress than last year but we are sure it’s a cumulative thing.  Part of what goes on with these kids is that they like consistency in their lives and the fact that we are a regular part of their schedule makes them more comfortable.  The students know we are part of their routines and they love when we come into the rooms.

Brandy says: In the past, I spoke of two kids who I work with who were so afraid they would barely touch me and would often flinch away.   By the end of this year, both would take me for walks and would pet me on several parts of my body–from the head down my back.  They would also look at me and talk to me.  This was a very dramatic and uplifting turn of events.  With both of our classes, the kids had pictograph cards with multiple words or phrases.  By the end of the year, the kids had their “favorite” commands they would like to do with me, but, generally, by the end of they year, all could read and/or respond to the words and pictures on the cards.  With the more advance kids, we were able to do multiple word exercises like: “WALK” “SIT” “SHAKE” “UP” and walk back around the room.  It was fun to do a variety of tasks at one time and the kids really liked doing this.  It was more interesting to them than only doing one word commands.

Val says:  My kids are younger than the ones that Brandy works with so we like to play games that have to do with colors and numbers.  The cup game, where we hide food under a colored cup and then I get to “find” it by flipping the cup over with my nose is very popular.  The kids really think it’s funny when I find the treat.  One of the favorite activities, though, continues to be when they get to walk the hallways with me.  I think they feel important and empowered that they get to walk around the building with me and no one else gets to do that.  Also, people in the hall give us attention and we all like that!

We look forward to see where we are headed next year.  We have asked the teachers to come up with some expanded activities based on all we’ve accomplished this year.  Happy Summer!

Brandy and Val’s mission is to enrich the lives of others through their pet therapy duties and through the sales of their books and toys.  They hope to help the families, as well as the children, they work with and sales from their products benefit animal sanctuaries throughout the U.S.  To learn more about these special dogs, visit their website, Brandy and Val, LLC.

We love our mom!  For mother’s day, we had our dad make a great breakfast for her and made sure that we checked its’ quality out before giving it to her .   Then, we found this really cute card.   Mom ALWAYS is devoted to us.  She plays with us, she helps dad with the feeding and walking and she always makes sure that we’re included in car rides and greeting people at the door.   We love when she rubs our bellies and tells us how good we are, too.  What did you do for your mom this past Mother’s Day?

Did you know that we help kids by participating in pet therapy?  We also help shelter dogs by making donations to animal rescues throughout the U.S. through the sales of our books and toys.  Check out our website and help save animals with every purchase.  Our missions is “to do good where good is needed.”

NOW THROUGH MARCH 30, BUY ONE BOOK, GET ONE FREE!  YES, FREE!  ORDER ONLY AT BRANDY AND VAL.COM

All sales benefit animal shelters throughout the United States.  Feel good with every purchase!

BRANDY AND VAL

BRANDY AND VAL’S FAVORITE THINGS

We have lots of Favorite Things

BRANDY AND VAL’S SPECIAL STORY

100% of profits go to animal rescue

MINI BRANDY AND MINI VAL TOYS

Last Saturday, we got re-evaluated so that we could continue our work as pet therapy dogs.  A lot of people ask our mom what we have to do during this process so we thought we’d tell you firsthand!

Well, the whole thing takes about 45 minutes.   I think Val and I were the only two dogs that day that weren’t collies except for a Burmese Mountain Dog.  Anyway, they make us go through a series of tests to make sure that “our dispositions” are still good that we won’t get irritated in a variety of circumstances.

The first thing we had to do was greet the other dogs in a friendly, non-confrontational fashion and gently accept dog treats from the other handlers.  We were really good at that.  Then we had to sit and stay while mom and dad went away for a minute or so.  I guess this was to make sure that we were well behaved and didn’t wander away from our position when not directly supervised.  We were so happy when mom and dad came back and we were even allowed to run to greet them.   Since we work with a lot of children who are not mobile or who are disabled on one side, we were tested to make sure we could go over and sit by someone in a chair at arm’s length on the left and right sides as well as approach from the front.   The part of the exam that was most fun for us was when all these people came over to us and kept petting us.  We didn’t get why that was part of the test since it felt so good, but they wanted to make sure we didn’t get nervous around all those people coming at us.  Since Brandy and I also go on book appearances and story times, we were used to that and it was no problem at all.  Then someone came over to us and checked us out to make sure that we were being well taken care of and that we didn’t get upset when someone came to look at our teeth, pick up our paws, check our coats out.  I don’t really like when people pick up the foot that was broken but it didn’t really hurt.  I broke my foot when I was wandering the streets after Hurricane Katrina.   There was also another feeding test from the proctor of the exam and Brandy and I both got complimented on how gentle we are.    Mom and dad also had to submit a form with a list of all the tricks and games we can do.  We hope that impressed the testers!  Finally, there were a few commands of the ho-hum variety:  the “sits” the “stays” the “downs.”   That was it!

Good to go.  Happiness for all.

Do you have a positive experience to share with us about dog therapy?  Please tell us!  Our mission is “to do good where good is needed” and we’d love to share your stories with others to help benefit animals and children nationwide.  Visit our website http://www.BrandyandVal.com for more details on how we help.

So we were so excited last week when our pet therapy kids gave us a hand-made thank you note for the Brandy and Val books and toys we gave them as Holiday gifts.  We know they worked very hard to make this happen.  Everyone signed his/her name and some even wrote a comment.   One kid wrote, “Awesome books” and another told us that he put his mini-Brandy toy next to his puppy at night so it wouldn’t feel lonely in the dark.  Things like that make us feel good knowing that we are touching kids’ lives in a positive way and making them happy, too! There were even one or two more kids that were extra friendly to us this time.  I wonder if seeing us at home has something to do with that?

We at Brandy and Val, work hard to “do good where good is needed.”

I know they're for me!

Yeah, I can smell the treats in there

We hope you remembered love ones this Christmas past as well as those in need!  Our gift list included Fortunate Pooches and Lab Rescue, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and Pets Alive.  It is through the sales of our books and toys that we can continue to help others.  Thanks for your support.

We just wanted to share with you some of the new exercises we’re doing with our students since they are a bit more advanced than those we did last year.  That’s a good sign of progress then so that’s a good thing.  For those of you who are new to the blog, welcome!  Here’s a little background so you know where we’re at in the pet therapy conversation.  We work with children/some now young adults, afflicted with Autism Spectrum Disorder ranging in ages from grade school through 21!  They run the gamut as to the extent of their disability; some have motor skill challenges, many are non-verbal; some have both motor skill and cerebral deficits.  In any case, we love to visit and play with them in hopes of helping these kids lead happier lives that allow them to interact more freely and socially with their friends, family and the people they meet along the way!

One of the new games we’ve introduced is bowling.  The pins are made of soft cushions with bright numbers and colors on them.  The participants first have to set the pins down according to number or color.  This helps, obviously, with number and color learning.  It also helps with motor skills because the kids have a chance to get up, walk, focus on a task, hold on to the pin until it’s set in place.  THEN, here’s the fun part!  They get to take a “Nerf-like” ball and roll it down to hit the pins.  Everyone takes turns but our favorite is when we get to go since we knock the pins down with our noses.  Instead of rolling a ball, we look for a treat that is hidden near or under a pin.  Everyone thinks it’s funny to watch us do it.  We just like the treat.

In the first pet therapy post of this school year, we talked about having pictographs with commands on them that the kids can use and point to or speak out to us.  Well, now, we’ve added a twist:  we COMBINE commands, so, for example, instead of a kid asking us to “sit” they may now have to add 2 more to the sequence like “sit” “stay” and then “come.”  Pretty neat, huh?

So, now we’ll do this for a while because people with ASD like routine so we want them to get used to this.

In case you didn’t know, our mission at Brandy and Val, LLC is “to do good where good is needed.”  Not only do we participate in pet therapy programs in our community but we also have a series of children’s board books and toys that look like us.  Profits from the sales of our products help animal rescues and children’s causes throughout the country!

We encourage EVERYONE to participate and contribute to our blog and give us new ideas that we can do in pet therapy or add to the causes that make a difference in the lives of others.

So this past week we began our pet therapy sessions working back at the special needs school with autistic children.  It was good to see so many of the same faces and we felt immediately comfortable back with them in the classroom.   For those who have some form of autism along the spectrum, having a routine is comforting and so everyone responded well to seeing our familiar faces and wagging tales!  That they remembered us and were not afraid to see us was a promising start.

This year, we hope to encourage and develop more language skills and the teachers were nice enough to provide mom and dad with a sheet of pictographs they can use as guides.  On each sheet there are several pictures with commands/words and hand signals the children can use with us.  For example, “sit,” “down,” “walk,” “stay,” and “treat” are very popular words chosen.  We are happy to oblige, especially when it comes to receiving treats.  Some of the more advanced students know states and one of the classrooms has a big carpet with a map of the U.S. .  The states are also colored so not only can we walk to certain states but they can also be identified by color.  So, the kids learn geography, color and get a chance to move around with us.  Then they get to feed us a treat which helps their motor skills.

During the course of the school year, we’ll give updates on everyone’s progress.