Valley Calderoni is waiting for the doggy jedi — the litter with the miraculous power to touch and change lives.
In a few months from now, Keiko, a pregnant therapy dog at Canine Valley, will bring to the world what Valley Calderoni and her business partner Carl Merac are calling the therapia litter.
The therapia litter, anywhere from one to 16 puppies, will be raised as therapy dogs. But they won’t be raised just by Valley or Carl or the team at the Canine Valley.
Those puppies will be raised by Squamish.
Canine Valley will be inviting the community to come and socialise the dogs, the first stage of raising a therapy dog.
Anyone who loves puppies can come although children with special needs, or those suffering from PTSD, or facing other challenges, will be specially invited to cuddle with the puppies as they grow up to be therapy dogs.
“We want to make sure the community of Squamish experiences the incredible journey of raising therapy pups. It brings such joy and sweetness to know that these dogs will change the lives of many,” Valley says.
The therapia litter and the lives they will touch in Squamish are the legacy of Kaoru, a four-year-old Tamaskan that was killed in 2017 by a hunter who had mistaken it for a wolf.
Kaoru was a therapy dog that worked with autistic children and those with emotional challenges. Kaoru’s death made headlines around the world and led to widespread outrage.
The hunter was fined $4,000 for the dog’s death last year.
Two weeks after Kaoru’s death, a breeder from Croatia offered two Tamaskan pups to Valley after reading about Kaoru. The two dogs, Keiko and Senshin, were trained as therapy dogs and have been working with children and adults in the community.
Now it’s Keiko’s brood that will help with the healing, keeping Kaoru’s legacy alive in the process. Valley and Carl say they are extremely excited to welcome and share the beautiful, little souls with the community.
“It is also our goal to help people learn more about raising emotionally intelligent reliable dogs that can assist others. We are looking forward to the joy that this will bring in bringing our “village” together,” Valley says.
Willow Gillingham says
I have raised and trained a service dog as I have a severe pain disorder that causes seizures and panic attacks. My Dr. Prescribed him to me. However, due to my disability and needed further surgery, as well as had to enrol in school (I have an injury from a work accident and am on permanent disability with WCB and am currently in the Vocational Rehabilitation process), I had to find a care giver and client for my little guy. My mom was diagnosed with Anosmea 3 years ago and was having a really hard time accepting the fact she may never smell or taste anything ever again. Sherman took her under his wing and has provided her with the most amazing support. So he now belongs to her. But I am now without a service dog. So I would be very interested in helping with the raising of these new wonderful pups, for an amazing cause. Please let me know what I need to do to be involved in this process!!!!