In hospice and eldercare work,  there is always one difficult challenge. Usually, people can’t come to the dog, the dog has to come to them. Bending over, leaning, reaching out or leaning is often a problem or is painful or impossible.

This kind of therapy work isn’t just about walking through a room or down a hallway,  I’ve worked on training my therapy dogs for years to get up into beds (especially in hospice work) or in assisted care getting up on sofas or beds.

It is painful to see sick or very old people aching to touch a dog or hug one, but not able to get close enough. One of my rules is that the dog must get to the person, Izzy even crawled up in wheelchairs. Fate could also do that.

Today, Mary, Alice, and Carol were sitting together on a sofa. I know two of these women cannot bend over or lean down. Alice, in particular, loves dogs and likes to pat them, talk to them, hug them. I asked them if they wanted to touch Fate and they all lit up.

But they couldn’t get down to her, especially Alice.

I’ve tried several times to teach what I call the “Crawl-Up” where the dogs half-climb up within easy ranch but don’t jump up, which can be dangerous or frightening, especially to the fragile elderly.

Skin can easy be torn by a dog’s claws, and a large dog landing in somebody’s lap can be alarming and harmful to fragile bones and muscles or people prone to falling.

Red couldn’t do the “Crawl Up,” he was too big for one thing,  and for another, he didn’t have a “half-jump,” when you told him to jump, he just leaped up, you wouldn’t want to be in his way. If there was a lot of space in a bed or sofa, he could get up, but none of the sofa Alice, Mary and Carol were sitting on.

In space like that sofa, that’s just too close. The same was true of Izzy and Lenore. So we just didn’t go up on sofas much.

It’s hard to teach a dog a half jump, I think circus trainers probably know how to do it. With Fate, I held the leash in my right hand, tight, and said “Crawl Up Gentle” and patted the edge of the sofa, where I wanted her to go. Fate knows “gentle,” use it when handing her a biscuit, I’ve trained her not to lunge at it. To take it gently.

I did this five or six times in a row without people, and Fate got it right away. As I wrote on the blog the other day, Fate is the smartest dog I have ever had. Too smart to push sheep around all day, perhaps.

Alice asked me a couple of times if she could hug Fate.

She thought she was beautiful  and Fate was charming the room. So I stood in front of Alice to be safe, and Carol moved over. There was not enough room for a dog Red’s size, but plenty for skinny Fate.

Holding the leash, I asked Fate to “Crawl-Up Gentle, ” and moved my hand slowly in front of her. She seemed to know exactly what I wanted her to do. She was also lean enough and agile enough to do it easily. Athleticism matters in this therapy work, the dog has to get into some tight spaces.

So she crawled up until her head was level with Alice’s.

Instinctively, she avoided the two women and stopped, just getting her head high enough to be held and petted. But not trying to climb up farther. I was prepared to stop that, I was holding the leash.

But it wasn’t necessary. Fate’s rear paws were planted firmly on the ground so she was steady and comfortable in that position. She often looks out of a window that way.

So I’ll do some more trial exercises with her, but I think I finally have a therapy dog who can do the “Crawl Up.” Alice and a lot of other people will be very happy.