The gentle Chinook temperament is superbly suited to therapy work: giving unconditional love to people who are lonely, sad or ill. Singing Woods Siri began visiting institutions in the late eighties. My second Chinook, Dixieland Shageluk, carries too much fear to meet strangers easily. But WoodsRunner Crossing Alyeska excels at the job. And Karelia is our newest ambassador.

Margot Woods started a group called Phydeaux for Freedom, to train physical assist and hearing assist dogs. The group also visited nursing homes and hospitals with our personal dogs. So Siri was a therapy dog for several years before age slowed her down.

By six months of age, Alyeska passed the Fidos For Freedom (the spelling of the name was changed) therapy dog test. We regularly visited a nursing home for several years. Currently we spend ninety minutes once a month at the adolescent ward of a local mental hospital.

In addition, she is a Service (wheelchair) demonstration dog for Fidos For Freedom see http://www.fidosforfreedom.org. Most Fridays during the school year, she and I alongwith a host of people with various disAbilities, visit local elementary, middle and high schools with Howard County's DisAbility Awareness Program. Fidos' purpose is to educate children about what dogs can do for people. [Other participants explain other disAbilities to classrooms of pupils.] We usually use the gym with several classes attending at a time; we show what Fidos' hearing and service dogs do for their people and what our therapy dogs do.

Fidos For Freedom hearing and service clients usually present their dogs and the service tasks which make their lives easier. When no client can attend, I get in the wheelchair so Alyeska can demonstrate some of the jobs: heeling beside the chair, retrieving objects, and taking off my shoe.

Her other job is to make people laugh. Alyeska has many costumes. She dresses asa skeleton or a jailbird or an angel or a gentleman (in top hat and tails). She sometimes performs a few tricks: weave through my legs, retrieve scented objects, and wave at the crowd. We both enjoy bringing cheer to others.

At the end of each dAp program, we let the children pet the therapy dogs as they file out of the gym. Alyeska has been petted by thousands of children in the past six years. She was the first Chinook most local people had seen. She's no longer the only one.

Therapy work or going into nursing homes and hospitals with canine companions is rewarding work for which Chinooks are particularly well suited. This breed is affectionate with strangers but not too brazen or anxious. Getting Chinooks out in public in positive settings is an excellent way to educate the world about this fine breed.

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