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Frequently Asked Questions about Rojo and
Animal-Assisted Therapy
Q: What made you decide to get your llamas certified for Animal-Assisted Therapy? A: We knew almost from when we first got Rojo that he was "different" from many other llamas we have met. After being involved with 4-H a number of years, and attending many fairs, shows, and parades where llamas are brought into very close contact with large crowds of people, Rojo just stood apart in his enjoyment of this interaction. Every time we took him out, he was almost immediately surrounded by people, especially children, wanting to pet him, asking questions about llamas, and telling us that he was the most beautiful, and gentle, llama they have ever seen! A few years ago, when we were at the fair, someone passing through our llama area suggested that we get Rojo "certified" as a "therapy animal". (I had thought about taking Rojo into adult-care facilities, and schools before, and had actually taken him to a couple of schools with our 4-H leader, but was concerned about insurance issues should we take him off the farm by ourselves. Certification, she told me, would allow us the freedom to take him just about anywhere, and we would be covered by the insurance DoveLewis provides for animals in their therapy program.) As I was considering this possibility, a few days later while we were still at the fair, a woman came by the llama area, pushing her sweet little boy in his wheelchair. The boy must have been around 7 or 8 years old, but he had no hands or feet, only the rounded ends of his little arms and legs sticking out of his t-shirt and shorts, and I could see his little bald head under his sideways baseball cap. I assured her that Rojo was totally safe for her son to pet, and so she pushed him right up, almost into, Rojo's chest hair. As that little guy twirled his arms into Rojo's fiber, his face lit up with a huge smile, and he shouted "Mama, I petted a llama! I petted a llama!" It was at that moment that I believe God placed in my heart a "calling" to share Rojo through Animal-Assisted Therapy. I realized that we had been given a special "gift" in Rojo, and now we needed to be responsible and obedient to share this special gift to bless the lives of many others. We had no idea at that point how incredibly exciting, and rewarding, this experience would be. Joining DoveLewis as Animal-Assisted Therapy Teams has been life-changing, and we look forward to how God will continue to use Rojo, and us, in the years to come!
Q: What did you have to do to get your llamas "certified"? The following week after we completed the classroom training, DoveLewis had a "lab" set up within their facility, where we brought Rojo and took him through different rooms which provided a variety of unusual environments to test his, and our, response. There were a number of DoveLewis staff and volunteers playing the part of people we might encounter during our visitations. Some had walkers, wheelchairs, or canes; some had funny hats, spoke very loud, acted disoriented, bumped Rojo from behind, dropped things close to him, brought dogs up to Rojo, hugged him extra long, and petted him clumsily. There was a small room set up like a hospital with noisy machines, and IV lines, with a person laying in bed that we had to walk Rojo in to visit, and back him back out without disturbing the equipment. Toward the end, we went into an area where a young child simulated the "Read to the Dogs Program" DoveLewis freely offers to schools- by that time, Rojo was a bit bored because the little girl was reading, and not petting him, so he decided to take a "potty-break"- thankfully he was wearing his "protective garment", and the floors were spared! The whole "lab" process lasted a little over an hour, and Rojo did fantastic! The final step was to take Rojo across town for our Final Team Evaluation, which took place in a "doggie daycare" facility. Evaluators for DoveLewis and Delta had us take Rojo through a series of tasks and situations to see how we would both respond. Because Shannon and I both wanted to be certified with Rojo, we each had to take him through separately, which was a bit challenging because Shannon took him through first, and then I had to wait a couple of hours for some dogs to be tested before I could take him through the second time. We took some hay and treats, and took him for walks in-between. Rojo was a bit more restless the second time through, but still did very well for me. We thought the final would be almost the same as the lab, but it was quite a bit different. The Final Evaluation was more controlled, and a score sheet was used to rate our performance on each task. Shannon and I were mainly rated on whether we were "proactive" and "smooth", or "reactive" and "stressed" during our interactions, and Rojo was rated on whether he was "relaxed" and "smooth", or "stressed" and "fearful" in each situation. They had us walk through a group of people with walkers and wheelchairs, pass off his lead to strangers, drop the lead and walk away for a few minutes, swirled scarves over and under his head, dropped things on the floor around him, surrounded him with people petting him all over and asking us questions, had us walk up to a dog with its owner, and let people feed him treats. We all scored very well- the only time Rojo reacted when I took him through was when he was surprised by a hanging windsock behind him that he hadn't noticed before, but he regained his composure quickly. The evaluators did a great job of being relaxed themselves around Rojo, even though they had never tested a llama before, and that really helped him do well throughout the process. After completing the evaluation, our pictures were taken with Rojo, which were made into DoveLewis badges that we attach to the yellow band that Rojo wears when we are representing DoveLewis in public.
A: The first year of our certification, we primarily focused on visiting senior communities and rehab facilities within the Portland/Vancouver area. The response, and need, for therapy use among seniors has been overwhelming. All of the facilities we have visited have been wonderful, caring, environments, and have welcomed us with open arms. Every time we take our animals to visit an assisted living community or rehab center, we are blessed more than the residents, as we observe the impact they are making to enrich so many lives. We have seen people that haven't verbalized or been responsive to other types of therapy treatments in months, attempting to speak, and trying to sit up and reach out to touch Rojo or Smokey; others that don't usually want to leave their rooms, eager to come out when they know they are there; tears of joy when we make in-room visits, bringing our llamas right into the "living rooms" and along the bedside, of those who are no longer able to walk to the main meeting room. The surprise and delight that Rojo and Smokey bring to these wonderful seniors has been rewarding beyond words! More recently, there seems to be an even greater need for Rojo's gifts within schools and facilities for at-risk and special-needs children, and for children with long-term medical needs. We will continue to do visits among seniors, but will be shifting our primary focus in order to help bring joy and hope for these children in the days, and years, to come.
A: Rojo and Smokey are involved in many local parades and various community events (check out our "Upcoming Events" page). As representatives of DoveLewis, we try to participate in as many fund raising, and public relations opportunities as possible that will bring attention to the many beneficial programs and services DoveLewis provides. We feel strongly about doing these types of events, as well as our adult-care and school visitations, as unpaid volunteers representing DoveLewis- we thoroughly enjoy being able to give back, and bring joy to our community through sharing our llamas. In the future, we would love to do more corporate picnics, birthday parties, and other private events that could provide a bit of income to offset the costs involved in our volunteer work. The price of gas and automotive care, as well as personal time involved, forces us to limit how many volunteer requests we can reasonably fill, and it is very difficult to have to say no because we just can't afford to take our llamas out more than three. or four, times each week. We believe that eventually, as they gain more exposure through these public events, more people will want to "rent" our llamas, and this will help us with our volunteer expenses.
A: During the summer months we are able to use a strong blower to remove the dust and larger pieces of debris, then we brush them with a wire brush designed for long-haired dogs, and shampoo them all over with Pantene Pro-V shampoo with conditioner. After rinsing thoroughly, we blow them again to remove as much water as possible, and let them air dry in the sun while they graze. After they are dry, we have to brush them again to remove any remaining pieces of hay, etc. I frequently use my "secret" grooming product, Anti-Static Spray, available by the laundry softener sheets at your local grocery store. The spray helps release those fine pieces of hay, makes the fiber really soft, and smells great too! My final grooming step is to scrub their toenails with a cleanser, and paint them with a black shiny horse hoof polish- then they're all ready to go! In the winter, we still blow and brush our llamas, but are unable to totally wet them down to the skin because it is too cold and they would likely get pneumonia. Instead, we spray them down with an animal "waterless" shampoo and rub out with a towel (kind of like spot-cleaning your carpet!). Our llamas love to be shampooed and massaged all over when we towel-dry them! We also keep our therapy guys penned in a covered, protected, area when it's wet, windy and cold, and let them into the pasture with our other llamas as the weather permits.
Q: Does your llama's hair grow that way, or do you cut it? A: I cut all of our llama's fiber once each year, as soon as the weather warms up in May, so they will look their best for the Portland Grand Floral Parade. In the past, I use to use my Fiskars sewing shears to trim all of our llama's mid-section in a "lion-cut" style, however, I finally decided to save up and purchase some electric shears to make life easier. Hand cutting takes about 1 1/2 hours per animal for the initial cut, and another hour or so trim later to even it out. Electric shears cut that time down to around 20-30 minutes per animal or less. Most of our llama's longer fiber has never been shorned because everyone loves their woolliness!
Q: What do you do with your llama's fiber that you cut each year? A: Llamas have wonderful fiber that can be spun into yarn, and used to make luxurious garments. Because we only shear our llama's mid-section once each year, it takes several years to get enough fiber to make into a sweater. I have a drum carder, and spinning wheel to process the fiber myself, however, we are also friends of "Fancy Fiber Farm", in Ridgefield, WA, which will be opening their fiber-processing mill in the very near future, so I'm looking forward to having them process much of our fiber. We also donate some of our llama fiber to a school we visit regularly, to be used by their children for craft projects. Many people also needle-felt, locker-hook, and do many other projects with their llama fiber.
Q: Do your llamas "spit"? A: Yes- all camelids spit! (Just as all dogs can bite, and all cats can scratch!) Our llamas very rarely spit at humans though, unless they really feel threatened, or are very stressed or tired. Spitting is a llama's way of defending itself, or of trying to dominate another llama, animal, or human. Our llamas might try to spit at me sometimes when I am grooming their legs with a fine wire-toothed brush, but that is because the little teeth tend to pull on the hairs around the sensitive areas of their body. I always try to be more gentle in brushing those areas, but because they kush (sit) on the ground regularly, that is an area that gets dirty, and needs to be cleaned before we go out. We train all of our llamas not to spit using a squirt bottle of water- when we see signs that they are preparing to spit (ears back, neck down, grunt noise from throat), we "spit" on them first with the water, and say "no", and this shows them that we are in charge. Occasionally, if necessary, we will use a "spit mask" over their nose and mouth if we have to do something that we know will particularly upset them and we don't want to have to change clothes- they don't like the smell, or taste, of their own spit either, so the mask can also help them learn not to spit. Teaching a llama to not spit at people is one of the most important lessons an owner needs to do. It greatly frustrates all of us who enjoy taking our llamas out into public settings, when we constantly have to reassure everyone that it is safe to come up and pet our llamas, but they are afraid because an nonsocialized llama has spat on them in the past. Therapy llamas have a higher tolerance of people, and their handler is very aware of their llama's limitations, (and protective of their reputation!) so don't ever be afraid to give them lots of hugs!
Q: Aren't you afraid that your llamas will make a mess if they have to go potty while you are indoors? A: That was one of my main concerns prior to getting certified with Rojo, so I decided to design a special "protective garment" that our llamas wear whenever we don't want to worry about this issue. During our regular visits, when we are able to take "potty-breaks" with our llamas every hour or so, they will wait to go out as they prefer to have a little privacy in our van when they go. The bag prevents them from soiling our van (even though it's lined with rubber), and also keeps them from stepping into their beans and tracking them back into the facility we are visiting. There are many times when we are doing special events, where our van is not convenient, or we can't take our llamas outside easily to go, and this is where the garment is especially helpful. Most people can't even tell that Rojo is wearing his garment because it hides under his bushy tail and hairy back legs, and he is almost always decorated, or wearing a little pack with his DoveLewis band, and no one even notices when he is actually going potty, except me! We just keep him still until he is finished, and when we can take a break, we go outside, empty the "bean bag", put in some new pads, and we're good to go again!
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