Student hosts Pet Therapy Day at Chehaw

ALBANY — Tandria Burke, a Dougherty County 4-H club member and Westover High School sophomore, saw the pet therapy event she organized play out on Wednesday.

Speakers outside the screened-in pavilion at Chehaw park played upbeat music for the attendees, children played games and danced outside, and all had the chance to interact with cats and dogs from the Albany Humane Society shelter.

Lily Pad Inc., a center that consists of five different organizations focusing on child abuse and care, and Liberty House of Albany, another nonprofit that provides resources for domestic violence survivors to help them become self-sufficient, brought many of the participants. Along with those agencies, some parents brought their children to the communitywide event.

One of those parents was Jackie Smith. One of her children, Christiana, participated in pet therapy.

“I felt that it was a great event; I honestly enjoyed it,” Christiana said. “There’s no dislikes about it because I got to see a lot of people and interact with a lot of animals, so it was really fun.”

There was no shortage of activities for the children. Inside the pavilion, attendees could have lunch, make dog treats, and craft dog toys out of available T-shirts.

Jazmin Thomas, a 4-H youth agent for the Dougherty County Extension Office, said no obstacles got in the way of pet therapy day’s approval.

“Getting Chehaw [park] was perfect, and it being on a Wednesday made it easier,” Thomas said. “Working with the Albany Humane Society was extremely easy. Everything just fell into place.”

Asked if the event turned out how she envisioned it, Burke said, “More people came out than [I] expected, which is a great thing. Everything went as planned.”

Burke said she hopes to see pet therapy catch on at other schools and in different counties.

“With all the publicity that it’s been getting, I hope someone can extend pet therapy,” she said. “Not just me, but other people.”

Thomas said she already has some ideas on how to improve Burke’s Pet Therapy Day in the future.

“We would love to have other organizations come out,” Thomas said. “[Such as] any organizations that work with children who have disabilities, other nonprofits, [or] adults with disabilities. If this could be an event that several organizations would get together and do, I think it’d be a beautiful thing.”