Local woman and her therapy dog bring support

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What do motorcycles and therapy animals have in common? They both hold a special place in this Pickerington resident’s heart.

Debbie Wilson has called Pickerington home since she and her husband, Wally, and their children, Kyle (23) and Heather (24), moved from Reynoldsburg in 1997. She works in sales, accounting and marketing at the family’s motorcycle dealership, Wheelsports Inc., but above all else, she is an animal lover.

Wilson grew up in a motorcycle-centric family and has spent the majority of her life around the sport, riding dirt bikes and eventually obtaining her street bike license. She even met her husband at a racing event.

“I thought, ‘Ah, I can do that. I like doing that kind of stuff,’” Wilson says

Though they may have two biological children, Wilson is also a mother to three four-legged children: golden retriever Reese and tuxedo cats Piggy and Minnie.

“Way back when (in 2008), I started (working with animals) with 4-H,” says Wilson. “My daughter was in 4-H and she showed our old dog (Sheba). … At the end of her career, they came up with a program called Pickerington PetPALS.”

Wilson was excited to play a bigger role in the club and help bring emotional support to the community through her passion for animals and, eventually, training.

“I thought, ‘Ah, I can do that. I like doing that kind of stuff,’” Wilson says. “So I became certified and became an adviser … and started taking the kids (and their dogs) to the nursing home.”

The PALS in the club’s name stands for People and Animals Linking Successfully. The 4-H club, headed by co-advisers Wilson and Jenn Newell, works to connect Pickerington’s youth and their certified therapy pets with seniors and other members of the community to bring emotional support.

Every pet that participates in the club must pass either a Canine Good Citizen (CGC) test, an American Kennel Club (AKC) title or a Socialized PetPALS test (for pets other than dogs) before being able to participate in 4-H events or visits to local nursing homes, assisted living centers, hospitals and elementary schools.

“I got her at 8 months old. She was being trained to be a service dog, (but) didn’t make the program, so I adopted her,” says Wilson. “Within 10 months, she already had (passed) her CGC test to become a therapy dog.

In 2008, Wilson began taking her children and their pets on monthly visits to Pickerington Nursing and Rehab with the PetPALS. Inspired by her mother’s passion for animals, Heather began fostering a dog named Gracie in 2010 through the Pilot Dogs organization. Wilson helped her daughter through her first fostering experience, and when it was time to give Gracie back, Wilson knew she needed a furry friend of her own.

In 2011, three years after joining and advising the PetPALS club, Wilson adopted Reese from Circle Tail, a training facility near Cincinnati that trains service and hearing dogs for people with disabilities at no cost to the individual.

“I got her at 8 months old. She was being trained to be a service dog, (but) didn’t make the program, so I adopted her,” says Wilson. “Within 10 months, she already had (passed) her CGC test to become a therapy dog. We took some training, additionally, which she passed with flying colors, and then I started taking her on visits by myself and with my kids. That’s basically how we started working with our therapy dog.”

Wilson and Heather began fostering dogs in 2014 through a program called 4 Paws for Ability. The Xenia-based organization trains service dogs for children with seizures, diabetes, autism and other disabilities. That same year, Wilson and the PetPALS added Amber Park Assisted Living and Wesley Ridge Nursing and Rehab to their monthly circuit, as well as weekly visits to Pickerington Elementary School.

This year, Reese celebrated her 200th visit to Pickerington Elementary, where she sits with the kids and gives them the emotional support and confidence to read aloud to the class.

“We are socializing them so that by the time they are old enough to go to formal training, they’ve been exposed to hundreds of people and settings" - Wilson

Though therapy dogs such as Reese serve a different purpose than service dogs, both require extensive training. Therapy dogs provide psychological or physiological therapy to many individuals other than their handlers. Unlike with service dogs, interaction is encouraged while these dogs are on duty.

“During the (early years of) training, we encourage people to pet them. The fosters during that period (with 4 Paws for Ability) are not training them to be service dogs,” says Wilson. “We are socializing them so that by the time they are old enough to go to formal training, they’ve been exposed to hundreds of people and settings. When they go to advanced training, a facility doesn’t have time to expose them to everything like that.”

Emotional support dogs are not required to go through any training. They simply provide support to their handlers through companionship.   

Wilson continues to work with PetPALS, taking the club on weekly visits to the elementary school and monthly visits to the various senior facilities in the community. In 2016, it added senior housing in Pickfair Square to its list of monthly visits. Though Wilson still fosters with 4 Paws for Ability, she now serves as more of a babysitter, taking care of dogs in the program when their foster families go on vacation.

Outside of their therapy dog work, Debbie and Reese compete in agility and trick training. Now in her third year of competitive agility and trick training, Reese just earned one of the highest-level awards in agility: the C-ATCH. The AKC also recognized Reese with novice, intermediate and advanced trick training certifications, leaving only the expert certification unattained.

“She does all the tricks to qualify (for the expert certification),” Wilson says. “I just haven’t taken her to get the last test.”

Wilson and Reese have no intention of slowing down any time soon. In fact, Wilson says the two have recently added dog parkour to their list of regular activities.

“When Reese and I go out hiking, we do the things together,” Wilson says. “It’s climbing up on trees and walking planks, and then they also go to playgrounds.”

Jenny Wise is an assistant editor. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.

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