Teresa Huffman has lived at Sequim Health & Rehabilitation for five years now, but she still misses her dog Hank, a black lab retriever mix.
“He’s so great,” Huffman said of her beloved pet as she sat in a wheelchair near the fireplace at the skilled nursing facility.
Hank is living with Huffman’s son, and sometimes he brings the dog to visit her. She loves being able to spend time with the canine she can no longer care for.
Huffman said it “means so much” when dogs are brought to Sequim Health & Rehabilitation. Staff members sometimes bring their own pets and occasionally volunteers bring them, but now there is an actual certified therapy dog at the facility: Jazmine, a Miniature Schnauzer owned by staffer Lyndon Crabtree.
Both Crabtree and Jazmine recently received Animal-Assisted Intervention Professional (C-AAIP) certification. The designation is awarded by the Association of Animal-Assisted Intervention Professionals. It allows Crabtree to integrate animal-assisted therapy into his professional work with residents.
For Huffman and many of the facility’s residents, the affectionate, energetic dog is a source of joy.
Speaking broadly, Crabtree said that animals used in therapy aren’t just dogs. Sometimes rabbits and miniature horses fill the role.
“They use them mostly, to start with, to help calm the resident or patient,” he said. “So, if they have a lot of anxiety, you know, taking their medication or (doing) daily activities, we bring the animals in to help calm them down so that they can perform the necessary tasks that they need (to do).”
On a recent weekday, Jazmine and Hera, a small pooch brought in by staffer Cassidy Hickcox, excitedly jumped for treats held high by Crabtree while Huffman enjoyed the scene.
“She’s like this for about the first hour that I bring her in because she wants to go see everybody and be in every room,” Crabtree said of Jazmine’s initial hyperactivity. “And then after we walk around the building for a little bit, she calms down and then she can perform her tasks a little bit easier.”
Caldera Care, which owns Sequim Health & Rehabilitation as well as other facilities in Washington, started the program in February of last year in partnership with Pet Partners and AAIP. Crabtree said the corporation sent out an email in late 2023 asking if any employees would be interested in enrolling themselves and their dogs in a pilot program and completing the necessary steps to become certified pet therapists.
Crabtree, who has worked at Sequim Health & Rehabilitation for three years, said he thought it was “a great idea” because he and Jazmine live only a few blocks from the facility and many residents who had to leave their pets behind when they moved there miss them a great deal.
Jazmine, 3 1/2, and Crabtree became certified in December after their coursework had been completed and an evaluator from Kitsap Animal Rescue & Education (K.A.R.E.) came to observe the pair as they interacted with residents.
“Jazmine and I are walking through the building, interacting with residents and staff and everything like that,” Crabtree said of the day the evaluator came. “And the evaluator, she was just shadowing us and that was about two hours that she did that, but about every 30 minutes, we would go and find a quiet spot, and then sit down and talk about what she was looking for and what she noticed and things like that… Jazmine performed really, really well.”
He said that although staff sometimes bring their dogs to work with them and volunteers occasionally bring dogs that were certified through a different therapy program, Jazmine is the only dog there that is certified with Caldera and put on a work schedule.
“It does calm you down when you see that dog,” Huffman said of Jazmine. “It just kind of makes your day.”
Crabtree is retired from the U.S. Air Force and is a retired electrician. He said that he “got tired of working and living over in Seattle” and moved to the Peninsula. He wanted something to do once he arrived in Sequim, so he took a job at Sequim Health & Rehabilitation.
He said he obtained Jazmine from a breeder.
“If you’re not a dog person, she’s going to go out of her way to try to convince you to be a dog person,” he said. “She just has that personality.”
Crabtree said that 15 Caldera employees signed themselves and their pets up for the program. Last he knew, six had been certified.
“Jazmine and I,” he said with pride, “are the only pair on the Peninsula.”