Chinny Krishna, cofounder and chairman, Blue Cross of India shares how pet therapy programme came into being.
The Blue Cross of India (BCI) was the first animal welfare organisation in post-independent India which cared for all animals. Initially formed as an informal group in 1959, it was formally registered in 1964.
Among its many activities is an active humane education programme which it has been implementing since its founding. Since 1996, in association with the Saraswathi Kendra Centre for special children, it has been running an animal-assisted therapy programme. Starting with just one dog – a dachshund puppy named Sachin — it was a very successful programme and was most helpful for children on the spectrum. A year after it was started, a seven-year-old child who had been totally non-communicative for years turned to Sachin and spoke. His first words were: “I had upma for breakfast.
What did you have?
After this breakthrough, more time was spent on the pet therapy programme. Initially, we had five dogs on the programme. These carefully assessed dogs were also used in orphanages and old age homes but we could not expand since one of the conditions was that the “owner” had to be present, since only that person would be able to really gauge the mood of the dog if it had an off-day. We were acutely aware that if even one dog growled or even looked angrily at one child, the whole programme with children was literally down the drain since no parent would trust the dog any more.
The therapy programmes with adults and at orphanages were not that difficult. Most of the dogs used in our programme were either Labradors or Golden Retrievers since these were usually great family dogs and most friendly but we had one Indie called Jumble. Blue Cross had rescued Jumble from a storm water drain in an industrial complex. He was a super-friendly dog and became an integral part of our pet therapy programme for special children.
In 2001, the author had attended the first Asia for Animals Conference at Manila in the Philippines. At the closing ceremony on day three of the Conference, the organisers of the meet threw open the doors of the hall and in trooped over a dozen beautiful dogs which were walked down and interacted with the attendees. Upon enquiring, I was told that these dogs were part of the pet therapy programme run by the Philippines Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) and that the programme itself was part of an initiative of Animals Asia Foundation (AAF) of Hong Kong.
I met with the founder and chief of AAF – Dr Jill Robinson — a remarkable person whose main programme was to rescue Moon Bears used to extract bile, which was used in Chinese Traditional Medicine. I told Dr Robinson about the Blue Cross’ pet therapy programme and asked how we could use more Indies in our programme and thus raise the public perception of Indies. Dr Jill Robinson immediately offered to pay a visit to Madras as Chennai was then called and help us in assessing dogs for induction in our programme and followed this up by flying down two weeks later. Eight dogs already in our programme were reassessed and found eligible. A further 12 were assessed, of which only three were found suitable after subjecting them to a series of tests, the final one being a stranger taking away a treat from the dog’s mouth! Jill Robinson and her friend from AAF were finally introduced to Jumble and I will never forget Jill’s assessment: “Jumble is not just a Dr Dog – she is a Dr Super Dog!”
The Blue Cross of India became a part of AAF’s worldwide Dr Dog programme and continued this association for the next 20 years. In 2021, AAF asked all its Dr Dog programme partners to not use their logo and each organisation called the programme after their name – we then began calling our initiative the Blue Cross Dr Dog Programme. Today, 30 years after it was started, the programme continues but at present we have only two dogs in the programme, Dr Balu (an Indie) and Dr Rinku (a Labrador).
One of the most special moments of the Dr Dog programme was when we approached Dr Sunithi Solomon in 1992 to have a programme in the Voluntary Health Services’ AIDS ward for children. Dr Sunithi was the person who identified and recorded the first case of AIDS in India. Dr Sunithi’s outburst when the Dr Dog programme was mentioned was a classic: “The children here are all immune deficient. Do you really think we would allow a dog in here?” And a week later, she called up the co-ordinator of our programme and said: “My staff here are greatly stressed. Would it be possible to have a pet therapy programme for them?” We agreed but a couple of months later, she got a beautiful dog of her own which we assessed and found suitable. Dr Lara spent the next few years at Dr Sunithi’s ward, enriching the lives of both her staff and her patients.
