Counseling Dr. Scoggins uses a therapy dog to augment the treatment of clients. Ziva and Lucy are two of the sweetest dogs in the world, spending most of the time on their blanket in the office, yet, when called upon, they sit beside the clients and lay their heads in the laps showing unconditional love to those served. Ziva lays her head in the laps of people who are at our Center for sessions. Lucy is trained to respond to those with PTSD whose aniety is escalating by gently offering her paw to them and showing a peaceful, kind look to those whom she is assisting.
If you have allergies to dogs or otherwise prefer not to have a therapy dog in the counseling center when you are being served, simply let us know when scheduling your appointment or send a text to our appointment line 865-214-7584. (When we set your first appointment in the system, we usually ask if you have allergies or an aversion to dogs so we can make the appropriate arrangements for your session.)
When we adopted Ziva several years ago as a puppy, Dr. Scoggins said she had black hair and would be awesome when she grew up, so she decided to name her after Ziva David on NCIS, the Israeli Massad agent.She was top of her class in dog training school and is a perfect therapy dog.
When walking Ziva at Ijams Nature Park, another family was walking there and speaking in a language Dr. Scoggins did not recognize, so she asked where they were from. They said they were from Israel, so she asked what the name, "Ziva" means in Hebrew. They said it meant, "First ray of the new morning sun." What an appropriate name for a therapy dog! Needless to say, now you understand why her name complements that of her sister - our therapy dogs are the moon in the morning and the sun in the afternoon.
Ziva has an endless amount of love that she gives to clients that desire. She lays her head in their lap and clearly communicates to them that they are loved. If dogs are going to be in heaven (since the lion lays down with the lamb in heaven, there must be dogs there too, right?), Ziva definitely has a place waiting for her there. :)
As Ziva is aging, we sought a "colleague" who could serve at Counseling Connection several days per week to allow Ziva to ease into retirement. Lucy was named after Lucy Van Pelt from the Peanuts cartoons (the girl with black hair who was Charley Brown's friend who renamed a lemonaide stand into a "Psychiatric Questions Answered - The Doctor is in" stand. What a perfect name for our newest addition to our K-9 Assisted Therapy Team! (Surf the web for Lucy cartoons from Peanuts and you will see some funny clips that Charles Shultz drew with Lucy in her "professional" booth.)
Lucy is an AKC-registered Great Dane with an impressive lineage who is a registered Service Dog trained to treat those with PTSD whose aniety is escalating.
Lucy is a perfect addition to our team.She is incredibly sweet, very loving, attentive and eager to please. To answer the question that nearly everyone asks, no, you cannot bring Lucy home with you.
The most common phrase people say at the end of their sessions is actually the title of another beloved television show: "I Love Lucy." Similar to the star of that show who was quite clumsy, Lucy can be a bit clumsy herself. But she should grow out of that as she ages. We are certain you, too, will love Lucy ... Lucy the Therapy Dog.
