Future Pet Partners Therapy Dog Kai Makes Holiday Debut

Bellevue, WA, December 23, 2014 --(PR.com)-- Meet Kai, a handsome boy and a future Pet Partners therapy dog. Pet Partners will follow his growth on their Facebook page during his first year as he progresses toward becoming a Pet Partners therapy dog. It is appropriate to begin Kai's story on Christmas Day since his name is Norse for ‘Rejoice.’ Kai is a 12 week old Alaskan Malamute puppy and a brand new addition to Kim Criddle’s family in Flagstaff, Arizona. Kim is an experienced Pet Partners handler whose last therapy dog Mahlea unexpectedly passed away in August at a very young age. Although it was a devastating blow for the family and the community, Kim was determined to find another Malamute to fill the empty space in her heart. She chose a specific breeder because of her history of raising therapy dogs, and she chose Kai because of his super-sweet personality. She intends to train Kai for basic obedience and then take him through advanced classes at PetSmart. This is how she prepared Mahlea for therapy work. “That group experience is worth the fee in many ways!” said Kim. “It helps to socialize the dog to other dogs and to people. It also provides some great experience for the owners in working through distractions during training.” Today is Kai’s debut — follow along with Kim and Kai during his puppyhood along their journey to become a registered Pet Partners therapy animal team.

Pet Partners is the national leader in demonstrating and promoting positive human-animal therapy, activities and education. Nearly forty years since the organization’s inception, the science that proves these benefits has become indisputable. Today, Pet Partners is the nation’s largest and most prestigious nonprofit registering handlers of multiple species as volunteer teams providing Animal-Assisted Interactions.