Warm Hearts History
Why we do it
Creating social, physical and emotional benefits to a wide range of people through human-animal interactions. Benefits include physical touch and activity, social and mental engagement, nurturing, pleasure, empathy and more.
History
Warm Hearts Network (WHN) is a not-for-profit organization that started as an informal group of three women who worked at the Los Lunas Training School, a residential facility for adults with developmental disabilities. In 1989, these three - a psychologist (Beverly Babik), a librarian (Peg Fletcher), and a physical therapist (Jennifer Jarpe) - began bringing their well-mannered dogs to work with the residents. In 1990, when the national organization, Delta Society, created the Pet Partners program, these women joined the program, registered as Pet Partners teams with their dogs, and began to recruit additional members. Area groups created chapters of Delta Society Pet Partners, and the greater Albuquerque/Los Lunas/Belen chapter was called the Warm Hearts Network. At the time there appeared to be no differentiation between visiting dogs (animal assisted activity) and healthcare and human service professionals who asked their dogs to be part of formal treatment plans.
The new Delta program was not yet formalized, so the WHN founders served as instructors and evaluators of the teams who wanted to join. The testing of human and dog teams, like you, was done at the Training School with actual residents with disabilities, rather than role-playing volunteers. In 1992, Corrales dog trainer, Dani Weinberg, began teaching a special class for prospective Pet Partners teams. In 1998, the State of New Mexico closed the Training School, but by that time, Delta began offering training for Team Evaluators and Instructors.
Delta Society Pet Partners program became a leader in the field of human-animal health connection. Their program developed eligibility requirements, training of handlers, team testing procedures, registration policies and procedures, and limited liability insurance for volunteers who wanted to share their pets with other community members. Since that time, Delta Society has re-organized and formally removed the name ‘Delta Society’. The organization is now called Pet Partners. In 2010, Pet Partners added a policy with specific diet requirements for visiting teams, which excluded raw diets. This meant that if any dog ate any sort of raw component in their diet for any reason, the dog was no longer allowed to visit. As a direct result, in 2011, WHN members made the decision to leave Pet Partners. With the growth and changes, the WHN became its own legal organization in Fall of 2013. WHN has a working volunteer board of directors with experience in business, healthcare, disability, dog training and handling, animal assisted activities, animal assisted therapy, assistance dogs and more. Some of our board members have even published articles, journals, books and research!
Creating social, physical and emotional benefits to a wide range of people through human-animal interactions. Benefits include physical touch and activity, social and mental engagement, nurturing, pleasure, empathy and more.
History
Warm Hearts Network (WHN) is a not-for-profit organization that started as an informal group of three women who worked at the Los Lunas Training School, a residential facility for adults with developmental disabilities. In 1989, these three - a psychologist (Beverly Babik), a librarian (Peg Fletcher), and a physical therapist (Jennifer Jarpe) - began bringing their well-mannered dogs to work with the residents. In 1990, when the national organization, Delta Society, created the Pet Partners program, these women joined the program, registered as Pet Partners teams with their dogs, and began to recruit additional members. Area groups created chapters of Delta Society Pet Partners, and the greater Albuquerque/Los Lunas/Belen chapter was called the Warm Hearts Network. At the time there appeared to be no differentiation between visiting dogs (animal assisted activity) and healthcare and human service professionals who asked their dogs to be part of formal treatment plans.
The new Delta program was not yet formalized, so the WHN founders served as instructors and evaluators of the teams who wanted to join. The testing of human and dog teams, like you, was done at the Training School with actual residents with disabilities, rather than role-playing volunteers. In 1992, Corrales dog trainer, Dani Weinberg, began teaching a special class for prospective Pet Partners teams. In 1998, the State of New Mexico closed the Training School, but by that time, Delta began offering training for Team Evaluators and Instructors.
Delta Society Pet Partners program became a leader in the field of human-animal health connection. Their program developed eligibility requirements, training of handlers, team testing procedures, registration policies and procedures, and limited liability insurance for volunteers who wanted to share their pets with other community members. Since that time, Delta Society has re-organized and formally removed the name ‘Delta Society’. The organization is now called Pet Partners. In 2010, Pet Partners added a policy with specific diet requirements for visiting teams, which excluded raw diets. This meant that if any dog ate any sort of raw component in their diet for any reason, the dog was no longer allowed to visit. As a direct result, in 2011, WHN members made the decision to leave Pet Partners. With the growth and changes, the WHN became its own legal organization in Fall of 2013. WHN has a working volunteer board of directors with experience in business, healthcare, disability, dog training and handling, animal assisted activities, animal assisted therapy, assistance dogs and more. Some of our board members have even published articles, journals, books and research!