Volunteer of the Month: Robin Kaufman, Founder of 4 Paws of Love

By Mimi Pollack

SAN DIEGO — Poodles are known for being smart and easily trained dogs, but what makes them even better as therapy dogs is the fact that they don’t shed and leave fur everywhere. These are some of the reasons which motivated Robin Kaufman, this month’s volunteer, to start the group, 4 Paws of Love. This is her way of giving back to the community.

4 Paws of Love is a non-profit that takes trained and personable poodles to visit senior residences, memory care facilities, and any place where the residents can benefit from seeing, petting, and talking to a loving poodle. Having observed them in action, I found that the dogs really had a sense of purpose and knew what they were doing. Each dog was led by an expert dog handler, working with this volunteer group.

Wanting to know more, I asked Kaufman the following questions.

When did you begin 4 Paws of Love and how did you get started? What inspired you?

4 Paws of Love was officially started in August of 2018. I started doing pet therapy visits on my own with one of my standard poodles 24 years ago. A friend had asked if I could substitute for her at one of the local facilities as her dog was going through medical treatments. I did this for two years. I then realized it would be best to become involved with a pet therapy organization to not only meet other people with the same interest, but to be covered under their insurance when I did my volunteer visits. I joined a local pet therapy organization and wound up being the chapter leader for 10 years. I then became interested in doing visits at the USO located at the San Diego airport. There is only one organization the San Diego airport allows for such visits, so I moved on to that organization for three years.

During all those years, the one thing I always noticed was that there would always be a lot of fur left behind after a visit from all the other dogs. The fur would be on the people, on the floor, on their beds, etc. Since I was already the founder of the San Diego Standard Poodle Social Club – which I founded in 2000 after getting my first standard poodle – I thought it would be great to establish an all-poodle pet therapy organization. That way, the only thing we would leave behind after a visit were smiles on everyone’s faces. You see, poodles have hair, like humans, so they don’t shed.

Tell me a little about what you do. What would you like readers to know?

As far back as I can remember, my mother, Eileen Kaufman, not only worked full time in our family business, but she also made time to volunteer. When we moved to San Diego, she helped establish our congregation, Temple Adat Shalom, and was the financial secretary for the first nine years. She also volunteered in the congregation’s library. She has been a volunteer on the Rancho Bernardo Community Council since 2012, not only chairing one of the most complicated committees most of those years, but she also established and chaired an ad hoc committee that would collect new/gently used sporting goods that would then be distributed to children whose families couldn’t afford the equipment. So, when you ask me to tell you a little about myself, your readers need to understand that while I work, I also devote a tremendous amount of my time to various volunteer organizations in our community…following in my 92-year-old mother’s footsteps!

I have a master’s degree in speech therapy, but after just a few years, I moved on to being the office manager for our family business, EK Associates. As a volunteer, I have been the president of the Rancho Bernardo Community Council 22 out of the 26 years I have been a member. I have tried numerous times to pass the torch. … I have been involved with our community’s Planning Board since 1999, serving as secretary for a few years, vice chair for a few years and now chair for the last four years….

While I thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to give back to the community, I derive the most pleasure from doing pet therapy visits. The biggest gratification is when we go to the various memory care areas. Their faces truly light up. Our visits spark memories of years past when they had pets.

 Did you start with one special dog?

All my dogs, past and present have been rescued/adopted. However, all my pet therapy animals have been standard poodles. I started pet therapy with my very first standard poodle that I adopted as an adult. Wyatt and I would do visits at a health care center every Sunday morning. He became quite popular. Over the years, nine of my standard poodles were trained as pet therapy animals. I presently have two standard poodles that are fully certified pet therapy animals with 4 Paws of Love, Spencer and Logan.  I am going through the training process with a 10th one. In addition, Logan actually has two handlers. Logan is the poodle I adopted for my mother after her last one passed away. Laurie, a volunteer handler, did not have a poodle, but wanted to be involved in the program. …

 If a Poodle owner wants to sign up, what do they need to do? Can dogs be Poodle mixes?

While we have prided ourselves on being an all-poodle (all sizes) pet therapy organization, we recently began accepting poodle mixes as long as they do not shed. The animal must have a calm, easy-going, temperament, and enjoy interacting with people without jumping up on them or licking them.

The first step in going through the training process with 4 Paws of Love is to have the poodle pass the Canine Good Citizenship (CGC) test. It is a 10-part exam given by a trained/qualified CGC evaluator. Once the poodle passes the CGC, we have the handler do an observation visit with us. This affords the individual an opportunity to see some of our teams in action, see how the poodle and volunteers interact, what is expected of the poodle and so on. If the person still feels they want to go through the process of becoming a pet therapy team with us, they go through an orientation and then we schedule a minimum of 10 supervised training visits. They learn the ins and outs of what to do on visits and obtain immediate feedback from the individual supervising them. People can visit our FB page, which shows photos of most of our weekly visits: https://www.facebook.com/4PawsofLoveTherapy

 I think your way of practicing Tikkun Olam in the world is by bringing joy to others with your dogs. Is there one example you would like to mention?

Many years ago, I was visiting a woman who was in the health care center obtaining rehab due to a stroke. She had no family or friends who visited her. The occupational therapist and speech therapist had mentioned she hadn’t spoken a word since coming to the center. My poodle and I would spend some extra time with her as I had been informed she was an animal lover. She would look lovingly at my poodle, pet him with her good hand, and listen to me tell stories of what he did throughout the week.

During one of our visits, the PT had walked in to get ready for her exercise. I was preparing to say my good-byes when she said “Wait, not done petting him yet.” The PT and I just looked at each other and smiled from ear to ear.

There are many other similar situations during visits, but that one has always stayed with me.

I must say that all our dedicated volunteers have brought such joy to those they visit. We are all in agreement that we don’t know who gets more out of our visits – the people we visit or us.

I also want to mention that almost all our dedicated volunteers work full or part time. Almost all have families. Yet, they all dedicate time out of their busy lives to bring comfort and joy to those they visit, 4 Paws of Love at a time.

I know you have a fundraiser coming up in June. Any information you would like to convey?

A little about our upcoming fun-raiser/fundraiser: We do not charge for our visits. Therefore, in order to pay for various expenses to keep the organization running, we hold an annual fun-raiser called Poodle Palooza Extravaganza. While only poodles (of all sizes) can participate in the various contests, any well-behaved dog and their human (or just humans without dogs) can attend the event, enjoy the entertainment, visit the vendors, take a chance on obtaining any of the opportunity drawing/silent auction items and even register for CGC testing.

SATURDAY, June 7: The Main event which includes 25+ vendors, the poodle parade, contests, demonstrations, CGC testing opportunity, games with the poodles and their humans, opportunity drawing items and silent auction items. You can also pre-order a yummy, boxed lunch.

SATURDAY EVENING, June 7: Yappy hour and entertainment! Great prizes, lots of appetizers, desserts and drinks. Special treats for the pups!

All proceeds will be benefiting 4 Paws of Love pet therapy organization.

Poodles and their humans interested in registering for the event need to complete the following form: https://forms.gle/daZpWPL7Cok5s8U96 . The first 50 who register are guaranteed a goody/bling bag.

Anyone interested in being a vendor can complete the following registration form: https://forms.gle/BPxCWrajZC2WMfXZ7

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Mimi Pollack is a freelance writer based in La Mesa, California.