Meet Axl & Izzy, AKA the Grief Therapy Dood and Doodette, who serve as full-time, certified grief therapy dogs at Carter-Conley Funeral Home, right here in Houston! Do these names ring a bell? Maybe that’s because these two are both named after members of Guns N Roses. Although there are several others in Texas and throughout the country, Axl and Izzy are the only certified therapy dogs assisting full-time at a funeral home in Houston.
rapid fire q & a:
Q: tell us a little bit about axl & izzy and what led you to incorporate grief therapy dogs into your funeral services?
A: Axl and Izzy are both certified therapy dogs that work full time with us at Carter-Conley Funeral Home in Houston. We are happy to be the only funeral home in Houston with full time therapy dogs. After seeing a story about a funeral home in another state having a therapy dog, I began research in adding a therapy dog to our team. (best decision ever)
Q: how are therapy dogs different from service dogs, pet dogs or emotional support dogs?
A: Although often confused, there is a significant difference between therapy dogs, service dogs, emotional support and pet dogs. Therapy dogs undergo extensive training and socialization and serve the purpose of providing comfort and emotional support to the community as well as private groups (nursing homes, hospitals, schools, etc.). Therapy dogs are tested and certified by a therapy dog organization. Although allowed in many settings to provide comfort to many, therapy dogs are not granted access to everywhere that service dogs are. Service dogs also undergo extensive training, but more specifically on a single medical task for a single person. Service dogs perform or "work" as medical equipment to help a specific individual, not the public. Service dogs are allowed anywhere as the ADA allows. An emotional support dog requires no training, and is identified as an emotional support dog by a letter from an individual's doctor stating that the person emotionally needs the animal. Emotional support animals are only allowed in that specific individual's residence when normally they would not allow dogs. Pet dogs are any dog, but they also benefit from general obedience training and socialization.
Q: what does a typical day at the funeral home look like for axl & izzy?
A: Axl and Izzy are with us every day at our funeral home and assist with all of our daily activities including welcoming guests, comforting the families during the planning/arrangement meeting, they walk around and mingle, usually entertaining and bringing much needed smiles to the family members and friends of the deceased during services.
Q: what memorable breakthroughs have you seen along the way?
A: There have been so many heart-warming moments that we have experienced with Axl and Izzy. Many families have expressed to us how much they made the most difficult time a little easier, and how they seemed to just know when to come up to the people that are hurting the most and are able to comfort them. You can physically see the relieve and release on people's face and body language.
Q: when axl & izzy aren’t busy comforting hoomans, what do they enjoy doing in their free time?
A: Axl and Izzy stay pretty active in the Houston dog community. Almost every weekend is packed with fun dog friendly events, fundraisers and of course, the pawties!
Axl & Izzy taking a quick 5 from comforting hoomans at work.
Axl and Izzy, along with their parents and owners of Carter-Conley Funeral Home, Lisa and Brad Conley, also volunteer at nursing and senior living homes, medical facilities, community events, and other places where happiness is needed. Axl began his career at Carter-Conley Funeral Home at only two months old which involved traveling to work with his parents every day, socializing with people and beginning his training with a dog trainer, who was also a licensed mortician. Axl later received his certification as a therapy dog and continues to comfort families at Carter-Conley Funeral home at a time when they need it most.
In comes Izzy… Izzy was adopted from a family after Brad and Lisa responded to a re-homing request. After meeting her, they just couldn’t resist that little black fluff ball and decided to add another therapy dood to the pack. Axl and Izzy have become best buds and it is obvious that Izzy looks up to her big brother; he is the best role model. Izzy began training to be a therapy dog immediately and she joined Axl and their parents at the funeral home every day. Izzy responded well to interacting with people and being comfortable with the unique scenarios and equipment that is encountered at the funeral home and places that they visit. Once her parents felt confident that she could meet all of the requirements of the therapy dog certification, Izzy went through the testing process. Following in big brother Axl’s pawprints, Izzy is now a certified therapy dog.
Axl and Izzy have their own scheduled therapy visits where they are happily welcomed by the residents and staff every week at a local retirement home, along with their regular therapy visits at a local rehabilitation facility, and of course they both work every day at their full-time jobs at Carter-Conley Funeral Home. Axl and Izzy are always on the move and are happy to ride along with us wherever we go! They are with us every day at our funeral home and assist with all of our daily activities including welcoming guests, comforting the families during the planning/arrangement meeting, they walk around and mingle, usually entertaining and bringing much needed smiles to the family members and friends of the deceased during services. It's fun to watch the joy and comfort that they truly bring to people. Not only do they bring happiness to the families that we serve, but our employees enjoy having them around, as well. Having therapy dogs Axl, and now Izzy, at our funeral home has been a wonderful and unique form of support and an invaluable addition to our lives and the lives of the families that we serve- Lisa and Brad Conley.
More fun facts: We thought that both Axl and Izzy were GoldenDOODles and that is how we came up with Axl’s title, Grief Therapy Dood and Izzy, Grief Therapy Doodette. After having Izzy in our family for a couple of years, we did a health and DNA test on them, and found out that Izzy is actually 100% Standard Poodle. Although she’s now sporting a poodle-cut and living her best poodle life, she still remains the Grief Therapy Doodette.
Follow their adventures on Facebook and Instagram- Axl & Izzy, Certified Grief Therapy Dood & Doodette @grieftherapydood