By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Fonzie, a giant, gentle, white, fuzzy furball, asks to play, to go outside, and most importantly he can ask for treats.
Fonzie is a 3-year-old golden doodle therapy dog for Options Domestic and Sexual Violence Services.
He is owned and trained by Jennifer Hecker, Options executive director.
A co-worker gave Fonzie a Fleunt Pet set for Christmas, and over the last several months he has used the set to communicate with Hecker and others at Options.
Fonzie was part of litter of golden doodle puppies who were abandoned in Ellis County. He and his litter mates were taken in by the Humane Society of the High Plains.
Hecker was looking to replace her therapy dog, Sunny, who was getting older and ready for retirement, but she knew she had to find just the right dog for the job.
"Therapy dogs are incredible listeners," she said.
"In my experience working with.a therapy dog, people can say things to an animal they can't say to people," she said. "Animals are safe. They don't judge. They're not going to argue with you. They're not going to tell you that something is your fault or that you did something wrong.
"Animals are like our best furry secret keepers. We can download all of our thoughts and feelings into our pets. When people experience trauma, Fonzie is another tool," Hecker said.
Being able to talk about what happened is the first step for many in healing, she said.
Options also uses Fonzie to model communication skills for high school students who are learning about healthy relationships.
"I have learned a ton about the kind of healthy relationship you have to have to be able o communicate at the level we are starting to be able to communicate with one another," she said of Fonzie. "There's a high level of trust.
"I have to really pay attention," she said. "I really have to watch his body language."
Hecker has been keeping a journal of Fonzie's training. She said she has been surprised about what Fonize has been able to learn and how quickly he has been able to learn.
Fonzie has a soundboard at home and that board is duplicated at the Options office. Hecker can record a word for a button. When Fonzie pushes one of the buttons, the button says the word.
"He can tell us what he wants, but it turns out that he is a very wanty dog," Hecker said.
Fonzie's first word was outside. Hecker has since added treat, want, toy, play and skricthces, which are scratches or petting.
"My husband and I found ourselves having this very bizarre, existential conversation about what an animal might want to tell a human," she said, "so we could decide what words we were going to record."
Right before the publication of this story, Hecker added the words all done, love you and flingy ball. Flingy ball is a ball that can be thrown with a plastic handheld launcher.
Hecker said she modeled Fonzie's words.
"Any time he needed to go outside, we would model it by pushing the button and saying the word 'outside,' and then going outside, but you stay outside a lot," she said." 'It's hey, it's time to go outside. Would you like to go outside? Let's go outside. Yay, we're outside.' So you sound a little silly."
When Hecker added the words want and toy, he started making up his own words.
Fonzie had hit the treat button several times and been given several treats. Hecker decided he had enough treats and told him no more treats.
"He started pacing around the buttons," Hecker said. "He kind of chuffed at me and stomped his back feet because we still weren't giving him treats. He hit the outside button."
Hecker explained since Fonzie was a puppy, Fonize had been given a treat whenever he came in from going outside and going potty.
"We thought he wants to go outside, but then he gave himself away and ran straight to the treat jar," she said.
In another instance, Fonize was hitting the treat and toy buttons. Heckler thought he was just mad because she wasn't giving him any more treats.
"I noticed that he would hit them and just look at me," she said. "I could see there was some purpose and he was trying to tell me something. I was standing there asking him if he wanted a treat or a toy. ... I was scratching my head trying to figure out what he is trying to tell me."
She went to Fonzie's toy basket and her eyes fell on a red strawberry toy that you can fill with treats.
"I looked at my husband and said 'Surely not," she said."We've never named it, we just filled it up and handed it to him. I reached down and picked it up and he got wiggly and he was almost bouncing up and down. I said 'Is this want you want? Is this the treat toy?'
"I decided to test this. I walked over to the treat jar and he is on my tail, wiggling and slobbering, so ready for this treat toy."
A little later on, Fonize went to the soundboard and hit want.
He kept looking into the corner and hitting want.
Hecker looked and found that his treat toy had rolled underneath a piece of furniture. He wanted help getting it out, but they didn't have a button for help yet, she said.
Hecker said she hopes to upgrade Fonzie's word board and continue to add more words. The Options staff are keeping a list of other words Fonzie seems to understand including yes, no, park, hugs, come, stay, work and home.
Options is a non-profit organization serving domestic and sexual violence survivors across northwest Kansas. Donors can help Options, Fonzie and their mission by going to Options' website, donating by sending a check to or dropping it off in person at the Options office at 2716 Plaza Ave., Hays, KS 67601.