Paw-sitive vibes: Train therapy dog helps anxious passengers

By Jack Fifield

Britain's first therapy dog to work for a rail company has started supporting train passengers on their journeys.

Six-year-old German Shepherd Nya is a certified therapy dog who volunteers for the nationalized train company TransPennine Express.

Owner and former police officer of 20 years, Stephen O’Callaghan, 43, who carries out his therapy dog work on a voluntary basis alongside his work for the company as its safeguarding and crime prevention lead, says Nya has been putting smiles on peoples’ faces.

Nya works with passengers experiencing anxiety to help reduce stress as they travel.

She’s gone across the country to places including Sheffield, Hull, Manchester Airport, and Cleethorpes to interact with passengers as well as stressed train guards and drivers.

Stephen said: “The feedback I’ve got is really good, from passengers and staff, it’s been really positive. It just puts a smile on people’s faces.

“Because she’s a German Shepherd, it really helps break the mould of that breed – she’s quite an intimidating looking dog, but she’s so friendly, she’s a very striking looking dog but really, really friendly with people. She really helps people.

“We were on the concourse at Sheffield, and we were just engaging with the public, people will come up, stroke her, they get talking and they open up.

“They might disclose certain things to you and they open up, I can always help signpost people. The main thing is it’s a conversation starter for people.

“There was a woman suffering badly with anxiety at Cleethorpes who approached me and she said she was having a really tough day, and this has really helped make her day, helped break that chain of negative thoughts.

“She was rolling around on the floor with her, she was besotted with her. It’s things like that where you can genuinely see how they make a difference.

“They help reduce stress and anxiety, help improve mood, and help with social interaction.”

Nya was registered with Pets as Therapy, a national charity, just before Christmas last year.

The organization ensures that animals have a calm temper and can cope with sudden movements and do not bark.

Dogs must be able to walk on a relaxed lead, without excessive pulling, and have to accept being patted. They must also take food gently without snatching and not jump up or lick people.

Food-mad Nya, who loves treats, will often sniff in people’s pockets before sitting down in front of them.

As well as proving a reliable therapy dog, Nya can also do a few tricks.

Stephen said: “There’s quite a few funny tricks I can do with her. She can walk between my legs on command, for as long as I wanted to, if I run she’ll run and if I stop she’ll sit down.

“I’m 6’2”, it’s quite funny – I’ve trained her to do it to keep her out of the way if there’s dogs or kids or anything in the park.”

Now, other train companies are looking in to bringing in their own therapy dogs, thanks to Nya’s success.

Northern, another nationalized train operator, has expressed interest to Stephen.

He said: “Anything we introduce is great, but anything we can do with dogs is even better. I just want to see more of this on the network.”