Thera-Pets is an animal assisted visitation program of Butternut Ridge Farm. It is sponsored by both the Morrisonville Methodist Church, Morrisonville, NY and the Mount Moriah Presbyterian Church in Port Henry, NY. Tax deductible contributions may be made to either of these organizations. Miniature donkeys have been trained to be calm and accept whatever comes their way. They are introduced to distractions, such as sudden noise, a person yelling, dis dropping and so forth. While we try to avoid handing food to them, that is difficult to adhere to 100% of the time. Therefore, we bring carrots cut in half and there seems to be enough distance from finger to front teeth that so far we have avoided "the bite" issue. We do, however, warn staff and patient alike that getting a bite is a possibility and that it will not come from anger or protection as with a dog, but rather from the eagerness to get to the treat. The question always arises, "what if the donkey.........?" My usual response to nursing homes is, "if my donkey can put anything on your floor that has not been there before, I will gladly keep her outside" That usually produces a laugh and an open door. We show the activity director our "poop" kit & try to impress with rubber gloves, Lysol, Clorox Spray plastic bags etc. We also bring a plastic bag lined waste paper basket to catch if that is called for. Donkeys urinate about once every 6 to 7 hours so that is a pretty safe per centage, pooping is another statistic entirely. However, with 4 years of experience and over 500 hours of visitation we have only twice have anything hit the floor. Once was a yearling gelding on a training trip and he gave us all ample notice which we either ignored or misinterpreted. We have started donkeys most of the time and would be glad to train your donkey for a small fee and even smaller maintenance fee. Purchasing a well trained donkey makes even better sense if we have one.