When he was a boy, Ralph Steger would walk a number of dogs in his neighborhood for free. Neighbors would ask how much money he charged, but he’d just say he loved dogs and wanted to spend time with them any way he could.
Sometimes his neighbors would give him fruit from their trees or vegetables from their gardens as payment, but, regardless, Steger always felt like the winner.
“I come from a poor family, and we couldn’t afford dogs or any kind of animals,” Steger said in a recent interview. “I’d see the neighbors walking their dogs, and I’d go up to them, pet their dogs, talk to them. I’d say, ‘Hey, if you ever need any help walking the dogs, I can help.’”
Of course, when he became an adult and got paying jobs, he became a dog owner for life.
Steger, a longtime Canyon Country resident, has had his current dog, Ras, since she was a year old. She’ll be 11 years old in June.
Before that, he had another dog named Summer for about 15 years. Both dogs were therapy animals. Summer was Steger’s first.
Summer was a smart dog right out of the gate, Steger said, but he still wanted to give her some training. He and Summer did a few lessons, and at a certain point, Steger felt she was good to go.
“I told the trainer, I says, ‘She’s gone as far as I want to go,’” Steger said. “And she (the trainer) says, ‘I’ll make you a deal. I’ll give you free classes. I want you to come at least twice a week, and they’re totally free.’ So, I looked at her, and I says, ‘OK, what’s in it for you?’ She says, ‘Well, if you ever noticed, every class that you were in was always full.’”
The trainer told Steger that the classes filled up when Summer was there because people noticed their dogs would learn more when there was a dog they could follow. That dog they followed was Summer. Steger compared the phenomenon to how kids learn from other kids. He said the trainer got more clients because of Summer being there, so, it was in her best interest to keep Summer around.
After Steger and Summer spent some time doing that, the trainer asked Steger if he’d ever thought about taking his dog for pet therapy training. Steger hadn’t. But the trainer talked him into bringing his dog in for an evaluation, to see if she and the trainer’s dog would qualify.
“The lady runs us through the bases,” Steger said, “and when she gets done, she sits down, she’s writing a bunch of stuff. The trainer asks her, ‘Well, how’d we do?’ She says, ‘Well, I’ve got good news and bad news.’”
Steger and his trainer asked for the bad news first. The bad news: the trainer’s dog didn’t make it. The good news: Summer did.
And that’s how Steger got into pet therapy. Over the years, he and his animals have gone into hospitals and hospice care facilities to work with patients; they’ve helped children practice their reading skills at libraries, residents at retirement centers, and they’ve gone to College of the Canyons to help students de-stress during midterms and finals.
He said he had many stories about how pet therapy has assisted others and changed their lives, stories that have kept him doing the work for a quarter of a century. He spoke about one particular child he helped some years back. This girl had struggled with reading. But when this girl was with Summer, who was Steger’s dog at the time, she could focus.
Steger had given the girl a card that had Summer’s picture on it. The girl took that card home and, according to the girl’s mother, stood it up on her nightstand in her room, and she read to the dog on the card regularly until her reading improved.
“Then, I was in Walmart one day,” Steger said, “and there’s a lady who says, ‘Excuse me.’ I turned around, and there was a couple there, and I looked at her. I don’t forget a face. She says, ‘Do you remember my daughter?’ And she mentioned the name. And I said, ‘Oh, you’re the one who had the girl that had a hard time.’ ‘Yeah.’ I supposed that she finished college. I says, ‘How’s she doing?’ ‘Well, you’ll never guess where she’s working.’ I says, ‘Where’s that?’ ‘JPL.’”
Steger said he couldn’t believe that this girl, who had such trouble reading, would go on to work at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Steger shared other stories about hospital patients who wouldn’t move or speak until he came in with one of his therapy dogs.
“Everybody that’s been in it will have one of those moments,” he said. “Sometimes it takes a year or two. Sometimes it happens right away. But it hooks them, and then they’re stuck in it forever.”
Having worked a career in aerospace, Steger retired a little over 20 years ago. He’s done pet therapy consistently. He said that he and his current dog, Ras, recently hit 1,000 visits, and that’s with a couple years of inactivity due to the pandemic.
Steger is married and has four kids. He spoke about the second date he had with the woman who would become his wife. They were walking along Ventura Harbor when they spotted a feral cat up ahead of them.
“He’s walking along, and every time somebody’s on the left-hand side, he’d go to the right side,” Steger said. “On the right side, he’d go to the left. And we’re watching, and he got close to me, and I squatted down. She (his then-future wife) says, ‘That cat’s not going to come to you.’ I stayed there like that, and I called him over, and my legs were spread open, and it kept doing the circle in my legs.”
Steger laughed, adding, “Me and animals just get along.”
Others seem to agree with him about that.
Santa Clarita resident Sharon Rendall, who also does pet therapy work, said she’s known Steger for about 20 years. She said Steger has a great rapport with animals.
Rendall also spoke about the importance of pet therapy and the commitment pet therapy handlers have to the work. Steger was no exception.
“He’s a gentleman that has a huge heart,” she said. “He’ll be at most anything he can possibly be at. And if we have something special come up, he always will be there. He’s just a guy who’s always willing to help.”
Valencia resident Sandy Dubin also does pet therapy. Over the years, she’s used guinea pigs and about eight different dogs. She said she’s known Steger for years. She, like Rendall, said Steger has a big, big heart.
According to Steger, it’s hard not to have a big heart when doing pet therapy.
“I really didn’t think I was going to get hooked into this,” he said. “But I can’t stop.”
Know any unsung heroes or people in the SCV with an interesting life story to tell? Email [email protected].
