Susan Daffron, author of Happy Hound: Develop a Great Relationship with Your Adopted Dog or Puppy (Logical Expressions, 2006), has taken pets to nursing homes through shelter outreach programs. "I go down halls and people will say, ‘Oh, this looks just like my dog,'" she says. She has also helped elderly folks adopt the right animal. One woman, 86, wanted to be able to walk a dog but didn't want a hyper pet. "She was good at judging her limitations," Daffron says.
Angie Jones became interested in training therapy dogs after bringing her dog Hunter to visit her late father in a retirement home. "It took us half hour to get to my dad's room because everyone stopped us along the way and wanted to pet the dog and tell me about their dog," she says. "Hunter brought my father great joy and opened the door of communication since he was more of a recluse," says Jones who started Central Ohio Good Shepherds, a chapter of Therapy Dogs International Inc.
Where to find the pet. While breeders are a good source, some shelters also provide a pet for less and offer the advantage of rescuing it from euthanasia. Purina Pets for Seniors partners with 200 shelters nationwide to provide seniors pet adoptions at a reduced cost (www.petsforpeople.com). Local services also exist such as Paws/LA in Los Angeles (www.pawsla.org).
Shelter employees often know the pet's personality well and can make a good match, says Daffron. Online pet shopping is also possible, thanks to sites like www.petfinder.com, which pairs owners with 250,000 adoptable pets from 11,000 animal and rescue groups nationwide.
How to provide care long-term for a pet. Because an older owner may take ill or die, it's important that the pet is provided for in a will and a caregiver named, says Dr. Hillestad. Even more basic is that someone knows that an elderly person has a pet. "If the person is rushed to the hospital, it could be left alone if nobody knows," says Allen Anderson.
Barbara Ballinger is a freelance writer and dog lover based in St. Louis, Missouri. Visit her website at
www.barbaraballinger.com
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