Care homes: Pets as therapy

For some people moving into a care home can lead to a painful split from the family pet. But animals can still play a vital role in the therapy of many older people once they’re in a care home. Robert Mair reports. 

In this article:

Cheryl’s Tibetan Spaniels
Pets As Therapy
Doreen Baker
Nightingale Nursing Home
In home pets
For the more adventurous 

Cheryl’s Tibetan Spaniels

Ellie and Phoebe are regular visitors to several care homes in Middlesex. But these 2 care assistants are not doctors or district nurses, they’re PAT (or Pets As Therapy) dogs. And for the residents of the homes, the canine companions are a valuable part of life.

The dogs – rare Tibetan Spaniels – visit the homes to cheer up the residents, help with exercise routines and aid reminiscence. For owner Cheryl Vials it’s a rewarding task:

“I feel like I’m giving something back,” she says. “I’m lucky to have these dogs, and I do enjoy it. We’ve had some occasions where the old person has not responded to anybody or anything. And often, when they’re new in the home, they might be shy or don’t want to talk.

“But it’s happened to me on at least 3 occasions where you put the dog on their lap and they smile. The smile is amazing and then they start talking and that’s something they’ve not done before.”

Pets As Therapy

Cheryl is a volunteer for the charity Pets As Therapy and gives up her time to go into care homes around Ruislip and Harewood.

Pets As Therapy has been operating for more than 25 years and has 4,200 registered PAT dogs working in a variety of operations. These include work with elderly people in residential and nursing homes, patients in hospital and helping people with phobias.

Cheryl’s dogs received no special training to become PAT dogs, but are blessed with a suitable temperament.

“Pets As Therapy have so many different breeds and lots of mongrels,” she says. “But the dog has to be temperament tested. There are assessors that have been trained to assess and they have to make sure that the dog is calm and won’t growl or bite or get nasty no matter what the provocation.

“Any dog, as long as it is of sound temperament, could be a PAT dog. You might think Tibetan Spaniels are not ideal because they are not very forward temperamentally – they’re aloof with strangers. But mine are fine because they’ve been doing it since they were very young.”

Cheryl has been a volunteer with Pets As Therapy for nearly 5 years – and her dogs are now so popular and loved that Ellie finished as runner up in the national PAT dog of the year awards last year.

Doreen Baker

Another volunteer, Doreen Baker from Slough, Berkshire, also sees the benefits of using pets as a form of therapy. She’s been volunteering for 19 years and now visits 3 residential homes, a nursing home and a hospital day centre every month with her Springer Spaniel, Candy. She says:

“I love going into the homes to provide a little bit of pleasure. Candy likes the fuss too and I let some of the residents give her some titbits. Not too many though, just the odd one.

“But we all know about the benefits of animals when it comes to relieving stress and if I can bring a little joy to the residents, then that’s what I aim to do.”

Nightingale Nursing Home

More than 126,000 people benefit each week from the work done by PAT dogs and cats throughout the country, including residents at Nightingale Nursing Home in Bournemouth.

There, residents receive weekly visits from two small lap dogs – a miniature poodle and Dachshund – which are very popular. It is part of the activity programme that manager Rita Mitchell looks forward to every week:

“The residents love the dogs and every Tuesday morning they can’t wait to see them. They’re an integral part of our activity schedule and the residents respond to them far better sometimes than they do with other people.”

In home pets

Meanwhile, some care homes have permanent pets, acting as constant companions to the home’s residents. In some cases, these pets belong to a resident and are allowed to stay at the discretion of the manager and with the consent of other residents. Alternatively, they may belong to a member of staff, who brings them in daily.

Some homes have their own dogs, which belong collectively to the staff and residents. For example, Sunrise care homes have cats or dogs in the assisted living units and dementia wings of all of its homes, and these provide a popular focal point for the residents.

The pets arrive as puppies or kittens and grow up among the residents, becoming integral to life in the home. One home, the recently-opened Sunrise of Beaconsfield, has just bought two 11-week-old puppies – a whippet and West Highland Terrier – for the assisted living wards, and will be buying a cat for the reminiscence wing.

For the more adventurous

But animals brought in to stimulate the residents don’t just have to be dogs and cats. One care home in Oxfordshire recently received a visit from handlers from a nearby zoo – and they brought with them some very exotic creatures.

The brainchild of Isis House’s activity coordinator Sharron Wheeler, residents were treated to a ‘jungle safari’ complete with an albino Burmese python, ring-tailed lima, giant fruit bat, Rhesus monkey and Humboldt Penguin.

For many residents, the day gave them the opportunity to see exotic creatures for the first time. But for one lady, the chance to stroke a python – having had a pet snake when she lived in Africa – was an exciting experience and brought back many happy memories.

Indeed, reigniting happy memories is one of the main aims of the therapy, whatever type of animal is brought into a care home, according to Cheryl Vials.

“I was a psychology student and we’d have called it displacement activity. They would stroke the dog and talk about something else. Some might regress to a time when they had a pet and talk about that.”

For more information on Pets As Therapy, click here.

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