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VIP duos from TLC spread joy through the community
Reprinted from The Homer Horizon November 15, 2007
Editor
Rusty, a small cocker spaniel and a VIP therapy dog with TLC in Homer Glen, grins from owner Grace Mueller’s lap at Fran Sweeney, Marie Chiaramonte, Josephine Miller and Anna Spencer during Rusty’s visit to Marian Village in Homer Glen in October.
Rusty Rufus grinned widely at his audience, wagging his tail rapidly as he rolled over, heeled and stared longingly at a treat on the floor until his owner, Grace Mueller, told him he could grab it.
He did so excitedly, much to the delight of the dozen or so residents at Marian Village in Homer Glen who gathered to watch Rusty do tricks and to get a chance to pet and spend time with the small cocker spaniel.
Rusty, who literally does grin when he's getting attention, his eyes squinting at the corners as his mouth upturns, has been a part of the VIP therapy animal program with the TLC Animal Shelter in Homer Glen for about one and a half years.
Mueller, a longtime Homer Glen resident, said Rusty visits Marian Village once a month. He'll do some tricks for residents, and then they just stroll the halls for about 45 minutes, visiting with whoever wants to pet the friendly pup.
"He's such a nice, friendly dog," one woman said.
"You are such a cutie!" exclaimed another.
Rusty and his owner, Grace Mueller of Homer Glen, visits with Richard and Peggy Predel at Marian Village in Homer Glen.
As Mueller carried Rusty down the hall, two women stopped him and fussed over him. A man in a motorized scooter petted Rusty and gave him a treat, then welled up with tears as he talked about a longtime family pet, a poodle, whom he and his wife had to have put to sleep.
"She was a good little doggie. We had her for 13 years, and then she got to the point where she couldn't hardly move anymore," the man said, his voice breaking.
Dan Bannon, executive director of Marian Village, said the visits from the therapy dogs really mean something to the residents.
"So many of them moved in, and they don't bring their pets with them. They can have pets here, but a lot of them just don't bring their pets. They really enjoy these visits, and it's an opportunity to relax and enjoy and form a bond with these animals," Bannon said.
"I think that this brings them so much joy. This just brings back fond memories to them."
It takes a special animal
Janine Carter, the coordinator of the TLC Animal Shelter and the VIP therapy animal program, said VIP has been in existence for about seven years.
"There seemed to be a need--we had a few of the (area) nursing homes call us," she said.
Years ago, a shelter volunteer had been traveling around with her trained therapy dog, but she moved, and things fell by the wayside.
"We saw that there was a need, and there were volunteers who were willing to do it, and some very special animals," she said.
Not every animal can be a VIP. They have to have a very calm, loving, gentle personality, be obedient and well-behaved, and have gone through a special training program.
Grace Mueller holds VIP therapy dog Rusty, who is grinning at the attention he’s receiving from Johanna Alekna and Ida Hillstrom at Marian Village in Homer Glen.
Before they can sign onto the VIP program, TLC staff also tests them to make sure they're a good fit, Carter said. Some are the pets of TLC residents, while some are permanent residents at the shelter.
In addition to Marian Village, volunteers with the shelter go to about a half dozen other places in the community, including Alden Health Care and Senior Living in Orland Park.
A visit to Alden
Laura exclaims over Megan, a therapy dog, held by her owner Gerry Pajkos during their visit to Alden in October.
TLC volunteer Gerry Pajkos has been traveling around with her dog, Megan, for nearly four years, since she was 18 months old. Lottie Johnson and her golden retriever, Oz, have been regular VIP volunteers since he was about a year old.
As they strolled through the halls of Alden last month, Megan in her "wedding dress" and Oz in his T-shirt, residents smiled, exclaimed and clamored for the chance to pet the dogs and give them treats.
"I'm not going to pet him--I just washed my hands," one woman in her room declared as the dogs milled around her roommate's chair--only to reach down and stroke Oz's head a few seconds later.
"They have special guests that they visit, but they go everywhere. They parade around like little princesses," Alden activities director Nancy Johnson said, laughing.
Two residents rolled by in their wheelchairs, pausing to ask Johnson if any of the animals were going to be around that day.
Johnson nodded an affirmative, and the residents smiled and rolled into the elevators.
Helen, a temporary patient at Alden, gives Oz a kiss on his head during his visit there in October.
Johnson said one of the most touching visits she remembers is one that a therapy animal paid to a woman on the third floor--the secured dementia ward.
This woman was very confused, and had no distinguishable verbal communication. When this dog walked in with his owner, the woman reached out her arms, and called the animal by her dog's name.
"She sat there and talked in perfect sentences about how she had missed him, and things they were going to do," Johnson said, her eyes still tearing up at the powerful memory.
"There is such a bond. This is such a gift that these animals bring to people, and it triggers memories that we think are long gone--and skills that we think are long gone," she said.
Johnson said animals of all sizes have strolled through the halls of Alden, from small puppies to a Great Dane, and they know who wants to see them. She said she knew of a golden retriever who was raised on a dementia unit in Nevada, who had a sixth sense about who would welcome her affections.
Tiny the therapy cat
Tiny, a VIP therapy cat and “feline manager” at TLC Animal Shelter in Homer Glen who passed away Oct. 21, spends time with one of his favorite friends at Alden in Orland Park, Dorothy Youll.
In addition to about 20 VIP dogs, TLC also had one very special therapy cat, Tiny, whom Clare Paskiet had been bringing regularly to Alden.
One of Tiny's best friends there was a bedridden woman named Dorothy Youll, who can't use her arms or legs.
The first time Tiny and Paskiet visited Youll, Tiny curled up on her bed and fell fast asleep.
Youll was smitten.
"Tiny's very special. Me and Tiny--ever since she came here, we've been buddies," said Youll, who has photos of her family taped up next to her bed. A framed photo of herself posing in a leotard, looking young and beautiful, sits atop the desk next to the television.
Youll said she fell in love with Tiny's laid-back nature, and his gentleness.
"You can hear him purring--he's so content," she said. "If they brought another cat, it wouldn't be the same."
Tiny would give her kisses on her elbow, and crawl under her blanket and take a nap. Tuesday's visits from Tiny were the highlight of her week, she said.
Sadly, Tiny, who also had been one of the longtime "feline managers" at the TLC Animal Shelter, passed away Oct. 21.
Tiny had paid at least 80 visits to Alden since January 2007.
"Up until the last three weeks he gave his all to comfort and be with the residents, to remind them of the unconditional love they once had when they had companion animals, and to feel this love when they held him close," Paskiet said. "He will be truly missed."
In addition to nursing homes, TLC therapy dogs also pay visits to the Homer schools and the Homer Library to do reading program with the students, who feel less threatened reading aloud to a dog than they might to a peer or teacher. One volunteer even takes her dog to Shady Oaks Cerebral Palsy Camp in Homer Glen.
Oz, a golden retriever, is a regular VIP visitor to Alden in Orland Park.
Carter said it's up to the individual volunteers to make their own schedules.
And just as every animal isn't cut out to be a therapy dog or cat, the same is true with their human counterparts.
"The people are very special, too. … These are people with extremely big hearts who know that they're doing something very beneficial," Carter said.