Do you and your dog like meeting new people and do you like putting big smiles on their faces? Why not join us when we go to our local nursing homes? It is such a rewarding feeling watching our dogs interact with these residents. Sadly, some of these people don’t have regular visitors and so look forward to our visits. If you have a couple of hours free each month and think this is for you, we are always looking for more teams. It will be so rewarding for you and your dogs will just love it! Bonus, you get to earn hours for WDC!
If you are interested in participating in nursing home visits with your dogs, the most important characteristic we look for is its temperament. A good nursing home dog must be friendly, patient, confident, at ease in all situations and gentle. They must enjoy unfamiliar people making physical contact with them and be content to be petted and handled, sometimes clumsily. Many dogs contribute to the visiting experience by performing small tricks for their audiences. We welcome dogs in all sizes and breeds. Even though the dogs do not interact with each other, they may be in close proximity; therefore, they must be dog friendly.
Here are the prerequisites: (1) Must be an approved member; (2) Your dog must be at least one year old and earned its Canine Good Citizen certificate; (3) Your dog must be evaluated and approved by Fawn Tauber; (4) One of the nursing homes requires the handler to have 3 Covid vaccinations, so you must present your vaccination card for that particular nursing home.
If you are interested or have questions, please contact Fawn Tauber ([email protected]) or Barb Protogere-Sprangers ([email protected]).
