Puppy Love program gives the gift of companionship
Who’s a good dog? Molly’s a good dog!
Molly, a black shih tzuyorkie mix and her owner, Patty Snipes, are part of the Humane Society of Pulaski County’s Puppy Love program. Volunteers like Snipes take their dogs to visit residents at six Little Rock nursing homes and assisted-care facilities.
“It’s been a blessing,” Snipes says at her Little Rock home on a cold, rainy Monday afternoon earlier this month as Molly sits calmly in my lap and I play with her floppy ears. “The people tell us how wonderful it is that we bring these dogs to them. And I think about it like, if that was me I’d like to have someone bring their dog to visit with me.”
Snipes, a retired elementary school teacher, began volunteering with the project in 2015 with Maggie, her “little bitty” mixed-breed.
She was a volunteer with the humane society when she met Dee Sadler, coordinator of the Puppy Love program.
“We were talking and Dee told me about the project and I just said, oh, Maggie would love that. Maggie loved people,” Snipes says.
Maggie passed away in 2020 and Snipes adopted Molly from the humane society.
“She was an owner surrender,” she says. “I figure it was someone who maybe had to go to a nursing facility or who just couldn’t [take care of] her anymore because she was very well trained when I got her. I’ve been very blessed.”
Sadler, a humane society volunteer since 2013, started Puppy Love in 2014. She had hoped at first to use the dogs at the humane society’s shelter, but that proved difficult as the animals would be adopted
or otherwise not a good fit temperamentally. So volunteers began taking their own dogs and are responsible for them on visits.
One shelter dog, Tommy, has been making visits since being recommended by a volunteer; turns out that he has been getting just as much good from the program as the residents.
“It’s given him the socialization that he needs,” Sadler says.
Dogs don’t have to be specifically trained to be in the program, but they must be friendly and well-behaved.
“It doesn’t have to be a therapy dog,” Sadler notes. “It just has to be a dog that likes to be held and with a volunteer that wants to take part in the program.”
Potential volunteers are asked to come observe a session to see if their dog would be a good fit, she says.
Sadler says about 20 volunteers participate in the program. Of those, about six have their own dogs.
“I send out a schedule about once every three to five weeks, people sign up and we meet at the facilities.”
Four-legged volunteers range from golden doodles to shi tzus, and Sadler sometimes takes her foster puppies.
“Some are little, some are big,” she adds.
The program makes visits to Presbyterian Village, The Blossoms at Cumberland Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, Cottage Lane Health and Rehabilitation, Briarwood Nursing and Rehabilitation, Colonel Glenn Nursing and Rehabilitation and Pinnacle Place Memory Care.
Volunteers come by on Wednesday or Saturday mornings and each visit is about an hour long. Some residents stay in their rooms and the dogs are taken to them, while others meet in a common area.
Sadler says the animals can help trigger pleasant memories for residents who may be having trouble with memory.
“Our main thing is to get the people engaged in just thinking about their dogs. What kind of dog did they have? What color was it?”
Residents can also grow emotional when holding the dogs, Snipes says.
“Sometimes people cry because it brings back memories that make them sad, like they had to give their dog [away] when they moved there. They will show us pictures and they are very appreciative.”
Tracy Stroncek is the activities assistant at Presbyterian Village. The Puppy Love program makes a stop there on the first Saturday of the month.
Each visit includes three to seven volunteers with several dogs, she says, and a majority of the village’s 60 residents in the area where she works take part in the program.
“We take the dogs room to room and even into the day room where residents watch TV,” she says. “It brings smiles to the residents’ faces. For some who are kind of quiet, it perks them up. They always have the cutest comments about the dogs, like ‘You can go on now, I’ll take care of this dog.’ They will also reminisce about their pets. It brings back memories and they will tell stories about their dogs.”
“Our main thing is to get the people engaged in just thinking about their dogs. What kind of dog did they have? What color was it?” — Dee Sadler