The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Emotional support llama brings smiles to seniors
Pai helps some Dogwood Village residents come out of their shells.
ACWORTH — Residents of the Dogwood Village assisted living facility got up close and personal with an emotional support llama.
The llama, known as Pai, is from the Wit’s End Llama Consortium, which brings llamas to a variety of events such as birthday parties, bridal showers and pet therapy.
“They have a very calming temperament, and they are known for their relaxation and stress relief,” said Laurie Hutwagner, who owns llamas and works with Tracy Munroe, owner of Wit’s End. “You can see they are very well-behaved. They’ve been known to walk right over to people. They have almost a sixth sense of when people need attention, and they’ll walk right over and stand right next to them.”
For residents of Dogwood Village, the presence of Pai was a happy moment, as the llama calmly made his way over to them, standing next to the residents and staring out, seemingly into space, after residents handed him treats.
For others, petting the llama — not on the face, as that would have annoyed him — but rather on the soft wool on its neck, was more than enough to bring them joy.
Kim Hart, activity coordinator for Dogwood Village, said bringing something like a llama out to Dogwood Village was about seeing the smiles on the faces of residents, their families and volunteers.
“It’s something different. They live their life here. They play bingo. We have all kinds of different clubs like art, Bible classes, and this isn’t something they see every day. You see therapy dogs, but this is way, way different.”
Hart said it was the first time a llama had come by the facility, and the experience has allowed some of their residents to come out of their shell.
“It’s cool for people who don’t come out of their rooms a lot, and would never touch an animal because they’re afraid, and they’re loving it,” Hart said.
“Things like this break the monotony,” said Herb Martin, a resident of Dogwood Village. “It’d be pretty boring around here if they don’t do things like this. We’ve been here a couple of months, and we’re taking a little time to get used to this. But things like this, this is what everyone needs. They eat this up.”
Martin stood behind his wife, Jackie, in the activity room as Pai quietly made his way over to the two, as Jackie handed Pai some treats to enjoy.
Hutwagner said Pai is a certified therapy llama, which means he has gone through extensive training so he can be handled by people and won’t be alarmed by loud noises or people hugging them.
Hutwagner was unsure of how many emotional support llamas existed, but said that Pai is used commonly to train others.
“They tend to follow,” Hutwagner said. “They have a herd mentality, so they learn from the other llamas.”
While there may be a belief that llamas spit at people, Hutwagner said that in the many years she owned llamas, she has seen them spit twice — and both were pregnant llamas spitting at male llamas warning them not to get too close. Instead, Pai calmly and patiently stood as a variety of people of all ages came up to him, feeding him treats and greeting him.