Precious and Ted
Please Note: The dog in the accompanying photograph is the subject of the story, but the child or teenager pictured is probably not the patient in the story.It was a cold and rainy Saturday in December, and I was thinking how great it would be to just stay home and relax on the couch. But my guilty conscience made me get up and put the vest on Precious. Precious was the dog I chose because Valletta had a sore leg. And Precious is just really pushy. I am convinced that she can smell a visit coming. The morning of a visit, she follows me around the house, smelling the clothes I put on, and then, when she sees me putting on socks, she knows. (I don’t usually wear socks.) Then she jumps, and whines, and just goes crazy until I put her in the yard and put on her vest.
Although I had been doing animal assisted therapy visits for almost two years, I had yet to have one of those “life altering oh-my-gosh-this-is-so-amazing” kind of visit. Don’t get me wrong. We’ve had many great visits! And I know the people and my dogs have loved every second of them. I had personally just never been so moved until that day.
Due to the rain, Precious and I arrived at Hollywood Presbyterian a little late. We walked into the lobby to find Sandy waiting with her bearded collie, Ted. We went right over to the Chalet, trying to keep the dogs dry. Sandy and I split up so we could go to more rooms. Surprisingly, there was no one in the community room, and everyone on the 10th floor was either sleeping, eating lunch, or not in the mood for a dog visit. Since Precious and I had finished all of our assigned rooms, we headed down to the 3rd floor to find Sandy and Ted.We found Ted lying on the bed of an elderly man, and when Sandy saw us, she immediately called us in. The other bed in the room was occupied by a sleeping man whose wife was visiting him. Precious and I joined Sandy and Ted, trying to converse with the elderly man who spoke very little English, but somehow, we were managing to communicate. Then Sandy suggested putting Precious on the bed with Ted. So I hoisted this little 25 lb girl up on to the bed. She made her way over to the man’s face and gave him a kiss on his check. Then she wandered down to the foot of the bed, found a little spot, curled up, and closed her eyes. This sight must have been a bit odd: two dogs snoring away on a hospital bed, just like they were in their favorite spot in front of a roaring fireplace after a big delicious meal. Little did they know that the man had lost his wife and was estranged from his only child. He was born in Cuba, grew up in Spain, but had lived in the US for many, many years. His English was poor, so the wife of his roommate translated for us. The man was so moved by our visit that he cried almost the entire time we were there. But his tears of were not tears of fear or sadness; they were tears of joy. He repeated over and over again that Sandy and I and the dogs were his new family. He even got a phone call from someone while we were there, and he told the caller that he couldn’t talk then because his “family” was visiting.
I guess I just didn’t truly understand what a visit like this can mean to a lonely person. I’ve lived with animals my whole life. I have never been in a house without at least one other little heart beating there with me. But for someone who hasn’t had that experience in many years….being alone, hospitalized, and facing serious health issues would be both stressful and scary. I understood why the man was so grateful to be able to spend time with these 2 little warm hearts. This emotion reached across the room to the woman sitting with her sleeping husband. She, too, shared things with us that you just wouldn’t normally share with people you have never met before. But the dogs make people feel so comfortable, put them so at ease, that even private people open up, cry, talk, and laugh.
I don’t know what Precious and Ted took away from that visit. I think I saw Precious walking with her head a little higher and a smile on her face for the rest of the day. But then again, and I’m not sure how to say this, maybe this was just normal for her. Maybe it didn’t affect her at all because that’s just what dogs do. They touch people so deeply. They make us feel good about ourselves. For one moment, they make us not care about what others are thinking or what may be happening. The presence of dogs allows us to take that moment and just relax. And not be judged. And not worry. And have the self-confidence of knowing that this living, breathing creature, lying with you, feels secure enough in your presence to go to sleep.
What effect did this visit have on me? It made me realize why I have 4 dogs of my own, to the amazement of others. When people see me walking to or from the dog park with 4 leashed dogs, they think that I must be a dog walker or trainer, because who could imagine having SO many dogs actually living in your house and sleeping in your bed! But I couldn’t imagine not having dogs. For me this visit just reinforced the magic that these dogs do for me. I saw first hand how they can make someone relaxed and happy. How they can make quiet people with language barriers communicate like we were old friends. These two dogs turned total strangers into family. Finally I witnessed what so many others had talked about. On that cold and rainy December morning, I experienced some amazing moments. No, actually, I can say I was a part of some amazing moments. Honestly, and this is going to sound SO sappy…not a day has gone by that I haven’t thought about that day. I am so happy that I didn’t stay home and relax in front of the TV, because you just never know what the day will bring.
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