Since my husband, ,Tom and I don’t have children together our dogs have been our kids. We had two dalmatian’s who lived to be 15 and 17, the last two years of their lives were like having canine hospice at our house. After the first dog, Rudy, passed away I started volunteering as a dog walker at the animal services on Bee Ridge in Sarasota. One Saturday a big black dog showed up and the tag on the pen said his name was Sam. The shelter said they found him walking around the streets in Venice, Florida. He has a micro chip but his owner’s name was removed from the records so his previous owner could not be tracked. I don’t know why he was at the shelter, but I am very glad to have found him. Whoever had him before me gave him lots of love and spent time training him.
When I was working at the shelter I would point him out to people that were there looking for a dog and I would encourage them to consider him to be their pet. Sam is so gentle and calm and he walks so nice on the leash, I thought he would a perfect dog for some family. Four months passed and no one came to take Sam home. I was tempted to adopt him but I really wanted to get a little dog and this 85 pound lab mix was not a little dog.
At home I talked about Sam so much that Tom started going with me to visit him on the weekends. During our visits we would take him treats and would take him into the play yard to spend time getting to know him. Finally the decision was made, Sam would come home with us.
From the first day we started taking him everywhere with us; he even attended Easter sunrise service last year at the Manatee Methodist Church. He’s good company on a road trip - no barking or jumping around in the car, he just stretches out on the back seat and enjoys the ride. Sam is very social with people and gets along well with other dogs. After observing him in all kinds of situations Tom and I decided that it would be a good idea to incorporate him into Tom’s passion for visiting the elderly in nursing homes. Sam is now a certified Hospice Therapy Dog and Bright and Beautiful Therapy Dog. He is qualified to visit nursing homes, hospitals, schools, anywhere that a therapy dog is welcome. His regular Sunday afternoon schedule is to visit the Riverfront Nursing and Rehab in Bradenton, (he has quite a following with the ladies on the 300 Block,) sometimes he goes along with Tom to visit Nina and has one assigned Hospice client to visit.
Sam’s career as a therapy dog is still a new adventure. We’re looking forward to future visits to include the veterans hospital and the hospice house. We’re always looking for new opportunities to share Sam’s gifts.
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