For the last year, my dog Ixelles (in short:"XL") has been volunteering at nursing homes or rehabilitation centers and, as the law still does not provide driver’s licenses for dogs, I am his appointed chauffeur.

In order to be accepted by Pets on Wheels as a “dog volunteer,” XL had to pass physical and psychiatric examinations. His veterinarian did the physical. For the behavioral part of the testing, we were both invited to sit at a table with a rather foreboding gentlemen. XL was pinched, pulled, and yelled at in order to test his reactions. None of it fazed him, but when the gentleman threw a metal chair on the bare floor in order to create a loud noise, XL looked at him with contempt, as if to say, “That was a stupid thing to do!" XL passed with flying colors and became a Pet on Wheels.

XL is the Pet, I am the Wheels and we form an excellent team. He enchants the residents and brings me along. I have little experience relating to the elderly (although I will be soon joining their ranks), so I would probably not visit nursing homes on my own. XL serves as the facilitator. He is the subject of conversation or just the focus of their attention. Neither the residents nor I have to talk, but just by petting the dog and watching him react to their caresses, he gives them a feeling of being appreciated or even loved. For some the opportunity to hug, caress, or even kiss another living being occurs so rarely in their new environment that they cherish this opportunity.

Residents love watching XL wag his tail. It means to them that he is happy being with them, that their company is enjoyable. How often can they still enjoy such a feeling now that they are away from their loved ones, unable to care for themselves and among strangers?

The visit of a pet in a retirement or nursing home helps residents to bridge the present with the past. As they interact with XL, they start talking about the lives they had; they retrieve old photos of their pets, their families, their homes. Often they recall some long forgotten anecdote-- a memory that makes them smile.

And what about XL? Does he enjoy being a “volunteer” in a nursing home? At first he was somewhat frightened by the wheelchairs, the canes, the uncoordinated movements of some. Soon he got use to it all and now he pulls me from room to room looking to see who is inside and waiting for a sign to enter, a sign that he is welcomed…and might even get a cookie! The power of food can’t be underestimated with a Labrador. During his first few visits, XL would be hesitant to approach a resident who did not go out of her way to get his attention. The idea of bringing crackers came to me then. I give a few to the residents who in turn can offer them to XL (edible crackers because some residents believe they are for them!). These days XL-- in the hope of a hidden treat--goes to all residents. One woman keeps her own supply of crackers and XL remembers the room, pulling me towards it when he gets on that floor. Mrs. X, “the giver” gets a kick out of it and brags that XL only does that for her. Another resident keeps slices of bread from her dinner tray to feed XL!

XL’s visits are appreciated not only by the residents who are up and around but also by those who are confined to a wheelchair or bed. They want to “touch the dog” although, lying down in a high bed, they can’t see XL, who is so well behaved that even when coaxed to do so he won’t jump on their beds! A blind resident caresses him at length, an amputee teases him pretending to eat his cookie. Even dying residents want to see him when they hear that “XL is here”! A bedridden patient on oxygen asked me, after seeing XL at her bedside, to lift her radio. I wasn’t sure what she wanted me to do with it until I discovered $1.25 underneath the radio. What she wanted was for me to take the money to buy something for my dog!

One might wonder how the nursing home staff reacts to having a dog on a busy floor. At Manor Care, where I go every Wednesday, they could not be more responsive. We feel welcomed and appreciated. The recreation director and her staff (the person to whom “XL reports”) are so thankful for his visits that any time convenient to XL is fine with them. She told me recently that the two weekly activities most enjoyed by the residents are: Bingo and XL! In some way, going regularly, the same day at the same time, helps residents get a sense of time as all other days run one into an other.

Using dogs to help communication between a patient and myself is not a new venture. For the past 15 to 20 years I have always had one, sometimes two, dogs in my office during appointments. It all started when a very shy 14-year-old girl could just not get herself to talk. I then “accidentally on purpose” left my office door open ajar (my office is in my home) and my Sheltie, a very sweet, low key dog walked in, sat near the patient and put her head on her lap. The patient smiled, caressed her, asked me her name and the silence was broken. Since then dogs have been a source of great joy, great support and great encouragement to most patients. A large yellow Labrador even cured a patient from her crippling dog phobia. She would not leave her house for fear of meeting a dog in the street until she met Toubib. For a couple of appointments I kept Toubib in the waiting room where she could see him as she entered and left my office. After the second appointment she slowly started walking towards him, a little closer every time until the 5^th appointment when she came to him, hugged him and kissed him. She was crying slightly when I heard her say to him, "Toubib, I love you. Before I met you, I never got near a dog and I never thought I would ever touch a dog, but I love you."

A dog can provide patients what a therapist can’t such as body contact—so important to depressed patients. A dog can also show patients a side of the therapist that is not evident to them.

The residents I see in nursing homes and the patients I treat in practice all have a fond feeling for my dogs. Many patients in the course of treatment or shortly afterwards get a dog of their own. My role as a therapist then expands to include being a dog consultant, a title I embrace!