Grigor (left) and Doug are fans ... and Benson knows it.
Grigor (left) and Doug are fans ... and Benson knows it.
There’s the sound of happy chatter at Waipukurau’s Pakeke Centre as three of Central Hawke’s Bay’s Canine Friends set about doing what they do best.
The friendly dogs and their owners visit places such as rest homes and Pakeke, spreading pats and cheer.
Benson, Sophie and Flo are there withowners Chris Partridge, Jo Chubb and Maureen James. The trio are pet therapy dogs for Canine Friends, a nationwide network of volunteers sharing their dogs with patients in hospitals and residents in rest homes.
Alan feels right at home with a dog by his side.
The organisation has been going for more than 30 years, with research showing people benefit from interacting with visiting animals, particularly in terms of health and wellbeing.
Chris is the liaison officer for Canine Friends Central Hawke’s Bay, and also covers Dannevirke, where she and Benson regularly visit rest homes.
Maureen and Flo are regular visitors to the Pakeke Centre, and Jo and Sophie also visit a client, injured in an accident, who lives in his own home.
Chris is a long-term volunteer for the organisation. Maureen heard her speaking at Probus, talking about Canine Friends, and thought “that’s a bit of us”, and volunteered herself and Flo.
“I wanted the dog to have something to do,” she says.
Labrador Benson tries his best, but Lloyd prefers his newspaper over dogs.
“Flo enjoys it. We ask if people are okay with the dog, and if they’re not we will bypass them. But anyone else, she shoves her nose into their lap to ask for a pat.”
Jo and Sophie were recruited by chance, when Chris saw them at the Paper Mulberry Cafe.
Chris had been watching Sophie and wanted to know if Jo had thought of taking the dog to visit the elderly. Jo had, and was happy to join Canine Friends, going on to be named as Canine Friends Pet Therapy Regional Member of the Year 2020 for the Hastings region.
It was a triumph for Sophie, who had been an SPCA rescue case for inspectors David Styles and Renee Hickey, and was thin, covered in mange and badly traumatised when Jo took her on.
Doug, who has a dog at home, pats Benson, saying “dogs know dog people ... they know if someone is nervous.”
Doug used to own a foxie who wandered all over central Waipukurau stealing tennis balls.
“He brought home more than 100 tennis balls over five years. Once he even pinched a basketball.”
Grigor beams as he, too, pats Benson. He’s a dog person, having bred basset hounds in the past. The loss of their last basset hound was so heartbreaking, he says, especially to their son who had grown up with the dog, that they didn’t get another.
Black labradors Flo and Sophie waiting patiently to start visiting — which side of the room do we get pats from first?
Of course there are those who aren’t fans. Lloyd makes a point of ignoring the hounds and burying his nose in his newspaper.
“None of them”, he says, politely but firmly. “I like cats.”
Canine Friends Pet Therapy has three spaces available for volunteers in Central Hawke’s Bay and four spaces in Tararua.
If you and your dog are interested, go to caninefriends.org.nz and follow the prompts to begin the application. You will be sent an email detailing the next step. Because admin for the organisation is closed in December-January, applications won’t be processed until February.
