Death Row Dog Adopted by Nursing Home
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10 commentsAn Ohio dog has received the gift of a new home for the holidays – and not a day too soon.
Alfie is the newest resident at Victoria House Assisted Living in Austintown. She’s learning the ropes in her new role as a four-legged therapist, spending her days walking the halls and visiting with residents.
“We’re so excited,” said Victoria House resident Mary Bagin. “She’s getting more attention than I think she’s had her whole life. Everybody just loves her.”
Alfie is the first dog in a pilot program with Close to Home Animal Rescue, bringing dogs to live in nursing homes.
“There are a lot of facilities that do pet therapy where they come in for visits and we thought it would be just a little bit more special to have a live in, four-legged resident,” said Susan Greco, Activities Director at Victoria House.
Six weeks ago Alfie was rescued from a pound where officials say she likely would’ve been put down. Close To Home fostered Alfie, vetted her, and found her a forever home at Victoria House.
“Just in time for Christmas. She’s home for the holidays!” Greco said.
What a great Christmas story!
Oh WONDERFUL. Alfie have a great life! I hope that more dogs and even cats get to have great lives.
greetings from australia what a wonderful thing to do both for dog and patients! god bless you i wish everyone a happy christmas!
NOw if we all tell someone about these proven positive effects of having a live-in therapy animal, think how much we can actually shift the paradigm into universal acceptance of this program, and to a greater than property attitude towards our companion animals in particular.
wonderful everybody wins
Dogs can sense when a person is sad, sick or just in need of a companion. How great for those that may have no. Nothing like a wet dogs nose to make you feel better.
there is big difference in someone bringing their dog to the nursing home they work at and having a communal dog living at the nursing home….in my experience communal animals tend to have haphazard feeding, no-one responsible for exercise and subject to very variable treatment as not every resident or staff member likes animals and they can be very unkind.You usually get a couple of people who will take responsibility for the animal and when those people leave the animal gets neglected – not to mention dogs, who tend to bond to individuals, getting separated from those people when they move on.Great idea in theory, not so great in practice.
wow…squiblet…where’s your holiday spirit! every situation is different…I think she will do well there…so happy she was saved.
When I get to the age I have to live in a home I want to live in a place like this!! I would so happy to still have a dog to pat and walk.
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