Hi - haven't posted on  here for a while.  Have moved from the  Thames Valley to Suffolk and have been renovating old tatty house. With 4 dogs have been flat out, coping with builders,  plumbers, electricians etc. However most of it finished now (as much as it will ever be) and I can concentrate more on my dogs!

Back in August I had Isla my sheltie assessed to be  a PAT dog as she is of a v.  good temperament and she passed.  Eventually I got all the paperwork back and all her credentials but it is only now that I have time to set it in motion.  I have been in touch with a residential care home in the next village and spoken to the very nice manager there.  So we are off tomorrow afternoon for our first visit.  I am taking a couple of photos of Isla with me so they can pin her up on the Events board (they are quite excited about us coming evidently).  I am feeling quite excited but nervous although Isla is so pretty and well behaved I can't see there will be a problem.  People I know who have also started volunteering with the organisation say it is a really worthwhile and fulfilling thing to do.

Wondered how many of you have done this and whether you have enjoyed it or otherwise?  I'll let you know how we get on.

Best wishes

Snowflake

Ooh good luck, i'm still waiting for my confirmation to come back through, was a bit delayed in sending off all the paperwork and photos..

My local team have started inviting me to walks, meetings and have said they have places lined up for me to visit...So I guess he has been accepted, just need the pass sent through now, been told can take up to 3 months to get this. May give em a call, as I wanted to put this in the breed club handbook, deadline looming too!!!

How lovely I must say it is something I would be interested in doing in the future. My current to are too bouncy but perhaps next time

Congratulations, one of my dogs is a registered PAT dog and I am an approved temperament assessor for Pets as Therapy.

Due to my job I can no longer guarantee to be available for regular visits so I decided to become an assessor to support the charity in this way.  I get a great deal of pleasure in assessing candidates for this role.

The only thing I would say is that it is often beneficial for all parties to make the first visit one without the dog, just so that you can familiarise yourself with any potential issues and vice versa.

Enjoy!

All 3 of my dogs are registered PAT dogs, we go on visits as often as possible, and attend all the local fund raising events.  It's great fun, you make loads of new friends, and you make a lot of disadvantaged people very happy!

Good luck, you'll have a fab time, and I guarantee you'll come out feeling very proud of yourself and your girl :)

The home I visited to today houses specialises in those with Alzeimers which I hadn't realised.  Some were better than others but they all seemed to benefit from stroking Isla.  Isla was perfect,  slightly reservedand so calm and collected.  (She can be rather exuberant and likes  in general to give everyone kisses) and reserved the kisses only for those who wanted them!  There are 35 residents and we went round all of them twice!  Lots of them had owned dogs all their lives.  Isla has her lovely huge winter coat now which they all enjoyed stroking.

I came away feeling quite fulfilled and will be visiting fortnightly from now on.  I  hope to get to know some of the worse affected a little better - some are completely withdrawn, so very sad.  Both Isla and myself felt quite tired at the end of it but it makes you feel  better about yourself that you are doing something to help others less fortunate.  Incidentally it was a lovely place,  a converted old village house.  All the carers I met were really lovely and in the pretty gardens they had some aviaries and a pet goat called William.  At teatime the maintenance man got William out of his little field and got him trotting around on the lawn in front of the conservatory where the old folks were having  a cup of tea - they obviously loved it.  Definitely think they should have more animals around in old people's homes as they do help all sorts of people to bond and stir up old memories of course.

Snowflake

Oh well done! Henry was a PAT dog, we used to visit an old peoples home in London, but to be honest I never got the impression the staff were too keen although of course the manager had agreed. And I couldn't make sense of what the old people were saying. I wouldn't mind doing it again one day with Ellie or perhaps Hetty when she's older. I know most people find it very rewarding!

Did it with my first two, but gave up due to being car-less, so had to walk to the nursing home which meant wet dogs on wet days.