Senior Dogs-A New “Leash” on Life
I was browsing the web this past weekend and stumbled onto this website, The Sanctuary for Senior Dogs, with a cool tag line “Old Dogs, Great Friends!” The Sanctuary’s mission includes rescuing senior dogs from shelters, having the dogs adopted, and “develop[ing] programs that match senior dogs and senior people to their mutual benefit” (plus, they don’t serve meat at any of their fund-raising meals: “[w]e do not believe that we should serve animals to save them.”). So I got to thinking that this can’t be the only organization that promotes the adoption of senior dogs. A quick internet search lead me to other sites, the Senior Dogs Project which also promotes the adoption of older dogs and the Old Dog Haven, a group of Western Washington private homes that help homeless old dogs, including permanent foster homes for those dogs “in their final days.” One more site that takes a different approach is Pets for the Elderly Foundation. The pet isn’t necessarily elderly-but the prospective owner is. The foundation will pay or portion or all of the adoption fee when elders are adopting a pet from participating shelters in certain states. (I know there are more, but I had to stop before I started looking at the photos of the dogs available for adoption.)
I have heard guardians tell stories of trying to find homes for the pets of their wards, and surrendering the pet to a shelter when there is no one to take the pet. A pet trust (a future blog topic for sure) can help with that, but for those who don’t set one up or lack the resources, an organization like these, especially with an adoption or “matching” program would be a better solution that an out-an-out surrender. Guardians need to remember that for many, the pet is a “family member” and being without the pet may have devastating results on the elder.
I know that some nursing homes have facility pets or may allow residents to have pets live with them (Google that if you didn’t know) and there are programs that bring pets to visit residents. There has been a significant amount of research on how pets can improve our health. Even some elder law attorneys I know have pets in their offices.
I tell my students to talk with clients about pet trusts as well as examine contracts for pet policies-whether it is a homeowner’s association, “senior living” complex, a “village” community or a nursing facility. If they represent guardians, they need to talk with the guardians about options when the person under guardianship is a pet owner.
Senior dogs ROCK (well actually dogs ROCK and cats too!!! Oh, ok, all pets ROCK!!!)
Becky Morgan
Photo of Odin Fleming, elder law office dog as well as really cool all around dog
