Canine Friends is an entirely voluntary organisation. The one thousand members have dogs of all breeds and sizes that visit retirement homes and hospitals all over the country. The organisation has liaison officers who assess the suitability of both dogs and owners to visit these health facilities, and provides liability insurance for the visiting members.
Sandy has been visiting homes with her dogs since the inception of Canine Friends about thirty years ago. Her two golden retrievers, Holly aged twelve and Tara aged eight, are regular visitors. These days she mostly visits the Shona MacFarlane home in Avalon where her mother is a resident. In the past, she also visited Hutt Hospital and was a regular in the children’s ward.
Holly and Tara were wearing their red scarves. Although Sandy got them to lie down on their mat when they first came in, the red scarves told the dogs that they were visiting, so they went around and visited all the Rotarians in the Pavilion! Tara took a particular liking to Colin Fenton and sat beside him for some time.
Sandy told us about Eileen Curry, and how she started Canine Friends locally by visiting Woburn Home, and how she cajoled a few friends to take their dogs to visit friends as well, at a time when dogs were not welcome. She showed us a TV video of Eileen as a TV “Good Sort” visiting the home where it all started. Eileen is now in Aroha retirement home and is ninety-six!
Thanks to Sandy and her dogs for visiting us for our Christmas party.
