[0:00] Welcome to Artful aging with your host Amy are you a senior or caregiver of a senior looking for support and Direction best-selling author educator and expert in Senior Living Amy Friesen is here,
with the help you need while providing you with an important and valuable support,
so now please welcome the host of Artful aging Amy Friesen.
[0:27] Good morning everyone I'm Amy Friesen and this is Artful aging with Amy thanks so much for joining me today,
today we're discussing all the benefits of pet therapy pet therapy has been known to reduce blood pressure to alleviate pain and reduce stress.
I know from working in retirement homes how important a program of pet therapy was for our residents and even for the family members who joined in.
According to possum advice.com seventy-four percent of pet owners say that the mental health has improved because of their animals.
As for individuals on the journey with dementia animals can provide a sense of calm and responsibility which people often feel that they lose as the disease progresses.
Some of our local retirement homes also have house cats and house dogs which the residents have,
now known now can enjoy in the actual retirement home,
and it really does bring a homie or atmosphere to the home because many of those seniors were you know had animals when they lived on on their own in their own houses so to have a dog,
internally as well as the residents sometimes have dogs and cats which is pretty awesome joining us today is Julie Bell and insky director of evaluators therapeutic pause Canada.
This organization's mission is to enhance the quality of life and health throughout through the animal-human bond.
[1:51] Therapeutic Paws is 100% volunteer run,
it's an organization and registered charity that operates across Canada and offers for review pet therapy to long-term care centers
hospitals schools day away programs hospices courtrooms and I'm sure much much more welcome Julie thanks so much for joining me today,
well thank you so much for the invitation we're always happy to to inform and and spread information.
[2:19] And I was so happy to come across your organization so can you tell us a little bit more about what therapeutic paws
is as well as what your role is okay therapeutic Paws we are a registered charity and we offer free,
therapy pet visitation the organization started with the lady who is our current chair her name is Judy Sauve in Hawkesbury Ontario sweet little town with Judy and six volunteers,
they were launched in or we were launched August 30th 2002.
As you mentioned we are a volunteer-based organization and we provide these visitation programs
for seniors Children and Youth in 2003 we were granted our charitable status which then permits the organization to,
issue tax receipts and a hundred percent of the donations go back into
the programs we have no paid positions within the organization so everything everyone the board of directors the volunteers that visit are.
[3:23] All doing so in donating their time myself I've been with the organization since 2011 I've held positions
I've been in the chair I've been the vice chair I've been the secretary treasurer and I am currently the director of evaluators So currently I oversee all the
valuations of pets across the country and then of course sit on the board and contribute to Major decisions for the organization.
[3:50] That's wonderful and is there a story behind where a therapeutic pause came from you know what was the idea bubble behind the essentially the organization,
the lady who is our founder she was with another pet therapy organization there were some pros and cons as there are to any organization and
she left that organization to join therapeutic paws
of Canada and to found the organization she was just there were things that she saw that she thought could be improved,
and some things that could be changed and she had some ideas of her own so she kind of branched out into on tomorrow.
[4:33] That's wonderful it's much you know much like my story as well you know being an entrepreneur now as well there's definitely things in retirement living that I saw that I wanted to improve on and so,
you know I made my company tea and toast and that's what we do right so it's nice because every time somebody branches out,
hopefully services are getting improved upon and seeing differently because not every service fits everybody so we need to have you know quite a few different ones.
According to a UCLA study the simple Act of petting animals releases an automatic relaxation response.
Petting an animal promoted the release of Serotonin Oxycontin and also all the hormones that play a part in elevating moods.
It also lowers anxiety helping people relax and reduce loneliness.
With all these benefits it's no wonder that so many retirement homes and long-term care homes are looking for these programs not to mention individuals in our community as well as just as other organizations
Julie what is the main issue or problem that therapeutic Paws addresses.
[5:40] Um I think the issues are varied the biggest a big thing for us is we see a lot of isolation depression.
Again you mentioned high blood pressure stress anxiety a lot of it is mental health some of it is physical but they can all be.
[6:01] Somewhat alleviated.
By petting an animal and that was actually how I got involved with the organization because my husband said to me once wouldn't it be great if we could give to other people what our dog gives to us.
[6:16] And I went on the hunt so yeah it's wonderful I personally have for Animals I have two dogs.
That's and for sure they definitely help and even just you know getting out and playing with them or something so you're not stuck in your own mind sometimes like you said with mental huh I had anxiety this morning
because my four-year-old is going on her first sleepover and I didn't realize I had so much anxiety until I dropped her off at school and I was like oh my,
and so coming home and playing with the dogs and being with them help for sure.
Who would volunteer primarily like who do you see sorry who where do they volunteer primarily.
[6:55] In terms of facilities we go in to seniors homes residences long-term care.
We are in Hospice Care palliative,
schools libraries with the various programs our main focus our seniors and children.
Day away programs for Alzheimer's patients pretty much wherever there's a need we also do some visits in local businesses for their stress and wellbeing for their employees.
[7:26] That's a lovely idea as well for sure and definitely thinking out of the box right because not a lot of wouldn't say a lot of programs do that so to be able to offer that that's
wonderful and for volunteer speaking of volunteers I can't remember if you told us about how many volunteers do you guys have across Canada.
We have over 500 volunteers across Canada that donate over 100,000 hours of their time annually,
to the various poem eyes.
Yeah wow yeah I got it I got it just got a chill that's that's an incredible right that's so many people putting so much love into something is lovely.
[8:05] What are the requirements of a pet to be a part of the program whether I think you dogs and cats mainly right but I think we'll talk about other animals in a little bit but what's kind of what are the requirements.
So for the pet themselves the pet must be minimum of one year of age to participate in either a cat or a dog evaluation,
basically we just look for pets that are very very well-mannered and.
Not all pets are cut out to be therapy pets sometimes the Handler wants it more than the pet does so we're looking for pets.
That are very socially outgoing that are eager to meet people and that like nothing more than to
to stand there and to be pet and to be loved on by someone else sometimes you'll see an evaluation that a pet is constantly avoiding maybe they're panting excessively drooling and it just made me that
they are not suited for that
that role we take the well-being of our pets in our volunteers very seriously we will tell our volunteers if you notice your dog is stressed on a visit.
And the visit and remove your dog because the last thing we want is for these animals not to enjoy what they're doing.
[9:23] For sure yeah I can just see Sigmund he's he's my dog and he's got he's an Australian shepherd and he's got a bobtail and so every time I meet somebody new his whole butt Wiggles and I can see he would definitely enjoy that and Ruby is my other dog who's a,
collie sorry he she's an Australian Shepherd collie mix,
and she loves she's tiny but she loves to jump up because she wants to give people hugs and she wants to kiss them right on the cheek right so I always thought that they would also be a good fit as well,
and I remember to you know when I used to work in the retirement homes.
Seeing everyone not only the residents but also the staff and the families all get involved because you know most people love animals depending on you know what kind of animal lover they are do you see that when you guys go and visit.
[10:13] Yeah it's it's interesting because sometimes it's a little bit of a mob scene pre-pandemic of course what we would go in.
You might be in a lounge area in a seniors facility and you know you go around the room visiting one senior at a time but the next thing you know,
you know you've got a couple of Staff members that are there and it really is a win-win-win for everybody the clientele that we visit the staff the facilities,
or even the volunteer because obviously we're there because this is something we want to do and that we enjoy doing as well so.
[10:49] The program that we used to run when I worked in the homes was a group program and so we'd all they'd all sit in a circle and have the dogs come in it was mostly dogs at that point and then just visit that way do you guys do,
a mixture of two like group and individual or you more so do individual.
So we only go to facilities we do not go to private homes we used to again pre-pandemic A lot of times our handlers and their pet would go room to room.
So it's very much a one-on-one with the pandemic the way it is and of course even trying to keep things sanitary
and clean and whatever we've stopped the room to room and now we will only visit in those Lounge areas or or common rooms
and again like you said often times the residents are sitting in a circle when the dog will go from person to person or they're dispersed throughout the room but again the Handler and the dog will go person.
[11:54] Speaking of covid how have you found the last couple of years I'm guessing that you probably had to reduce a lot of things that you were doing how did you guys manage it and what did you do for the last couple of years.
We actually stopped in person visiting for the safety and well-being of our volunteers as well of course as our clientele.
Nobody nobody wants to be on the receiving end of covid for sure but during that time we
discovered the world of virtual visits so we actually did a large event with CBC.
[12:31] And we had they had breakout rooms and we had dogs and handlers in breakout rooms with groups of people and people had their own dogs on the screen from from CBC which was great
we had our dogs on screen and it was just conversation right but it was it's still not as good as in person,
but because you want your hands on the dog but it was it was something that we managed to make it through and there have been the odd.
Event supporting our Frontline workers of course and we have been in the courts because unfortunately that is something that doesn't go away,
but we do have very strict protocols in place in terms of hygiene masking and that kind of thing for our volunteers.
[13:15] I can see like a zoom meeting with all of the different dog faces on it just the dog that's what I Miss Eliza and I think that a lot of people have been getting a lot of.
Benefit from working at home because.
So many of us are pet lovers and then the pets you know they're around a lot of people got puppies during covid and because they have time to do it and I'm one of the problems I'm finding at the moment is that because we've been so,
close to our dogs and cats but specifically are dogs for so long I think that they've kind of.
Developed a little bit more anxiety because when we leave they seem to be a little bit more anxious have you seen that with any of your pets just like you know just handling them in general as they had their attitudes changed since covid-19.
[14:06] I'm sure that they have I Know Myself personally I have two large dogs.
One that is a six and a half year old female and then a three-year-old male my mail is a rescue we've had him a couple of years.
But when I take my female to work even though he is always been created she's always been.
Free to roam he gets a little bit he gets a little bit antsy in his crate when she's not there so they like company too.
[14:36] The company and I didn't expect to have that anxiety kind of I guess I just didn't even consider it they have anxiety kind of generally speaking
but it's definitely increased since covid but we're going to we're going to take a break we'll continue this conversation when we come back because we have a lot to cover today so do you have a pet in our audience,
post some comments on our video perhaps when we're finished here today and let us know what type of animal you have.
So we'll be back in just a few minutes on Artful aging with Amy.
[15:07] Hi there thanks for joining us again Julie and I are speaking about pet therapy and all the benefits that come with it.
Julia was quoting the UCLA study earlier and one of the findings that the study noted was an increase in mental stimulation.
The study noted that animals could assist someone in recalling a memories and help with zika sequential temporal event.
Have you seen any animals be a positive influence in the lives of the folks who are on a journey with dementia do you happen to have any stories to share.
[15:40] I've definitely seen a positive influence a number of times.
Are used to have two dogs that I visited with one was a great Pyrenees and the other was a Leonberger mastiff mix so he was he was quite a big boy and I was fortunate with both dogs to visit some absolutely amazing people,
with my Great Pyrenees her name was Lacy we visited a gentleman that act we found him you know he was in the facility.
And it's rare to find people who know that that particular breed because they're not a very they're not a mainstream breed and there are working dog but he knew the breed can actually came from the region where the breed was from,
which is the Pyrenees Mountains wow Spain.
And his family used to have a sheep farm when he was a young boy and he often times her called his childhood and how the dogs would guard their flocks of sheep regardless of whether they were in a pan or whether they were out.
[16:41] You know out in the field you know or in the Hills or whatever
and he said he often found that they would not only protect the Sheep but the family themselves became part of that flock and he said he always felt,
protected when he was with them and he said he knew that when he was the oak outside with the sheep and with those dogs he said nothing nothing could touch them but.
That was his past he was.
[17:15] I would say he was in his early 80s to mid 80s when we met him and to see that.
[17:22] Um that that recall that he had.
Was amazing and then his family I met his family on one of our visits and they indicated to me that it was the first time they'd heard the story.
[17:36] They didn't know that that was part of his past and his history and they were surprised that he remembered it.
[17:45] What a lovely connection for I mean for everybody involved really just like you know it's hard to know,
everybody's life stories especially if it's your parents and things like that it's like those little triggers that obviously hadn't come up right and it's just that little trigger,
and like all the sudden he has this giant story about you know his past that I'm sure just like brought his family so much closer I must have been,
really lovely for you to be a part of that as well.
It was and with with the Leonberger mastiff mix that I had it was a woman who she she shed happy tears as she remembered her youth with horses.
[18:28] And a whore and I met when she when she first kind of went down that path it took me a quick minute to realize that.
The reason it triggered her horse memory was because of the size of my dog I'm just going to say cuz he's giant right that he was a small pony,
and who let the pump the horse horse inside did they not know it was supposed to be outside in the barn.
So yeah it he was able to help this beautiful soul remember her younger more Carefree days far from The Challenge of is that she was dealing with now so.
Yeah I can see how that would trigger I'm a little shy around Mastiff it's only because I tend to get pushed over really easily with the bigger dogs and so I like the ones that are like.
Hip hi Jana wise experience with a mastiff in general just because they're just Giant.
Which has been interesting I spoke at the top of the show about ways that pet therapy could benefit seniors what other ways have you seen seniors in particular benefit from having,
the therapy Dogs visit us or anything that's happened my thoughts kind of go to the folks in palliative care actually you know how is that been beneficial for them it just,
it really helps bring them a sense of calm it really.
[19:51] I know for myself I can have the worst possible day,
but I go home and spend 5 minutes on the couch with my with my dog just you know,
petting them and and loving on them and it's that that quiet understanding.
[20:09] Animals have this intuition that they just really seem to know and understand what you're feeling and what you need.
Um palliative care obviously in some cases the individuals may not necessarily book be coherent.
But they still feel they still here.
I know my personal experience when my mother was in palliative care she knew what was going on around her she couldn't speak but she felt the love.
And you and she could hear the conversation it also brings Comfort to the families that are there it helps.
Alleviate some of the stress and the anxiety and sadness that they're feeling if only for a brief moment.
[20:52] Yeah I was one of my previous guest talked about how she actually snuck her cat into the hospital to see her dad because the her dad Loved Cat.
Put it under her her coat and stuck it up to the hospital bed because unfortunately was passing away and and like she wanted the cat to be there because he has such a bond.
With a cat and that happened so well even with my four-year-old righty Sigmund is the the dog man of the house right and so if she if Eva's
you know crying or yelling or hurt or anything really he's coming to the rescue and if there's a noise at night he's coming to the rescue because he wants to make sure that everybody's protected which is such a lovely,
I love a thing except for when it's like 4:00 a.m. and there's a raccoon outside or something and then.
He wants you to know that that raccoons there and so everybody wake up which is not the loveliest.
We often joke about with my particular dogs because they are a guardian breed we often joke that you know the the fly that makes the.
In Alberta is what they bark at it for am so.
[22:02] Yeah it's been interesting whereas the cats obviously I don't know if you have cats but they just kind of hang out they're just doing their thing they like to be close and actually it's funny as
as they age my younger cats probably three or four and as she's been aging she's gotten more social before she would just kind of hang out by herself
and now she comes down on the couch and she's hanging out on that on the couch with us and wants to be pet
so it's been a really lovely lovely to watch them you know mature as animals I guess is the way this a day.
Okay so let's let's take another break let's take a time for a stretch after the break Julie and I are going to continue our conversation you're watching are pleading with Amy on bull breed TV we will see you in a few minutes.
[22:51] Welcome back.
We are talking with Julie today from therapeutic Paws about all of the benefits and loveliness surrounding having animals and humans together,
and like I said I have for animals so I'm knee-deep in it all the time sometimes it's a little bit much but
that's also when you add in the four-year-old and the husband as well there's a lot of beings here Julie could you give our audience a general idea,
of how a typical visit might look and if there are any differences between how you might visit in a nursing home versus a retirement home versus a business,
then again just for our viewers and nursing home is kind of a higher level type of medical setting,
and a retirement home can do medical as well but they're more of a social setting just so people can understand what I'm talking about and then,
you said you can't went to businesses and stuff too so is there a difference and what does that look like.
[23:47] Retirement home long-term care they're very very similar in the approach typically
they are a lot more stringent in terms of and certainly now in this cold winter of in there are certainly a lot more stringent about who can come in when you come in,
their sign-in procedures so typically our volunteers will arrive you know a few minutes prior to their scheduled time,
they arrived in uniform uniform for us is a red shirt
with our Crest on it the dogs will be wearing a scarf and or a vest,
dogs that we consider child certified the vest is mandatory for them because it
it's a really big marker for a kid in a school to understand that that dog is safe to approach and then you know they go through a sign-in procedure they will sanitize the dog's feet,
if they can with maybe a white or some tea tree oil mixed in with water or whatever so that the dog doesn't bring anything into the facility
they'll sanitize the leash and then they'll go in and go to the assigned area a predetermined area usually and they will go in and visit.
[25:07] In between contact from one patient to another currently they are sanitizing their leashes.
Wherever possible because the residents do tend to some of them like to hold the callers or they like to have their hands on the leash.
Prior to covid-19 would visit there was one lady who used to walk with me down the Halls.
And she used to like to pretend that she was holding the dog so she would pull you know the middle of the leash and I would hold the
what kind of thing and then we just go basically around the circle we have wonderful conversations whether it be about the dog about the senior
there's memory of their own childhood or the dogs that they used to have and.
[25:53] Just just interact I mean it is it amazes me how a senior really blossoms when someone gives them a little bit of attention,
unfortunately oftentimes a lot of the seniors in these homes I'm not going to say that they are forgotten by their families but they are.
Less of a priority shall we say and it's really beautiful to see the way they just come alive when they do interact with the dog.
[26:24] For sure and I can imagine you know like I said when we were in when I worked in retirement living,
there's a couple of programs that is so we were trying to get on with one program specifically that was running in our home.
But the you know the waitlist was substantial and if you weren't at the top if you weren't persistent and like getting your name and stuff food be difficult because obviously so many people see the value
of these visits and I just think that that's lovely is it a different type of visit than when you go to a business for instance.
It is in that of course there's a little less rigid protocols in place.
In terms of hygiene however again.
What the facility requires of US versus what we as at epoc member that's are the acronym for therapeutic positive Canada.
It can vary we always mandate to our volunteers to wear masks.
And you know to make sure they sanitize their hands and they do all that that's no different in a business setting the difference in a business setting of course is just the group of people that you're visiting typically it's in a room.
[27:42] People have signed up to come and visit the pad and and we will also in a lot of cases maybe have multiple pets.
On a business visit whereas when it is a visit to a senior or long-term care it is one pet one Handler.
[27:57] Whereas again in a business setting we will maybe have multiple pets go playing in.
[28:04] I'm guessing in the business setting to there's probably a big basket of lint rollers at the door afterwards it's funny you say that because given the breed that I have
I carry it's part of my my stuff when I go visit there's a lint roller because she's a very hairy hairy girl so yeah.
Until Jaya for pets I know all about that first there's like there's a little sort of the fir let's kind of floating in front of me right now you can't you can only clean so much you can't get them all but.
What reactions do you get from the people when you visit you shared with us some of the stories but you know is there anything else that you've seen happen.
[28:44] Baby I had one gentleman who the first time he had spoken in.
A year and a half I think it was his family hadn't heard him speak in over a year.
[28:55] Anyone yeah and it wasn't we we happen to be there that day with the dog and he.
Bent over he was petting the dog and kind of messing her hair like her around her ears and stuff.
[29:09] We could hear this noise didn't know what it was and one of his family members bent down and said did you say something done.
And he just continued to talk to the dog.
And they had oh my goodness speaking like a year whoo tear it up there that's that's amazing oh my goodness yeah we've been very fortunate we've seen very positive very very positive outcomes.
[29:33] Hi yeah I must be such a joy to be a volunteer and doing this and so lovely we were talking on the break and so I wanted you to share it here.
[29:43] Tell me because I know that a lot of people do love cats and dogs for instance but not everyone however that doesn't maybe mean that they couldn't connect with another type of animals are the volunteers able to assist those,
individuals as well and can you please share about the calls that you get in because I thought that was pretty funny.
So basically our particular organization we only deal with therapy dogs and therapy cats.
Um there are organizations out there that will certify for therapy work other animals.
[30:20] Hi I've seen I've seen it all and I've received calls on an emails on things we've had people ask if we would certify their llamas chickens Ducks guinea pigs.
Pigs horses.
I think I know somewhere in the US there's somebody who actually has I think it's one of the little baby minis Scottish Highland cows,
that is certified there are organizations out there that.
I will certify those those types of animals and that's great I mean we can you know if people get comfort from it then we're all for it.
[30:58] Well and it's also to depends on you know where you live and where you brought up where you know there's a I mean there's rural all over right and so I'm in Ottawa and there's definitely where I live there's more rule right and that's.
The farmers and whatnot would be more it probably more interested in probably dogs as well but like other animals like you said horses and cows and ducks and,
all sorts of stuff so it's nice to know that there's other organizations that might be able to help with that as well.
Well Julie were at a break again our time is flying so I'm going to discuss,
Julie and I are going to discuss how folks watching can become a volunteer with therapeutic pause you're watching artfully G with Amy we'll be right back.
[31:39] Welcome back to artfully aging I'm your host Amy we've been speaking with Julie from therapeutic PODS of Canada.
As I was saying before I remember working in both retirement homes and nursing homes which are also called long-term care homes.
And having programs like this come into our residences,
and I tell you honestly the family and staff like we were saying just get so much joy out of these visits just as much as the residents and it was always so lovely.
To see and as I was just saying it's it can be tricky though to get these types of services and.
As Julie was saying it's most of them are all volunteer run and we need to get some more volunteers involved because you know.
We're at a limit right so it's hard to get these services and sometimes so Julie maybe you could explain how someone from a facility like a nursing home or retirement home can get one of your team's to get come into their home.
[32:34] Okay so again as an organization we will will pretty much go wherever we're able.
A facility like a nursing home they would have to contact one of our local team leaders so
if they were to visit our website at TP L C.C a they would be able to find a list of team leaders.
Broken down across the country by province and by City And all the contact information is there that team leader can them guide them through the process,
most of these facilities have very.
Stringent rules kind of on who can come in and when and that kind of thing and we would match the facility up with a volunteer because not all volunteers are comfortable for example doing hospice or palliative care.
It takes a very special just like our court dogs they take it takes a very special group of people to do that and then and they would go through whatever the onboarding procedure is at the facility
make sure that our volunteer understands you know kind of the rules and guidelines.
And they could set up regular visitation whether it be once a week once every couple of weeks what we do ask our volunteers is if you commit to once a week you go once a week.
[33:53] Because thanks to the seniors very much look forward to those visits.
For sure yeah and I when we were doing it again when I was in the homes we were only lucky enough to get once a month if we were lucky so
so being able to have once a week as an option is
it was really delightful and on the note of volunteers do you know that nearly half of Canadians volunteer
volunteering Can it can and does look different for everyone and it doesn't have to
look the same or for the same reasons it you know people do volunteer for different reasons and different passions so Julie can you let our audience know
if they're interested in becoming a volunteer for TPO see how would they go about doing that.
[34:38] Okay so many people think that when you volunteer with an organization such as ours that you have to have a dog or a cat.
We do have what we call non visiting members and those are the members that might help out in an evaluation at a public event,
help with the backend paperwork that's required and that kind of thing so just because you don't have a pet doesn't mean that you're not a fit for the organization
if you do have a dog or a cat that you would like to visit with or that you think would make a great therapy pet you can again reach out to your local team leader
who will conduct an interview to see if the team and when I say the team I can put some air quotes around that because the team consists of the Handler and the pet to see if they qualify to participate in an evaluation.
Once they pass the evaluation there's just a few more steps that they need to take and one of those is provide a clean or clear vulnerable sector police records check.
Because we are dealing with the vulnerable weather it be it
children or seniors they would need to provide us with references and then successfully complete a series of monitored visits and those monitor visits are aware once they pass the evaluation they would go with the,
team leader or an experienced member and go through the process of learning how to visit some simple things that we might do as a.
[36:06] Just a member of visitor is you might go into a room and somebody maybe has gotten their wheelchair stuck in a corner.
[36:15] As a regular person you might go in and you might help them maneuver that chair out of the corner.
[36:21] We asked our volunteers you can't do that because if you move them the wrong way if something happens if they want a glass of water
you cannot give them a glass of water you need to go and get someone to get that for them because you cannot give them anything so just you know just making sure that the volunteer understands,
the parameters and the guidelines under which they need to to visit.
It's great that you are so thorough even you know references and vulnerable sector checks and such just to make sure that everybody's on the same page and its really
really good that you give them Direction because you know the environment of nursing homes and retirement homes are so.
Different and a lot of people are unfamiliar with them so to have that understanding is really.
[37:05] Julie of someone someone watching is interested in donating how would they go about doing that.
They could go to our website which again is TP oct.ca there is a donate button just click on
the button and you can donate by credit card of course we do accept checks and money orders as well and that can be done by making your check or money order payable to therapeutic positive Canada
and mailing it to PO Box 5024 in Hawkesbury Ontario the postal code is K as in kilo 6A is in
Adam 0a is an atom for wonderful.
[37:46] Wonderful well our time has come to an end Julie could you please let our audience know how to get a hold of therapeutic Paws of Canada on social media if they want to follow you or they want to interact,
as well,
sure we had to have a national Facebook page we can be found at T POC National on Facebook or Twitter is therapeutic pause or at therapeutic pause and there is no space,
if you de can pause we are also on Instagram a therapeutic Paws of Canada and YouTube under therapeutic positive Canada.
[38:23] As someone who manages that many social medias as well like I do as well that's a lot of social media is to manage so it's wonderful that you guys are so visible,
because there's a lot of organizations I find as well that are volunteer run away
or whatnot that aren't as busy as Visual and visible as you guys are which is lovely because you want people to find you obviously so
well thank you so much Julie for joining us today is really enlightening and your stories are so very touching so thanks for coming on.
Thank you so much for having me it was a it was a great conversation and hopefully we will be able to do it again and maybe next time a person.
[39:01] Awesome awesome after the break I'm going to tell you about some fun facts that I found About Pets just for the heck of it I think so you're watching Artful aging with Amy on Bold Brave TV we'll see you in a few.
[39:14] Welcome back I hope that you enjoyed Today's Show I hope that some of you will reach out to the therapeutic positive Canada to volunteer,
I love that Julie also mentioned that you don't have to have an animal to volunteer there's lots of other jobs I'm sure they can put you to work over there
I think it's such a great organization so I thought that I'd end Today's Show by sharing some fun and interesting facts that I found on the internet so number one did you know that the day
dog could be right or left-handed like humans,
so I decided to test this out on my dogs and I chucked a 24 of them and to see which paw they actually reach out with and I can tell you that Sigmund is for sure right handed,
whereas Ruby
I think that she doesn't she might be a good actress because she likes to use both feet and her mouth to catch toys not one of the other let me tell you I tried this quite a few times just to find out,
so that was a little fun you should try that at home and add your comments and let me know.
Two dogs can learn over 100 Words and gestures which puts their Intel intelligence.
And understanding on par with a two-year-old but apparently much easier to train again I've got a four-year-old so I can abide by that as well that you know they are very very intelligent as you heard us talking throughout this whole show,
which is super wonderful number 3 let's not forget about cat.
[40:40] Whose nose pads has ridges in a unique pattern not unlike a person's fingerprint so that was really interesting to find out so if you're looking at your cat they might think you're a little bit of a weirdo but check out there knows.
And number four,
cats have a better memory than dogs and many other animals cats memories can last longer than 16 hours and I think in that same webpage it was saying that dogs maybe last five minutes.
Significantly longer so make sure that you don't anger your cat because they're bound to poop in your shoe and there you have it that's the best animal facts that I could find on the internet I hope that you enjoyed Today's Show,
on next week's show we'll be discussing mediation,
both as a senior as well as working together as a family the Elder Care Journey can be an up-and-down experience
can be very traumatic and stressful but there's a lot of beautiful moments in the Elder Care Journey so mediation helps a lot of families figure it all out so they can communicate just a little bit better.
[41:48] If you enjoyed Today's Show and found value please just take a moment to like and share our video or podcast on our apps,
that you're listening to it really helps other families find us and I would hope that we're covering a lot of information that you as a viewer also finds interesting so I'm sure that your network would find it interesting as well.
Again over on Artful aging with a me.com there are not only the BIOS but the links to all of our folks and you'll find Julie's information there as well,
there's also a lot of direction for downloadables and different things that you can get off of our website
including my book and other printable things so have a look over there if you're happy to be struggling in your retirement or Elder Care Journey we'd be happy to help.
Thanks so much for joining me on our fledging today and I'm wishing you a very wonderful Wednesday.
[42:46] You've been listening to Artful aging with host theme,
many folks just like you feel they're alone in their journey and helping a loved one or.
So tune in each week and let a me show you that help is around the corner and it's just one conversation away here on Artful Aging with Amy
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