Your Pet, Your Volunteer Partner

How to get involved

Volunteering with your pet requires more effort than simply showing up. The dogs and owners at DHMC, for instance, have to be certified by Therapy Dogs International (TDI). Certification means that a dog not only has been trained in the basics, but also is temperamentally suited to meeting strangers and remaining calm in a setting filled with bustle, bright lights, strange noises and the occasional tense situation. Moreover, both the Delta Society and TDI require that pets be cleaned and groomed no more than 24 hours before a visit, whether it's to a hospital, nursing home, school or library.

Groups that certify volunteer teams and promote volunteering include the Delta Society, Therapy Dogs International, and the Foundation for Pet-Provided Therapy, which runs a Love on a Leash program. All provide training and certification information on their websites and can steer anyone interested to local institutions seeking pet-owner volunteers.

Rewards for you and your pet

Why do it? Both pets and owners benefit, says Turnbull. "We hear it over and over: It actually makes the bond even closer between you and your pet when you do this work. You're working together as a team, and there's that sense of pride — you take your dog or pet out and meet someone and you see how that can change a life."

Mimi Weinstein, too, finds that the benefits run both ways. "There's an ability for a dog to make an instant connection that for me and you might be inappropriate," she says. "If we'd just met and I licked your hand, well…. So Tickles is my passport to meeting very fine people. Some of the patients are in dire circumstances, but they're really gracious, and I say to myself, 'If I were in that bad shape, I don't know that I'd be that gracious.'

"It's very spiritual — [animals are] filled with grace, and I feel transformed by it."

Rob Gurwitt lives in Norwich, Vt.