There are so many moments in my work with the elderly that are precious, one is when someone living on the edge of life lights up with joy at the sight of a dog.

The Mansion is a safe, loving and empathetic place, but the reality is that most of the residents quite understandably mourn the life they left behind – work, family, pets.

Something about dogs and other animals brings them back to the things in their life that they loved.

We want and expect the elderly in our lives to be happy, but it is not always possible for them to be happy, growing older can be difficult. There is a lot of loss involved.

Happiness comes and goes, and dogs bring it along with them.

There is no kind of therapy work in the Mansion that I have seen that works as well or reliably to lift up the spirit of the residents as bringing a loving dog into their lives.

A dog like Red or Fate brings love back into their lives, opens them up, pulls up smiles and memories,  triggers happy, not sad, memories and lifts people up.

Fate is doing beautifully in her therapy work. She is good at it. Her intense love of people is evident, and it pulls up strong and happy emotions in the people who meet her.

She is more enthusiastic about people than Red was – in many ways, he was a reserved dog, he didn’t show much emotion – and people respond to her enthusiasm.

She just radiates joy in this work.

I brought her into the Mansion’s new Memory Care unit, and we arrived just as Billy, a new resident,  was coming out of his room. He just lit up at the sight of Fate.

The building is especially comfortable, quiet and well designed. More and more people are coming into the center in the next few weeks. The Memory Care Activity Center is named in honor of the Army Of Good. You made much of this possible.

Billy is a passionate animal lover.

I suggested that he sit down on the sofa, and I asked Fate to jump up next to him. She was gentle and loving to Billy, they touched noses and he held her.

She didn’t push too close or try to jump up on him, she seems to sense the vulnerability of people in elder care, as good therapy dogs do.

She has learned to get close, but not too close, to let people come to her, and touch her at their own pace. She is getting better and better at this every time we visit, and I hope to spend more time in the Memory Care Center with her, she is very good at it.