Pam Croy has been doing pet sharing with her dogs for more than 20 years. She has been sharing at the Gainesville VA hospital’s community living center, their psych ward and at one of their halfway houses for the past 10 years. Pet sharing has many benefits, especially for veterans suffering from PTSD. The following is written by Croy and occurred at the psych ward with her Great Pyrenees dog, Baloo.
The sign on the door stated "group room – welcome." I opened the door to darkness, no lighting at all. Then a small figure moved over in the corner of the room. She stood up and came our way, 110 lbs. soaking wet, a cap of soft gray-black curls. She moved with the grace of a cat. She walked to within 10 feet of us, stopped, went back and sat down, then she got up again, and came all the way up to Baloo. She gave him a small pet, then walked away. We told her goodbye and left, walking on down the hallway. We noticed that we were being followed by this same woman. A tiny voice asked, "May I tell Baloo goodbye?"
She walked up, the obedience exercise of catching the dog's eye and repeating, “ME! ME! ME!” as you tap your nose, was her first action. Then she reached over and ran her hands along the dog's body, a dog handler or a dog judge perhaps at one time. Then she hesitated, stepped back and stood there for a moment. She then kneeled, threw both arms around the dog and held on. Baloo froze in place as he had been taught. She did this three times. Then she started to walk off, turned back, and threw her arms around the dog one last time. The lady then got up and walked back to her room, never looking back.
What emotions did she transmit to my dog? What was she thinking? Did Baloo give her a sense of peace? Baloo was exhausted when we left and slept all the way home!