Volunteer’s life is for the dogs

Chihuahuas Help Bring Laughter To Seniors See Video Feature
also featured in Chatholic Aid News "Catholic" dogs and their owner provide pet therapy to elderly

By James Proescholdt Sun Newspapers

The phrase “random acts of kindness” was coined to describe someone like Sue Clark. Emphasize the “random” part – Clark will take her three dogs to visit hospitals and nursing homes for pet therapy completely on a whim. “There’s no rhyme or reason to where I go,” said Clark. In a little more than five years, she has randomly visited facilities throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin, where she used to live.

These random visits began shortly after she acquired her first dog, Petita while working on the road. “She made such a splash everywhere and she made everyone smile,” recalled Clark. She remembered thinking that this dog could bring smiles to people that don’t often smile. Thus, her random visits began.

Petita later gave birth to another female, Pansy, now three years old. A year and a half later, her third dog came into her life, a male called Pongo. Clark calls the Chihuahuas her “Angels 3” and takes them with her wherever she goes, even to Mass. But Clark most enjoys carting her furry friends to places where others need to smile. “You can just see the people brighten and come alive,” she said. “It takes away their pain.”

And after years of visits, Clark has lots of stories to tell of how her dogs helped make people’s days. Once in an Oshkosh, Wis., parking lot, she heard a mother in a wheelchair talking with her son about puppies. She went up to her and asked if she’d like to see hers. That encounter led to other visits to that family. Clark regularly visited a nursing home for a while, where there was a man who always sat in a reclining chair day after day, never saying anything. As Clark was leaving from her third visit, the man suddenly said, “You come back,” the first words he had said in months.

With a few more visits, Clark discovered that he once owned a dog named Jake, and was now considering buying a new puppy. “Pretty soon he became the most vocal person of the whole place,” said Clark. Brightening people’s days isn’t something she credits to her actions, but instead to those of her dogs. “It seems like Petita and Pansy especially seem to know who needs attention,” she said. As for Pongo, “He’s quite the entertainer, that one,” she said. She added that Pongo can sing in a way. As she sings a scale, he sings along, often gathering a crowd.

Apart from being a candy striper as a child, Clark didn’t do much volunteering prior to a year ago. She worked as a regional salesperson and was often on the road. She recently quit that job, moved to the Twin Cities and started working as a personal care attendant. She now takes care of people and their daily living needs in their homes.

Paul Zaslasky is her employer at Visiting Angels, an organization that provides senior home care to older adults so that they can continue living in their homes. Though Clark has only worked for him for three months, Zaslasky said he can already tell that “Sue really is special.”

When she first applied for the job, he decided to see if her random visits to nursing homes and hospitals were too good to be true. He called some of the nursing homes and hospitals, all of which raved about her visits. “They said that it’s wonderful that she just showed up,” he said.

“ What she said that really piqued my interest was that on her travels, she would always take her pups with her,” said Zaslasky. “She would search out local nursing homes.”

Though she’s lived in Hopkins for only a few months, Clark has already visited facilities in Edina and Bloomington, among others. “I especially like going into the lockdown units, where we have dementia,” she added.

“ Pets are wonderful for seniors,” said Zaslasky. “I’ve been with her when people have just gathered around her, especially when Pongo sings.” Clark’s rapport with her client is also great, Zaslasky reported. Clark is a live-in caretaker at her client’s home four days per week. “There’s been nothing but kudos all the way through,” he said of the client’s reaction to her services.