Dogs in the old people’s home: four paws against loneliness

When Sammy comes into the room, the mood changes. The appearance of the black mixed breed with the floppy ears and the white -colored chest ensures that one or the other resident suddenly upgrades again in the senior center takes up an attitude. “Such a nice dog!” Call. Others point to him and warn: “A black dog! It’s dangerous! ” This is how Yvonne Schickel tells you when she remembers visits to her father in the senior center. In the meantime, her father has already died, she volunteers for the visiting service with a dog at the Maltese Frankfurt.Ihr “Paps” was an “absolute dog arrangement”. That’s why Sammy accompanied her during her visits, says Schickel. “I found it phenomenal how positive my father reacted to it.” The other residents were also aware of as soon as they had discovered Sammy. For example, when he got out of the elevator with her and passed past all of the father. “I just thought that was very nice.” Studies show that time with dogs increases the well -being assumes to spend time with dogs increasing well -being, several studies have already been able to prove. In this way, interactions with the animals can lower blood pressure, heart rate and cortisol levels. A study by Konkuk University in Seoul has shown last year that the brain streams change when playing and cuddling with dogs. People feel more relaxed and are concentrated at the same time. After watching chic, the influence of Sammy had on her father and the other residents, she made the decision to do something good for others. “I thought: the dog is good for us, we are good for the dog,” she says, because Sammy comes from a killing station and got a chance of a new life from Schickel. “We can give something from the joy,” she said. That was about six years ago. At that time, Schickel was looking for offers in Frankfurt to visit people together with Sammy. She first found what she found at an outpatient children’s hospice service. Sammy did not need any training there, but could just donate joy and comfort. “And then I found out about the Malteser visiting dog program,” says Schickel. Instructions: The dog professionals Claudia Fink (left) and Jeanette Jäger train the dogs and the volunteers for visiting dog service.Jasper Hillder Visitorial Service The Maltese should give people a good time and thus relieve their loneliness. The loneliness barometer 2024 of the Federal Ministry for Seniors shows that older and younger people are most often affected by loneliness. Loneliness therefore has a negative impact on physical and mental health. Social participation, social ties and education have a preventive effect against loneliness. So visits can help. So the volunteers come to the people regularly with their trained dog, sometimes coffee or tea is drunk together, another time you go for a walk, and sometimes the dog is just cuddled. At least that’s the theory, because there is no long -range offer in Frankfurt. Human dog teams have only been trained since last June, but before the training can begin, applicants have to imagine the Maltese in an initial interview. If this has been successful, the dog must still pass a aptitude test. This is done by Martin Rütter dog school Frankfurt. “They can judge it much better than we do,” says Denise Hufnagel, a speaker at the Senior Diensten der Malteser Frankfurt and responsible for the visiting service with dog. “The first prerequisite is to have human friendliness and not afraid of people.” No problem for Sammy, he watches vigilant, but relaxes the events around him. The dog must also be tolerated. He must be able to endure certain situations, should not be extremely frightened, says Fink. While Yvonne Schickel talks to others, Sammy is relaxed next to her. Quiet and serenity? No problem for him. A dog with “corners and edges” he had to learn that first, Schickel recalls. “He’s just a Duracell type, as mischievous as the mascot of the battery brand.” Anyway, Sammy is actually not the “typical visit dog,” she says, laughing. It has to get warm with humans, and not always everything runs perfectly. “He really has corners and edges like many dogs that come from the killing,” says Sammy’s mistress. However, this is not a problem for working as a visit dog. Schickel simply has to be able to assess his capacities well. “Because these visits are really difficult work for a dog,” explains Fink. That is why the volunteers also learn to read their four-legged friend very carefully and to recognize stress signals such as licking the Lefzen, the so-called whale eye, when the white is visible in the eye of the dog, or when the dog begins to pant. Power also tricks: Mischlingshund Sammyjasper Hillen, the coaches repeatedly simulate visiting situations: that, for example, in real life: forgets that Sammy comes to visit today. Another time Sammy wants to give a few cough candies. Sometimes Sammy is too stormy and scratches the visitor a little with the paw. During the training, the volunteers also take care of or without their own dog with already fully trained human-dog teams. “The main thing is that the teams get to know the practice in a protected space,” says Fink. Making mistakes is allowed, after all, you learn, but that does not mean that the dogs do not have much fun visiting. Schickel taught Sammy a few tricks that he likes to show. It doesn’t always work as chic that imagines it. “Sammy is the absolute Schhabernack dog,” she says. Sometimes he makes a different trick than the desired or just doesn’t do anything. But that doesn’t bother Sammy’s mistress. “I think these are examples from real life. Everyone is sometimes annoyed by their own limits, and then you can see that the dog cannot do everything either. ” She is happy if Sammy could put a smile on the face of others if, for example, he just stabbed something. “Everyone laughs about it.” Dogs strengthen the self -confidence champion, if they wanted, the visited the dogs should also ask the dogs to show a trick. “People are very happy when the dog does it,” says Fink. “That strengthens self -efficacy.” That’s what the Malteser visiting service is about. To convey a good feeling of other people, especially the older and lonely, a good feeling. It cannot be distinguished from forgotten appointments or dog feeding with ricola candies or a small scratch. After all, Sammy and she had practiced long before the Maltese visit-with their “dad”.

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