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Coronavirus (Covid-19) Policy

On the 16th of March 2020, to comply with national guidelines and to keep everyone safe, we had to temporarily suspend all physical visiting activities.

We have continued to closely monitor all new Coronavirus related developments, liaising with other bodies in social care in our region and taking our lead from the nationally provided advice.

Whilst we are all desperate to visit our elderly friends again, our absolute priority remains everyone’s health and wellbeing, the people we visit and obviously all our volunteers and staff.

Based on the advice available, our position is that vulnerable people can’t stroke a Friendship Dog until it’s safe to touch the volunteer and realistically that may not be possible until a vaccination programme has been implemented.

So we continue to be unable to visit to provide people with the furry cuddles they are missing so much.

Throughout this pandemic, our more than 410 volunteers have continued to remotely support their elderly friends at home and in residential care with errands, shopping, gardening or by scheduling regular chats by phone or FaceTime, delivering photo books and newsletters etc. Truly inspirational!

In addition we have sent everyone special Thinking of You cards, artisan cake deliveries, thousands of the new Wag 2021 Calendar were distributed in October and we are already working on something special for Christmas 2020 to make people smile.

Today, greater national lockdown measures were announced across England, so we thought it would be useful to summarise the situation from a Wag & Company point of view:-

We remain unable to physically visit our elderly friends in their own homes or in care.
At this point we believe visiting will not be able to recommence until a vaccination programme is in place, likely to be Spring 2021 all being well.
We continue to take referrals for home visiting and we will work hard to recruit and process volunteers so they can be ready to start visiting anyone new just as soon as it is possible.
We continue to recruit new volunteers, our friends will need us more than ever and we still have waiting lists. We can complete all elements of the recruitment process except that we cannot assess dogs at this time; a waiting list of dog assessments has been created and large sessions will held across the patch as necessary just as soon as we can. This may also be next year.
Even when social distancing is once again permitted, vulnerable people with reduced immunity cannot be stroking our Friendship Dogs - even at the end of extending leads - it is not deemed to be safe.

Difficult times!

All the best everyone, keep your spirits up and keep yourselves safe won’t you.

Diane Morton

Chair

31 October 2020

We can only provide our life-changing friendships with your support.

Support us

We are the only visiting dogs charity befriending older dog lovers in their own homes as well as in care or in hospitals.

With just an hour or two most weeks, our professionally assessed Visiting Wag Teams provide elderly people, often isolated and bereaved, with something to look forward to, some company, a chat, a cuppa and a cuddle with that much missed furry friend.

Join us

Where we’re working and the impact we have.

We work across all 12 unitary authorities of the North East of England.

See our impact

The Wag & Company story so far…

492

volunteers

10,404

Friend vists

74,918

people benefitting

An estimated 51,000 pensioners in the North East are chronically lonely and they are 50% more likely to die prematurely than people with good social networks.

With your support there’s more we can do to help.

We want more isolated elderly people to benefit from friendship and the company of a dog – but we can only do that with your support.

Whether you can volunteer, fundraise or Become a Friend of Wag and contribute towards the costs of providing Visiting Wag Teams in your community, we need you!

Make a difference

Tracey & Jack

Volunteer spotlight
Meet Tracey & Jack

"It’s a lovely way to spend a couple of hours. Kitty and I have a good chat, Jack loves it too and runs to the front door."

Since early 2018, Tracey, who works full time, has been visiting Kitty in her own home most Saturdays with her Labrador Jack on referral from Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

Become a Visiting Wag Team

Our newly qualified Wag Friendship Dogs!

Coco

Arnold

Izzy

Pippa

Rosie

Amber

Isla

Max

Sox

Declan