Making new friends at home!

Here’s a feel for who’s joining TeamWag and why they need us:-

Mrs W (92) from Newcastle lives alone, she was widowed more than 10 years ago and she has no family living nearby;   in fact her only son and his family live in Canada.   She’s always loved dogs, she and her husband had border collies, but her mobility’s poor and it’s no longer possible to have one of her own.  She was involved in lots of activities prior to lockdown but now she’s found herself a a bit cut off having developed mobility issues and lost confidence during the pandemic. She doesn’t have many regular visitors and she’d love to have regular contact with a dog again too.  We’re hoping that once she has her new friends her confidence will increase too and she’ll get out more.

Mrs G (83) from Sunderland lives alone, she is a widow and has lived alone for more than 5 years now.  She lives with vascular dementia, has very poor mobility now and needs oxygen 24 hours a day.   She’s always loved dogs and until quite recently she looked after her son’s dog while he worked and overnight too sometimes;  this isn’t possible any more for health reasons and she really misses regular contact with dogs.

Mr K (85) from Newcastle lives with his wife and he lives with worsening dementia.  He’s always loved dogs, and after his black Labrador died almost two years ago, he’s really missed having contact with a dog.  For his health reasons, it’s just not possible to have another dog of their own.   He has a soft toy dog though which barks and which he finds really comforting and therapeutic but a real Wag Friendship Dog will make all the difference!  The family hope that his new Wag friends will also help with his loneliness as he has limited social interaction other than with the family;  sadly as his dementia has become more advanced, his friends have found it difficult to visit.