Sep 27, 2014 5 min read

Like any energetic 4-year-old, Daisy lights up a room when she enters.

“Everybody knows her. I’m just the guy on the other end of the leash,” said Bill Hostetter of Claysville as he escorted his therapy dog around the Washington County Health Center.

“These people, they’ve all had dogs. They just miss their dogs,” he said of the residents. “The women, they talk about their dogs. They never talk about their husbands.” Daisy headed straight for a group of women, all of whom welcomed her with smiles and open arms. One woman actually did talk of her husband as she petted Daisy; the dutiful wife picked up and moved with him when his military service required him to be stationed in Germany.

In the sprawling One West memory unit, a man who declined to be identified was drawn to the furry visitor.

“Very nice dog. Friendly dog,” he told her as he gently patted her. He said he grew up in a home where his parents preferred not to have pets. “I’d love to get someone like that. That’s a beautiful dog,” he enthused.

Just like the center of the flower for which she’s named, Daisy is golden, as in golden retriever.

She’s the second dog with whom Hostetter has walked the halls of the health center. For at least three years, perhaps four, he brought Annie, who was certified as a therapy dog.

“Daisy hasn’t been,” Hostetter said of the program that culminates in the awarding of a certificate. “She’s just kind of a natural. She went to obedience class, but not formal therapy dog training. She just fits in. When she comes into the building, she’s very settled. She knows she’s coming to work. She has a lot of friends here. She knows she’s going to get two hours of attention.”

Some of the employees who’ve been here a long time call her Rusty,” Hostetter said, harking back to a golden retriever who actually lived at the health center a while ago. Daisy has been accompanying Hostetter to the health center for three or four years.

Because she’s an adult dog, Hostetter knows what to expect from Daisy.

As anyone who’s brought a puppy into the family knows, puppies are unpredictable.

The Woodside Place unit at Southminster Place welcomed a boxer-beagle mix puppy this past winter from a shelter in West Virginia. Residents voted on potential names, choosing “Sophie.” Especially drawn to Sophie was Ray Mikuta, 75, who moved to Woodside in February 2012. He was content to sit quietly among the other residents as he held her close and petted her, lulling her to sleep.

“I fell in love with Sophie,” Mikuta said. “We’ve always had a dog in the family.” He recalled a pet named Scotty, whom he described as “a small dog, just a nice little dog.”

Julie Elling, director of resident services at Southminster Place, said, “Ray has made the biggest connection with the dog. I have never seen Ray smile so much. Sophie will just sit and sleep on Ray’s lap for hours. It is absolutely heartwarming.”

Just having Sophie around seemed to make conversation easier. Helen “Jean” Kelley, 87, who has lived at Woodside since March 2013, introduced herself while nuzzling with Sophie. She left school to become a clerk at the G.C. Murphy store in Washington’s central business district. She trimmed its spacious display windows for Christmas, Easter and summer. She called it “a big job, but I loved doing it. I had quite a bit of help then. I loved working with people, and I loved doing things on my own, too. It was fun.”

Asked about his life before he came to live at Southminster Place, Mikuta said, “I was in the Army.”

Sophie found a permanent home with a maintenance man at the facility, but for several weeks, she was both a delightful and soothing presence.

Having a dog around as evening approaches can calm the restless during what is known as sundowners syndrome, which often seems to cause agitation, according to a 2007 article, “Dementia Therapy Goes to the Dogs,” in the American Academy of Neurology’s publication, “Neurology Now.”

The article asks, “How can a dog … reach people with dementia when so many other interventions cannot? Science still doesn’t have exact answers to those questions, but there’s little question that pet therapy noticeably improves the quality of life for many people with dementia.”