Dogs Behaviour Around People With Disabilities Or Illness'

[Oscar (AmBull)]

So basically I will give a back story:

1: At the beginning of last year I had an uncle who was diagnosed with a very serious cancer of the brain. He came to our house when he was very ill; he was very child like in mind by this time and was very dependent on his wife. Oscar was approximately 6-8 months old at the time he came and was absolutely drawn to him. He sat by him, sniffed him, and played with him, at one point even sat on him. Just basically took him on as his own (he had never met this person before).

2: I have a cousin who is 18 years old and retarded, she has been since birth. She cannot walk; talk, function really in any way on her own. She is obviously in a wheelchair, is fed, bathed etc. She will often come and stay at our house. The first time she came Oscar was extremely scared of the wheelchair, barked a little (which was ignored) but as soon as he saw her/sniffed her he fell in love... literally. When she stays here he will go up to her and lick her hands, try and stand on his back legs to see her face properly. As soon as she screams he runs in to check on her. He has at times snuck into her room and slept at the bottom of the bed near her legs, obviously prior to us realising he was able to get in the room. We have now overcome this issue and he can’t get in the room, so he spends literally the whole night at her door. He is such a boisterous dog... at all times, yet he is so so gentle with her. It is truly remarkable and shocking. She is most definitely his favourite person in the whole house when she stays, and he is very sad when she leaves. When she was younger she actually had a therapy dog, yet Oscar is more devoted to her than that dog ever was and he has only been around her approx 5 times. We never leave them alone together, but just watching how he is with her and how she responds is truly wonderful to see.

Sorry for the long post. Just wondering if others have similar stories or experiences, I would love to hear them. Just when you think you know your dog inside and out, they shock you in the best way possible.

[spoilt lab lives here]

When Ramses was 6 months old I took him to nans with me for the week. At the time my 90yr old grandma lived with them, very fraile etc etc. Ramses was so gentle! He sat by her and was almost scared to move around her, he just knew somehow!!

He is now a pet therapy dog, and we visit people in a dementia ward.

[KitKat]

My GSD Bronx is a bit like that - his behaviour becomes more 'soft' and careful he'll often lay his head in their lap if they are in a chair/wheelchair etc so they can pat him and play with his soft pointy ears

Years ago I was seriously considering training him so we could visit kids in hospital etc - but i was running out of time then and then had someone else take up all our time. I may consider it again if we can get ourselves together since we have less pull on our time again

Edited March 12, 2010 by KitKat

[CavsRcute]

My Cavalier is the same. When she meets anyone new, she will usually roll on her back for a tummy rub but the first time we went to see my disabled aunt, she went and sat beside the wheelchair so that my aunt could pat her. She didn't move from her side for the 2 hours we were there

There is also an old lady who lives across the road and has one of those ride on electirc scooters. She will try an climb up to sit on the lady's lap, and wiil then walk very slowly along side her.

It's beautiful to watch

[newfsie]

Sweet Oscar :rofl:

Our newfs are very much like that, they are very sweet with anyone with disabilities/frail or young. I think some dogs are just sensitive that way.

Our Golden/Border Cross is much the same way, though she does not cope to well with screaming disabled children. The newfs don't mind at all.

I love therapy work, very fulfilling, though we have not managed to be in an official group, I would love that. but I have taken mine to work quite often

Edited March 13, 2010 by newfsie

[di_dee1]

I am sure my blue heeler knew I had cancer before I did. She was always smelling my breath, nudging my chest (that is where the tumour is). I am half way through chemotherapy. On my chemo days she knows I have had it, keeps smelling my breath and she stays very close. My tumour has shrunk by 75% already, she no longer nudges my chest.

[ellz]

One of my past dogs HATED kids in hoodies and baseball caps with almost equal passion.

We were at the Hobart Royal and a young boy with Downs Syndrome wearing a hoodie AND a baseball cap walked up to my dog and started talking to him. Instead of freaking out and practically falling off the table like he normally would have, my dog lay himself down on the table with his face pressed right up to the boy and they had some kind of a conversation, interspersed with cuddles and gentle kisses from both parties.

The grin on the boys' face was legendary and the wagging tail on the dog was such that I have never seen before. I think he knew that there was something different about the person wearing that hoodie and cap and he responded accordingly.

And likewise, when I lost my baby in 2006, my Stafford bitch wouldn't leave me alone. If I sat down, she either sat right up close to me or ON me, or she would sit quietly at my feet, staring into my eyes with a very sad, soft expression on her face. After I came home from hospital, she spent many hours laying along my back with her head on my neck. She absolutely point blank refused to leave my side, even to eat and go outside to the toilet.

They really do know.

[Oscar (AmBull)]

Thanks so much for sharing your stories, they truly are amazing. I think maybe just some dogs have a gift, I have never seen anything like it before Oscar and don't know if I really believed all that sort of stuff before, I truly swear by it now. There is something higher going on, like he knows something.

[Jed]

The more science discovers about dogs, as tests are refined, the more we discover that we don't know.

Dogs are far more complex with far more talents and abillities than most people realise. One day, in the far future, we will understand their talents and abilities, and will appreciate them as they deserve to be appreciated.

We undervalue them because we do not understand them.

[persephone]

I believe dogs can sense illness.. thru scent ( like ketones on the breath, or the scent of a body fighting cancer/full of chemicals)...or pheremones, or body language, however subtle.

I also believe that heir behaviour around people who have a brain disorder/injury/illness is often because of different body language Some people just do not show any threatening or even assertive body language so the dogs are very happy to 'claim' them other people may indeed display all sorts of body language which can be interpreted as threatening/intimidating.. so dogs behave in a very different way.

It is indeed a fascinating thing

Love the stories! :D

When I was placing pets As Therapy dogs- it was always amazing, to watch how the dogs behaved.

The one I remember most was a young male boxer cross - he was from the RSPCA- a gorgeous bouncy boy.

he responded very well to training..except for an aversion to cats.

I placed him in a hospice for people with advanced Motor neurone disease. ....with some misgivings at first. I worked closely with them, until one day I visited , and he was stretched out on a big soft bed with a resident...there were various plastic tubes and wires surrounding the man, and he was obviously close to his death, but he was so peaceful, and Mac was so gentle and careful ............ He apparently chose the people he spent time with..

I 'think' in later years he had to be withdrawn for some reason, but I will never forget that sight

[Jennt]

One of our teenage daughters has Down Syndrome and right from when we brought Charlie home he has behaved "differently" around her. With the rest of us he is boisterous and mischievous, but around her he is considerate, calm and watchful. When she tells him to leave her room he does (not like the other 2 teenagers who he'll just tilt his head at lololol).

[WreckitWhippet]

My Whippet hates anyone and everyone, she's a look but don't touch kind of girl ( she wouldn't bite, she just prefers that strangers leave her alone ). She got a surprise tackle and hug from a young boy who I think had down syndrome, she stood there let him pat her all over and hug her around the neck.

It's not like her to be patient but she appeared to relax and take it all in.

The boys father was quite shocked and said that he wasn't normally this gentle with anything and why couldn't he treat his sister like that. I think they must have been having a bit of a rough morning with him and his behaviour.

[teekay]

I haven't got any stories to add but wanted to say thank you for this thread.

What lovely heartwarming stories.

[cloud]

I work with young adults with severe autism and other intellectual disabilities, we have a house-support dog (part-time) she also lives at another home, is particularly gentle and affectionate with our most severely disabled person, she will lay down next to him and give him his toys, softly lick him and knows when to move away from particular clients if they need more personal space. She is not specially trained but has worked this our for herself. Its a joy to watch the bond she has with them.

[skip]

When we were kids we had a golden lab called Tammy. We had a young man called David with Down Syndrome who lived up the road. He was the child of a friend and he loved our dog.

He used to come down and play with her for hours. Not so much running around but just sitting and patting her. He was older and used to come and go as he pleased. As a child I didn't think much about it at the time. But she was a lovely dog and I don't think they were even supervised together.

Besides Tammy, Davids other pleasure was to pluck branches off trees and play hand puppets with them. I can still remember how you would see a large tree walking down the street with Davids legs showing underneath.

[Paulp]

When we were trying to concieve a year ago Ebon, my lab X golden retriever, suddenly started pestering my OH following her around and trying to sniff her in unsociable places. A few days later we had a positive test. The behaviour settled down but several weeks later he started doing it again and a few days later we discovered the bad news that the pregnancy had succumbed. We are sure he knew before we did both times.

[raineth]

there are some lovely stories here

I have a son with a disability; and I must say I have found it to go both ways. Unfortunately his movements bring out the prey drive in some dogs, or frighten other dogs. Other dogs are not bothered. And a couple of dogs have been fantastic with him, seeming to truly understand

The main one being our Dane in my siggy. He could always cheer little man up, and calm him when he was having a meltdown. looking after little man's emotional needs came very naturally to him and little man's quality of life improved so much during the short time Mr Darcy was with us.

The one other dog was a Labrador. We were visiting markets and little man was finding it all very stressful (too much noise, movement and people) then we happened to meet some friends who we hadn't seen for a long time and their lab. Little man sat on the ground and put his fingers into the labs fur. Little man was having lots of tremors due to being stressed. So it must have felt very strange to it to the lab, but it just sat their with a lovely big smile on its face. Gave little man the odd lick for encouragement. Little man was able to calm down was a lovely moment they shared together

[darlingdog]

So basically I will give a back story:

1: At the beginning of last year I had an uncle who was diagnosed with a very serious cancer of the brain. He came to our house when he was very ill; he was very child like in mind by this time and was very dependent on his wife. Oscar was approximately 6-8 months old at the time he came and was absolutely drawn to him. He sat by him, sniffed him, and played with him, at one point even sat on him. Just basically took him on as his own (he had never met this person before).

2: I have a cousin who is 18 years old and retarded, she has been since birth. She cannot walk; talk, function really in any way on her own. She is obviously in a wheelchair, is fed, bathed etc. She will often come and stay at our house. The first time she came Oscar was extremely scared of the wheelchair, barked a little (which was ignored) but as soon as he saw her/sniffed her he fell in love... literally. When she stays here he will go up to her and lick her hands, try and stand on his back legs to see her face properly. As soon as she screams he runs in to check on her. He has at times snuck into her room and slept at the bottom of the bed near her legs, obviously prior to us realising he was able to get in the room. We have now overcome this issue and he can’t get in the room, so he spends literally the whole night at her door. He is such a boisterous dog... at all times, yet he is so so gentle with her. It is truly remarkable and shocking. She is most definitely his favourite person in the whole house when she stays, and he is very sad when she leaves. When she was younger she actually had a therapy dog, yet Oscar is more devoted to her than that dog ever was and he has only been around her approx 5 times. We never leave them alone together, but just watching how he is with her and how she responds is truly wonderful to see.

Sorry for the long post. Just wondering if others have similar stories or experiences, I would love to hear them. Just when you think you know your dog inside and out, they shock you in the best way possible.

Well I read here how your dogs have become more gentle with sick people, our experience wasn't quite like that though amazing just the same. My father in law used to visit with us quite frequently and the dogs loved him, he's a very gentle man. One of my dogs is quite introverted but always loved the father in law when he came. Anyway, father in law came to visit and my dog wouldn't go near him, sat in front of his chair about 2 mtres away and just barked and barked at him and I could not get him to stop, it was really weird ! Father in law was so puzzled, kept saying but the dogs love me usually !! Two weeks later he was diagnosed with parkinsons' disease and 6 months after that with dementia. That dog KNEW there was something not right with him.

[Edslaine]

What a great thread. These are really interesting stories.

My mum has had a hip and knee replacement and walks with a stick. When I visit her she likes to walk Edward on his lead up to the carpark of the units she lives in. He never pulls, walks right beside her and is really careful never to step in front of her. The complete opposite of what he can be like with me

[ILK]

I don't have a story to share, but I have really enjoyed reading this thread. It has brought a tear to my eye & made me smile .