Dementia Dogs

[BarbedWire]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-10/dementia-dogs-australia-program-to-become-worlds-largest/7226654

Dementia dogs: Australian-first program set to expand after promising results

By social affairs correspondent Norman Hermant

A program that places trained assistance dogs in the homes of people with dementia and their carers is set to expand after promising results in early trials.

Dogs 4 Dementia has had two trained dogs living in households since October. That is about to increase to 10 households by the end of the year.

The program, run by aged care provider HammondCare and Assistance Dogs Australia, is a first for Australia.

According to director of HammondCare's Dementia Centre Colm Cunningham, it is already starting to have an impact.

"[it's] early days. It could be that people live a lot happier at home, and for longer periods of time," Colm Cunningham said.

"There's a lot of stress when somebody gets dementia.

"Simply that the person can recognise the dog, be involved in their care, [the family] start to remember the person with dementia is able to do things."

Since October, two-year-old black Labrador Jiyu has been a companion in their Melbourne home.

"We've walked in the evening, taking the dog with us. It's so pleasant," Mr Beilharz said.

He has difficulty speaking now, but he talks about Jiyu with a broad smile on his face.

"The joy of having this lovely, friendly person with us, lifts everything," said Vyrna Beilharz.

She is her husband's primary carer and says things have changed dramatically for the better since Jiyu arrived.

"He's really become the centre of the family," Ms Beilharz said.

"He is the one that we concentrate on."

That Jiyu behaves so well at home is no accident. His training with Assistance Dogs Australia (ADA) began at just eight weeks old.

For the first year of their lives, dogs like Jiyu live with volunteers who teach them basic skills.

When they are about one year old, they move to ADA's Training Centre in Waterfall, outside of Sydney.

The dogs are trained for six to 10 months to assist people with dementia and their carers.

"That can include a lot of emotional support that they offer them," assistance dog trainer Rose Lobos said.

"They also help them to maintain their basic routines that sometimes can be lost.

"The dogs can be taught to pick up a bottle after an alarm goes off to remind a person to have a drink.

"They can also close drawers and open doors as well. Sometimes a person might go into the kitchen and forget why they're there."

Right now, ADA cannot meet demand. It has a waiting list of more than 100 applications for assistance dogs.

Its training centre can host 15 dogs at a time. Ultimately, ADA hopes it can expand to train up to 60 dogs at once — but only if it can raise the money.

Dogs 4 Dementia is modelled on a pioneering program in Scotland. The trial here has been funded through a $1.5 million grant from the Federal Government.

It is estimated by 2020, more than 400,000 Australians will be living with dementia. Based on the positive early results of the Dogs4Dementia trial, it's a safe bet demand for "dementia dogs" will be high.

"It means that we're bringing things that are about normal day to day living back into the mix," said HammondCare's Colm Cunningham, as he patted Jiyu the Labrador on an afternoon walk. "This dog could be the way people (with dementia) actually live well at home."

[Two Best Dogs!]

I love reading about these programs coming into development. How awesome for the family and what hardworking dogs!

[persephone]

:) This brings back memories from my previous life , placing trained dogs in nursing homes where many of the residents were suffering the effects of dementia ..and where the presence, but more often the touching of the dog would , for a time , connect them back to a world outside their poor heads .

it is wonderful that individuals will now have the support and availability of dogs trained to assist in more tangible ways, too :)

[BarbedWire]

I am currently the novel "Still Alice" by Lisa Genova which was made into a film. It is about early onset Alzheimer's (She was 50 when diagnosed), and this week Lisa Genova has been interviewed by Jane Hutcheon on One Plus One on the ABC. I also saw a program (Catalyst?) this week about how hearing favourite songs from their past can help dementia and Parkinson's sufferers talk and dance again.

These dogs would bring wonderful comfort to sufferers and their families.

[persephone]

"Still Alice" is great .