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Izzy the dog
This is one of the best, and shortest, pieces I’ve come across at Slate. It’s about a man and his dog, and how they volunteer with hospice care. The man rescued his dog, and now, it seems, his dog (”Izzy”) rescues people. This story is not sentimental, but it is full of sentiment.
He approaches people in pain, people in comas, with dementia and paralysis, disfigured and frightened, always softly, carefully, and lovingly. He threads his way around IVs and oxygen tanks. I’ve never had a dog that could do this kind of work, nor could I begin to imagine how to train a dog to do it.
Topic: Culture, WorldMagBlog
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back to top5 Comments to “Izzy the dog”
It’s all about unconditional love, isn’t it?
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Dogs are amazing. They actually are able to love unconditionally. Better able than we, for sure.
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They will also eat your face off if it’s covered in hamburger. Animals are terrific, but they’re not sinless beasts. They’re incapable of sin, and so I imagine they’re also incapable of virtue. However, I am the first to admit that they are nice to have around.
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My dog isn’t trained as a therapy dog–yet. She’d love it and probably would do well at it. I thought about it before I got her and then thought she’d be unofficially a “therapy dog” for foster kids, and probably I wouldn’t have time to take her into nursing homes too.
Misten is a three-year-old collie. Even the vet is amazed by her. Collies are often a little reserved with strangers. Not this dog. If I’m walking her and I stop to chat with someone she has never met, she waits patiently, then whines softly. “Pet me, pet me.” The whining gets louder and louder if her plea isn’t obeyed. Even the UPS guy gets greeted like a long-lost friend. For her true friends she somehow manages to step it up a notch and show an even more eager welcome.
When the girls were here, sometimes they’d have tantrums, and they’d lash out in anger at anyone who got close–sister, me, or Misten. Misten got kicked in the face, hard, several times. I learned to have non-tantruming sister put the dog out right away for her own safety. The child would kick her, and she’d look a bit startled, but she’d stay right there. Under other circumstances she moved away from the kids when they hurt her. But in a tantrum somehow she sensed that what the kid needed was calming, and she sat there calmly rather than growling or darting away.
I took her into an assisted-living facility twice, to see a friend’s mom. The literature all says dogs may react badly to wheelchairs and medical equipment. Collies are known to startle easily, and this one often does. But she seemed not to see the wheelchairs at all, even when several converged around her and more or less hemmed her in. She saw only the people. My friend’s mom was bedbound, and she went up to her carefully, put her head over the bed rail gently. She sensed that this person was frail, and gentled herself appropriately.
I still don’t know if she has what it takes to be a therapy dog. I have a book or two and I’ve done some research, and done some training with that in mind. I’m thinking of doing it, and I know that she and I would both love it. She just needs to be past a couple puppy issues, like pawing people when she gets excited, but my inclination is that she’d absolutely adore it and do well at it.
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Thanks so much for posting this heart-warming story.
It’s amazing that a dog will keep going back to win over a person who has slapped it. It’s also lovely that the human owner is willing to give her time and energy to work with hospice patients. So few people are capable of doing that sort of work. (Kudos to Cheryl D for hoping to get to help with dog-therapy in nursing homes.)
The article also reminds me of my own mortality. At my age, and with a history of many medical problems, it might not be too many years before I would have to face such a situation as the hospice patients — though of course I pray that I’ll never have to go through that.
Being reminded of the fragility of the human race — particularly of ME — does help keep my focus on my every-moment need for God. I’m not in control, he is. There are many things I can’t do for myself, but he can send the help I need.
If I should ever get to such a place, I hope there are kind volunteers or Izzys or thoughtful helpers to “compassion” me.
I don’t have the ability to go out to nursing homes. But the posting of this article reminds me yet again to check my prayer list of “God please help… “
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