"Inside the Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Gerry Gregg, wearing an A's baseball cap and a U.S. Marine Corps shirt, leans down to give rubs and scratches to Murphy, a fluffy golden retriever who is part of a pet-therapy team from San Jose nonprofit Furry Friends. "How are you doing?" Gregg, 60, croons to Murphy, who looks adoringly into his eyes. "Yeah, I know," Gregg tells the dog."
"Facilitating temporary but meaningful contacts between human and beast is central to the mission of Furry Friends Pet Assisted Therapy Services. "It's something really special that can't be replicated through human therapy," says Furry Friends volunteer and vice-president Grace Chung. "There's this unspoken language, and animals don't judge." Just the tactile pleasure of touching a pet eases stress and boosts mood, says Lindsay Conner, a recreational therapist at the VA. Contact with visiting animals often strikes deep chords in patients, Conner adds."
""It connects them to nostalgic memories," she says, "happy childhood memories of owning pets." The dogs from Furry Friends appear to understand which patients require their services most, Conner says. "You'll see the dogs moving towards different people," she says. "The dogs have this innate sense of who needs that extra love and support." Furry Friends, established in 1983, has more than 300 volunteers"
Gerry Gregg, a 60-year-old Marine veteran and retired floral designer, attends a VA course for navigating life with limited vision and receives comfort from Murphy, a golden retriever. Furry Friends Pet Assisted Therapy Services volunteers bring dogs and other animals to the Palo Alto VA and to more than 150 facilities across Santa Clara County. Tactile contact with visiting animals eases stress, boosts mood, and evokes nostalgic childhood memories of pet ownership. The animals often move toward patients who need support, providing an unspoken, nonjudgmental connection. Furry Friends was established in 1983 and has more than 300 volunteers.
Read at The Mercury News
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