Alfie starts new career as therapy dog after losing owner

Alfie the dog was a faithful pet to a young man with terminal cancer, and still regularly visits the hospice his owner was in as a therapy dog. But this wasn’t enough, and Alfie now brings joy to one of our services in Worcester.

Dimensions Locality Manager Janet Turton originally bought Alfie the dog for her son James’ 21st birthday. The pair were best friends, but sadly, a year later, James was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

After the diagnosis, Alfie often visited James at the hospice to raise his spirits.

Alfie did such an amazing job of making James feel better at such a difficult time, that after James passed away, Alfie began training to be a therapy dog and is now supported to visit the hospice day centre regularly.

But Janet and Alfie decided to go the extra mile. They wanted to spread as much joy as possible and asked if it would be possible to bring a therapy dog to one of our Worcester services. The request was accepted, and now Janet and Alfie visit the service – outside of Janet’s work hours at Dimensions. And by anyone’s admission, the introduction has been a resounding success.

Since Alfie and Janet began their visits there have been some amazing success stories in the service:

Some of the people we support requested ‘fun time’ with Alfie after a person we support in that scheme passed away and they felt sad.

One person we support is shy and did not mix in group sessions. Suddenly they began joining in when Alfie was there and specifically asked for their picture taken with him.

One service user used to become extremely worried about attending meetings. When Alfie is with them, they now attend meetings happily.

Alfie, set to support our Samuel Place service, is a Sheltie – also known as a Shetland Sheepdog. He has visited his new service a number of times and residents are thrilled.

Locality Manager Janet owns Alfie. She said: “It’s a happy, relaxed atmosphere with lots of laughter when Alfie visits. The people we support forget about everyday life, anxieties and worries and enjoy some ‘fun time’ with Alfie.”

People we support can choose to spend time with Alfie either in their own flats or in a communal hub area. He can look forward to receiving lots of attention, playing fetch with his favourite ball and also spending some quiet time with residents.

Some of the residents offered their views: “Alfie makes me feel happy and relaxed”.

“Alfie makes me laugh when I throw his fluffy ball for him to catch”.

“I always look forward to seeing Alfie, I love dogs and love spending time with him”.

The clever canine has now completed his specialist training and is ready to begin doing his job at Dimensions.

The sheltie is able to adapt how he acts around people depending on the instructions given to him by Janet.

She said: “When he has his lead on, he is quiet, follows instructions and is quick to gauge what is expected. For those who are more elderly or frail, he sits whilst they stroke him and will roll over and let them tickle his tummy, which residents love to do.

“Others love to throw his fluffy ball in the house and he retrieves it.”

In the future Janet is planning to begin using Alfie to encourage healthier lifestyles by allowing people to volunteer to help walk him. And, as this is all done in Janet’s own time, Janet is planning to introduce Alfie to some of her other services; after receiving requests for visits from other people she supports.

It seems like this therapy dog is definitely barking up the right tree.

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