Calgary dog walkers needed: Help seniors care for their pets

ElderDog Canada has been in Calgary since 2017, connecting volunteer dog walkers with seniors.

A Canadian organization that helps support senior pet owners by connecting them with dog walkers is looking for volunteers.

ElderDog Canada has 40 centres across the country, but says the need in Calgary is continuing to grow.

“For every senior that we support, we try to get five to seven volunteers so that we can take their pets out for a walk [every day of the week],” said spokesperson Janice Bushfield. “Right now, we are only at about two to three volunteers per senior, so we really want to increase the number of volunteers that we have.”

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Bushfield says ElderDog got its start in 2009, before being established in Calgary in 2017 with volunteers in every quadrant of the city – along with outlying areas like High River and Okotoks.

“Pets are so important to seniors,” she said. “If they aren’t able to care for their pets, they often have to surrender them, and we really want to keep those pets in the home with the seniors, so whatever we can do to support that, that’s where we meet our mission.”

The organization’s vision is to become known across Canada for making a difference in the lives of older people and older dogs by contributing to the support of and knowledge about the senior-canine relationship.

“Our founder, Dr. Ardra Cole, realized the importance of having a dog as a companion for seniors; really helps with loneliness and isolation,” Bushfield said. “So, she actually started this organization in Halifax with helping seniors walk their dogs, helping them with some transportation if they need to go to the vet or the groomers and then helping (deliver) some pet food.”

Kathleen Horne, dog care support coordinator, matches volunteers with seniors in their community.

She says walkers have to be at least 18 years old, up but teens can sign up with their parents to become ‘associate walkers.’

“We get a lot of retired people volunteering, but we have a lot of people that are working, we have young people and a lot of parents,” she said. “They want their children to learn about being a volunteer, so the associate walker can’t walk the dog, but they get their own badge, and they accompany their parents when they go to walk the dog.”

Horne says many walkers become friends with their elderly pet owners.

“I love dogs and I love seniors; what a combination,” she said. “I’ve been walking the same dogs for one client for over two years and have formed a relationship not only with the dogs but with the client.”

Sheila Fochuk uses a walker to get around and can’t take her seven-year-old dog Olivia outside.

She says Olivia is her best friend and doesn’t know what she’d do without her.

“I don’t have any family, and a dog never questions you. Never,” she said. “A dog will be your best friend, and when you’re down and out – like when I’m in a lot of pain from fibromyalgia – [she’s my] private nurse who comes and sits beside me, licks my hand.”

Fochuk says Olivia always looks forward to being walked by the ElderDog volunteers.

“Olivia is so excited to go out with them,” she said. “I can rest now, and I know that she will get the exercise she needs. You want to give your dog everything, but that was one important thing I couldn’t give her - they did.”