Published January 11, 2004
http://www.freep.com/features/living/srdog...11_20040111.htm

Best friends: Visiting dogs are a delight for retirement home residents

BY JOE GUY COLLIER
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

Mindi Hunsaker walks down the hall of the American House senior home in Royal
Oak, three dogs trailing behind her.

"They're my little ducklings," says Hunsaker, manager of the home and owner of
Max, Buba and Fluke.

As she and the dogs approach a room at the end of the hallway, Mary Ann Mushro,
88, turns to greet them. Mushro smiles and hums a tune as Max, a little hair-ball
of a puppy, hops into her lap.

"This is the baby," Mushro says as she looks down at Max and Max looks back at
her. "You always love me. . . Look at him kiss me. Oh my, oh my."

For almost 15 years, Hunsaker and her dogs have been making thesevisits. She's
made a career of caring for others, and her pets have followed her into the
profession.

Hunsaker and the dogs make daily visits to the seniors at American House.

"It's love and empathy," Hunsaker says about the dogs. "It's the unconditional
love."

When the seniors are with the animals, they can forget about their aches and
pains. They forget about their slipping memories and failing health. They forget
about the losses in their lives.

Mushro gently cradles the little dogs when they're placed in her lap.

She has trouble communicating at times, jumping from subject to subject.

Seeing the dogs triggers memories of Toby, a dog she once had. Mushro says she
couldn't have children, so she bought Toby to keep her company.

In a photo album in her room, Mushro has a black-and-white picture of herself
with Toby. The picture shows a smiling young Mushro, in her late 20s or early
30s, with long dark hair, bending over to hold a beautiful border collie.

About Max, Mushro says, "I love to talk to him. I love to see him and talk to
him."

Hunsaker, dogs in tow, continues upstairs to visit more residents at the
retirement home.

Priscilla Blake, an 85-year-old resident, is a frequent stop for the dogs.

Blake broke her pelvis six years ago. After the injury, she had to give her dog,
Valentina, to her daughter, but she still likes having an animal around.

She recently sent pictures of herself holding the little dogs Max and Buba to her
daughter.

"I think it's a calming effect they have on you," Blake says.

Hunsaker's home in Troy is full of commotion.

Hunsaker, her teenage son Matt and her older sister, Danna Merritt, share a
three-bedroom house with a finished basement and enclosed patio. They have four
dogs and three cats.

It's early evening just after work and the animals are scattered throughout the
home.

Buba and Max, who are Mi-Kis, are in the kitchen. Fluke, a chocolate lab, and
Summer, part golden retriever, are wandering from room to room, their toenails
clicking on the wooden floor as they pass through the kitchen.

Alley, an orange-and-white cat, is sleeping on a couch in the patio room.
Punkin', a calico, is sleeping in the basement. Shadow, who is gray and the
friendliest of the three felines, is eyeing the kitchen table.

"No," says Merritt, telling Shadow to stay on the floor.

"They all know 'no,' " Merritt says, right before Shadow jumps on the table and
knocks over a candlestick. "Well, I guess he doesn't know 'no' as well as I
thought he did."

Hunsaker, 50 with straight blond hair, is younger than Merritt by eight years.
She also has a twin sister, Patti Van Gorden.

The daughters of a clothing store owner, the three sisters grew up in Pittsburg,
Kan., surrounded by animals. At one time or another, they had an English bulldog
named Butch, a dachshund named Tina, a mutt named Sandy, a German shepherd named
Gretchen and a pair of English setters named Sam and Sue.

Five years ago, Hunsaker and Merritt, both divorced, moved in together after
their mother died from breast cancer.

They say they never intended to have so many pets, but the animals found them.
"They adopted us," Hunsaker says.

Shadow found the sisters outside Hunsaker's home in the Kansas City area. At the
time, Hunsaker was living in Missouri and working as a recreational therapist in
Overland Park, Kan.

After a career and marriage that took her as far away as Hawaii and Alaska,
Hunsaker had returned to the Midwest to be close to her mother.

In 1998, as her mother's cancer became worse, Hunsaker brought her mother into
her home. Merritt, living in the Detroit area, made frequent visits.

After a walk through the neighborhood one evening, Shadow followed them home and
refused to leave. The cat sensed their mother inside, Hunsaker and Merritt say.

Shadow clung to their mother in her final days. They have pictures of their
mother, barely 100 pounds, sitting in her wheelchair with a smile on her face and
Shadow around her shoulders.

"Shadow was like glue," Hunsaker says. "I think she was the whole reason he
showed up. There had to be a reason because he did not leave her."

After their mother died, Hunsaker and Merritt sold their homes and moved in
together in Troy. For the past 16 years, Merritt, who has two grown daughters,
has been a social worker at the Children's Hospital of Michigan.

Shortly after Hunsaker made the move, she was hired by American House. In 2001,
she became manager of the Royal Oak retirement home. The dogs soon joined her on
the job.

During her career, Hunsaker has seen the therapeutic value of animals. At a
hospital in Kansas, she organized a pet visitation program for head injury
patients. She routinely stopped by the local 4H Club to bring in roosters or
rabbits. Fluke, trained to work with patients, made regular rounds.

Patients with limited motor skills unclenched their hands to pet the animals.
Those who seldom talked opened up and reminisced about an animal they had had as
children.

"The neat thing was these people were talking that normally didn't talk,"
Hunsaker says. "It was, also then, learning who these people were to get a hook
into what they could be."

The dogs have proved equally effective in the Royal Oak senior home, a two-story
brick facility tucked between apartments and homes off Crooks Road.

Each morning, the dogs pile into Hunsaker's Toyota Highlander -- the back seat
folded down and covered with a mattress and floral duvet.

At the American House, Fluke typically hangs out in the television lounge within
sight of Hunsaker's office. He's a mama's boy, she says.

Summer wanders the halls making visits. Many of the residents keep doggie treats
in their pockets or purses so they can slip them to Summer as she makes her
rounds.

The little Mi-Kis, Max and Buba, both about 6 months old, are recent additions.
Either Hunsaker or the home's activity director takes them around for visits.

Sherry Olson of Sterling Heights says the dog visits made her father, Robert
Garnett, happy in his last few months.Garnett, a retired millwright, entered the
Royal Oak home in 2001 and died before the year was finished.

Hunsaker arranged special visits for Garnett with Klara, a Boston terrier who
belongs to her niece.

Garnett was fond of Boston terriers. He had one named Duke for more than 10 years.

"When we would go to see him, he always talked about Klara," Olson says. "He
seemed to enjoy the dog's company more than ours. Maybe it's because the dog
wouldn't tell him what to do."

American House has received only positive feedback on the dogs, says Patrick
Higgins, assistant director of operations.

The company briefly transferred Hunsaker to another home, but Higgins called her
less than a year later and said he wanted her and her dogs back in Royal Oak.

With 38 units, the Royal Oak home is the smallest retirement home in the American
House chain. The dogs add to the intimate feel, says Higgins.

"The seniors love them," he says."Those dogs have 38 new masters now."

Hunsaker and Merritt hope to one day run a nonprofit organization that provides
pet visits for seniors.They've taken on Max and Buba as a pilot project for a
breed of dogs they hope is tailor-made for seniors.

Mi-Kis are small dogs, 5-10 pounds at maturity, that can be easily handled by
seniors. They're playful but have easy-going demeanors -- they don't nip at
people.

Merritt first spotted the breed while on a visit to California. Through the
Internet, Hunsaker found a breeder in Texas willing to donate the dogs to work
with the seniors.

Buba has quickly taken to his job. He often entertains residents by batting
around pieces of ice. Max, the smaller of the two, is shy, holding close to
Hunsaker or retreating to his small pet carrier. Hunsaker has to introduce him to
residents.

Hunsaker and Merritt say they hope Max and Buba work out. Fluke and Summer will
eventually have to retire.

In a few years, as the sisters approach retirement age themselves, they say
they'd like to have a set of dogs to take to senior homes throughout the Detroit
area.

As people get older, they often don't receive the loving contact they need,
Hunsaker says.

"They lose everything," she says. "They lose their home. When they're old, they
lose all their friends, family, loved ones."

Animals soak up the connection, regardless of a person's age or appearance,
Merritt says.
"In all of our conversations, in the middle of the night, we talk about the
senior citizens' route," Merritt says. "It's so needed there and appreciated,
too."

It's getting late. Hunsaker and Merritt have put away the leftovers from a dinner
of Hungry Howie's pizza. The dogs have been let out for their evening pit stop.
They'll soon be preparing for bed.

Buba and Punkin' sleep in Merritt's room. Shadow, Alley, Summer and Max go with
Hunsaker. Fluke usually sleeps in Matt's room.

Everyone has someone close to them in this house. "Nobody sleeps in crates here,"
Merritt says.


* * *






ERIC SEALS/DFPMax, a 6-month-old Mi-Ki, plays with ice cubes as Shirley Allen
watches. Allen lives at a retirement home in Royal Oak, where Max is a daily
visitor.




* * *

CANINE VISITORS WANTED



The Michigan Humane Society helps coordinate regular visits by volunteers and
their dogs to hospitals and retirement homes.

The group has about 50 volunteers in its program, but says it can't fill the
demand for pet visits.

The Humane Society could use more volunteers, says Linda Anderson, coordinator of
the pet visitation program.

All breeds of dogs are welcome, but volunteers must have their dogs certified
before visiting. The certification process tests the temperament of dogs to make
sure they can interact safely with others.

For more information about the Michigan Humane Society's program, call
248-799-7400 or e-mail
ladoghouse@aol.com.




Copyright © 2004 Detroit Free Press Inc.