aH, the nursing home i go to is very casual. Absolutely anyone visiting a patient can bring their dog with them, they don't ask a thing, and the staff all welcomes all dogs. This is actually quite common place for nursing home rules, (im a nurse) to allow pets to visit. There are no rules about vaccinations, no checks are done whatsoever, no certificates req'd.
Not that i'd recommend that, no! but most nursing homes are super busy, under-staffed, etc, and they are happy to see some sunshine coming down the hall.
BUT YOU ARE RIGHT, IS GOOD IDEA TO BRING RECORDS, in case anyone DOES ever ask to see them!!
Lil ol ladies come in with their lap dogs, to visit with the other lil old ladies, etc etc. Just anyone can bring any dog into a nursing home to visit their relative or pals,
but, if unsure,
call ahead for any rules which might apply. (Hospitals IS a whole other deal, and DO have rules). Certainly, if a dog acts up, i'd bet the facility would ask the dog to not be brought back, but, i think most ppl know if their dog can/can not behave. In all my years as a nurse, i've never heard of such a case, though. I think ppl who have dogs who are human-aggressive know it, and would not want to bring their dog to a place chockful of humans.
All dogs are quite welcome there, although, i rarely ever see another dog there but Buddy, (which is WHY i can bring Buddy there, if the place were chockful of dogs, Buddy would be a brat and he could not go.)
I don't have a set up like yours, where i am in room with a bunch of people at a set time. I'm really just a visitor WITH a dog, I'm not there as official therapy dog.
I just arrive when i arrive, and the halls are usually filled with wheelchairs full of people, and some who can walk, too.
I haven't much met anyone who didn't want to pet or even snuggle Buddy up, (luckily i have trained Buddy to snuggle, he didn't knowhow when i first got him) and they ALL sort of clammor to get Buddy's attention to pet him. Maybe the one-on-one thing facilitates more freedom for them to snuggle a dog, as opposed to the group setting? who knows.
Plus, Buddy usually smells very very good, too, hard to resist i think.
So we stroll the halls on the way to my sister's room,
and everyone just loves on Buddy. As we go by bedrooms, some ppl who couldn't get up that day, or that i know from visiting there so often, will call out to see Buddy going by, and so we go in their rooms and they love on Buddy and laugh to hear whatever funny thing he has done that week.
ONce we get to my sister's room, i stay in there with her for hours sometimes, taking Buddy out for breaks outside now and then. Lol, each trip to the door, more ppl want to pet him, up and down the halls, but he LOVES it, and thinks he is all that by the end of the day!
Often other residents wander into my sister's room to say, "I heard Buddy was here!" and so on, so my sister enjoys that, too, all the visitors to her room.
On days that she gets put into her special wheelchair which holds her head up, etc, she LOVES going up and down the hall with Buddy, like a lil showoff, ha ha!!
This is a good set up for us, just super casual. I get over there at least once a week, sometims more often, sometimes wayyyyyyyyy more often depending on what is going on with her that week....
How long do i stay??? Well, depending on why i stopped by to see her, i might only stay 30 minutes to do for my sister what i need to do, (often her hair!! ha ha) drop her off one of her favorite rootbeer floats, sometimes i just pop in for half an hour, check on things.
or i might stay an afternoon. Buddy just sleeps on the floor if i do stay a long time in her room with her, so it's not like he's being handled nonstop for hours, haha! Which frankly, i don't think Buddy would mind that a bit! He LOVES EVERYONE, and does love all that praise.
It's just a visit, really. But bringing Buddy always makes it more fun for me and for her. He brings happiness along with him, into a place that doesn't quite have enough of that.
anyone reading along, who has a WELL BEHAVED human-friendly dog who actually enjoys att'n from humans, and has relatives or friends in nursing homes,
should call and ask if they can bring their dog next time they visit their relative. ONLY dogs who are SUPER COMFORTABLE with humans close by them should be brought in, as many times the halls are narrow in nursing homes, and unexpected human contact is quite comon there. If your dog does NOT enjoy ALL humans of all types, do not consider bringing your dog to visit your relative in a nursing home. It is wall to wall people there.
I'm also very very lucky that Buddy is not a human-sniffer, never was. I did not train him that, but Buddy is very respectful, and does not sniff at people. (I think that would get annoying for the residents if the dog was a major sniffer)
ALSO, ppl bringing a dog to visit their relative in a nursing home do not HAVE TO share their dog the way i do with Buddy, it is quite possible, to bring your dog in, and visit only the 1 person you went in there to see.
But both Buddy and i enjoy oldsters very much, and so we DO choose to stop and talk to everyone who wants to pet Buddy, and we will visit them for as long as they want to pet Buddy or tell me things about their old dogs of years gone by.
but we are not truly therapy dog, at all, just a visitor dog.
TOOO CUTE ABOUT THE LADY WHO STORES AWAY CHICKEN!! ADORABLE!! JUKES I THINK WHAT YOU ARE DOING IS REALLY SUPER ADMIRABLE!!!! I'm really just visiting my own sister and sharing my dog along the way,
but you are donating time and love for total strangers,
and the world needs more people like you!!!!