A puppy trained in the South Cariboo has become the newest accredited facilities dog at Canuck Place, where she will support kids with life-threatening illnesses.
Gaia, a two-year-old lab-retriever cross was recently selected from dozens of canine candidates for the job to succeed the hospice’s beloved Poppy, who died of cancer in 2018 after 11 years of service. Both dogs were puppy-raised by Catherine McLaughlin and Ian Mitchell, who live at Sheridan Lake and are long-time volunteers with the Pacific Assistance Dogs Society (PADS).
“It’s just a coincidence but quite an amazing one that the two dogs that have gone to Canuck Place, we’ve raised,” said McLaughlin, a retired psychologist. “We’re incredibly proud but also extremely grateful to have this opportunity with PADS.”
Gaia, who was born a “singleton” - the only one in the litter - spent the first year of her life in the Cariboo. As part of her training, she was required to be with her handlers 24 hours a day, accompanying McLaughlin to her counselling office in 100 Mile House and to shops and businesses around the district.
McLaughlin said Gaia was like her “co-therapist,” and is grateful to the individuals and businesses in 100 Mile House who allowed her “full access” into their businesses. Gaia was later sent to the Lower Mainland for more advanced training, such as riding the SkyTrain and being in crowds.
She was chosen for her new role because her “loving and gentle demeanour, combined with impeccable training, will enable to her support children and families facing unimaginable circumstances,” according to Canuck Place. She will work alongside nurse practitioner Camara Van Breemen and nurse Brenda Dewar to support both children and their families as well as patient care in home and hospital consults.
Accredited facilities dogs are different from therapy dogs, in that they are certified and work 40 hours a week at an intensely emotional job.
“We had a sense she was both unusually sensitive and attuned to people and just really sweet. People are drawn to her,” said McLaughlin, who moved to the South Cariboo with Mitchell five years ago. “It’s very emotionally tough work. It requires not just a kind of sensitivity but a dog that is resilient and can shake it off afterward.”
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108 Mile resident Sandi Matheson noticed these traits when McLaughlin brought Gaia to visit her husband Angus, who was dying of cancer in 2019. Sandi said Gaia immediately went to Matheson and wouldn’t leave his side.
“It was a sense she had that he needed her,” Sandi said. “We loved her to death. She was a sweetheart. I’m sure she is going to do wonderful. She made Angus feel so good. Right from the beginning, you knew she had it in her.”
Tara Doherty, marketing and communications manager with PADS, said it costs about $30,000 to breed and raise a puppy for the job. Just like people, she said, it takes a certain type of dog to work in a hospice.
“Gaia was just a really nice fit for them and the timing was right,” she said. “A lot of people were eager to get a dog back in there.”
Tarnia Taverner, the hospice’s CEO. said Gaia’s presence at Canuck Place has brought “joy, happiness and stability in a very unstable time.”
McLaughlin, who got involved in the PADS program 15 years after Mitchell’s mother needed a hearing assistance dog, said it’s sad to give up a dog after training but it’s heartwarming to see them make a difference. She and Mitchell have since raised eight puppies. Their first one was released as a pet, while another accredited facilities dog, Bowyer, still lives with them because he won’t bond with anyone else. McLaughlin, who does volunteer PTSD work with PADS, takes Bowyer along to help out.
She is also puppy training a new dog, Campbell, who needed to get out of the city for a while. While she gets really attached to the puppies, McLaughlin said she trusts PADS to match the puppies with the right jobs.
“One the one hand it’s heartbreaking but on the other hand, you’re hopeful,” she said. “People tell you these dogs have changed their lives. It’s good practice in letting go.”
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kelly.sinoski@100milefreepress.net
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