They say not all heroes wear capes - and that is especially true with one Bridgend therapy dog who has been truly brightening the lives of people around him. Loving labradoodle, Idris has been helping a whole range of communities, from hospitals to the Amazon workplace.
Owner Louise Franklin bought Idris from a dog breeder as a tiny puppy, but had never had any plans for him to be used as a therapy dog, until she realised that he was different from the rest. She said: "He was just a family pet and then I could see the effect that he had on people - people say he's very well trained but I don't think it's the fact that he's trained, I feel like it's his nature rather than anything else."
It all started in lockdown when Louise noticed how much her mum lit up when he was in the room and what a difference a visit from Idris would make. Being elderly and having to isolate alone, it meant that she couldn't have anybody close to her except from when he would arrive.
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Louise explained: "We'd be sitting far away from her in the garden, but the guidelines meant that she could actually touch Idris and see him up close and I could see that was really helping her. And during the lockdowns, Cariad Dog Therapy was doing 'dogs at your doorstep' with isolated people, so you'd go with a very long lead and the dog would go up to the doorstep and have a bit of a fuss, and that's how we initially got involved."
Cariad Pet Therapy is a registered not-for-profit Community Interest Company established in September 2018, and they currently have over 80 therapy dog teams in different areas of Wales as well as some parts of the UK, allowing pairs like Louise and Idris to do what they do. The powerful pair now often work with autistic teenagers, older people and visit students at Beechwood College in Penarth regularly to provide a level of enrichment to their days.
Explaining what makes Idris stand out from the crowd, Louise noted: “He’s very very calm and I think that’s the most important thing but he’s very good at adapting to the different visits he does, and he's very interested in people and gives them an opportunity to engage. Different children have very different needs and we’re there to help the staff as well... he just seems to know what people need.
“There’s one particular girl he visits who’s 12 and she’s so exhausted she can’t move and so he will just jump up on her bed and if she’s exhausted he will just lie down next to her and go to sleep cuddling her. Sometimes she’ll be out and about and he’ll put his paws up on the wheelchair and fuss her.
“He’ll lie down next to children that can’t move but he’ll equally run around chasing a tricycle of somebody that wants him to do that so he seems to be able to sense when people need a bit of a cwtch.”
Louise works at Fonmon castle in Barry, but when she is not doing her day job tries to dedicate as much time as she can to taking Idris around to put a smile on people’s faces. “If I didn't have to earn a living I would do this full time I would.”
But it seems the work never stops for Idris, who still finds a way to make himself useful when he’s not on an official visit. Louise added: “Even when I am at work doing my actual job, more than once, I’ve found him sneaking into meetings and he’ll just go and sit by people that he thinks need a little bit of extra comfort. Seeing the difference that he makes to people is just quite incredible.”
All of the dogs that work for the charity belong to the volunteers that work directly with them. To join the charity, they have to pass different assessments to make sure they have the qualities that make them the ideal therapy dog, like making sure their behaviour is appropriate for different environments.
Their main visiting settings include the NHS, Amazon, private hospitals and care homes, schools, universities and colleges and referrals to combat social isolation in the elderly. The charity has been recognised over the years with various awards, including the Wellbeing in Wales Award at the Welsh Charity Awards 2022, the Animal Loneliness Champion at 1 million minutes ITV GMB for 2021 and the Mental Health and Wellbeing Award at Health & Care Awards, 2020.
Robert Thomas is the quality and development manager at Cariad Pet Therapy, and has come across all kinds of dogs who have made connections with humans over the years, but when asked which ones have something particularly special, Idris was at the top of his list. Robert said: "Idris is a very special dog.
"The work he does is remarkable. Some of the feedback has been great and Louise is lovely and it shows that it is a team approach with a lot of compassion and empathy and that's really important - we find it's a privilege to be able to help people.
“There’s an unwritten magic that dogs provide… There’s just this joyous predictability in a sense because dogs always look the same, they don’t wear different clothes like we do. When you go home and see your dog they’re going to be doing the same thing they did yesterday so I think that level of predictability and routine people like."
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