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A Dog Story: Marian Cohen and her Dog Molly

Screen Shot 2016-06-06 at 11.26.33 AMMy name is Marian Cohen and my dog is named Molly. Molly is a very calm and delightful Shih Tzu ‘rescued’ and adopted by my husband and me seven years ago when she was just over two years old. We were told by the organization that brought her to Vancouver that she had been having puppies at a puppy mill in northern BC and was no longer wanted by them. When she came to us she didn’t know how to play with toys, run after a ball or fetch a stick. She was scared of noisy buses and trucks and didn’t know how to negotiate stairs or get into an elevator. In time she adapted to city life and going out for walks. However, her favorite pastimes are meeting and greeting people, laying on the couch and watching my every move!

I was born in England but eventually immigrated to Israel where I lived for twenty years. Ten years ago I came to Vancouver to visit two of my children who had moved here. I fell in love with Vancouver, and after meeting and marrying Len Cohen, settled down to a new and rewarding life.

I joined Jewish Senior Alliance and worked on many projects for several years in the organization. I also volunteered at Beth Israel synagogue in various ways, including being active in the Women’s League whilst it was still functioning.

After Molly had been with us for a while I saw that St. Johns Ambulance was running a Therapy Dog Program and I thought that this was something that would work for me and Molly. Molly and I were checked out by the program to determine whether Molly had the qualifications to be a Therapy dog. Well, it seems we both passed with flying colors, and we started out to volunteer at Crofton Manor and later at the Louis Brier home where we visited with residents, many of whom had dementia and limited cognition. These residents delighted in Molly’s visits and greeted her with a smile and their memories of pets from many years ago.

After we had been volunteering for several years, I requested that Molly and I be further assessed by the Therapy program so that we could qualify to visit children. After Molly was assessed as suitable to visit children, we spent some time at the local library in the Paws 4 Stories program, where children came to read to Molly!

Then I was very excited when we were accepted to visit children at BC Children’s Hospital, Vancouver. The dog therapy program had been running very successfully for a few years with a limited number of dogs, and the hospital was looking for an additional small dog, who could visit with children confined to their beds.

I am at Children’s Hospital with Molly every Thursday afternoon and there have been so many rewarding episodes—seeing Molly getting on the children’s beds, being cuddled and petted and photographed with them. I tell the children that Molly is a therapy dog visiting them to give them love and petting time, but that Molly believes that the therapy is for her! Molly makes herself comfortable on the children’s beds, and often rolls over to have her tummy rubbed. Some of the children spend many days away from their homes, and some come from the distant northern parts of BC and really miss the pets they have left at home. Last year we were asked to accompany a small boy who needed a CT scan and who was very nervous after a bad experience with a previous scan. Molly accompanied him and sat on the bed with him by the scanning machine until he settled down. When we are walking the wards at Children’s Hospital, we often get requests from the doctors and nurses who want some time with Molly.

Molly has become a wonderful companion and Therapy dog and visiting the children at the hospital is the most rewarding part of my week. My grandchildren called Molly an old people’s dog, as she doesn’t do anything exciting. However, they now agree that giving and getting love from adults and children is a great achievement.

If you have a loving, calm dog and would like to be part of this program, you should contact your local St. Johns Ambulance Therapy Dog Program. You will find this to be a double-edged reward: rewarding for yourself and for the people and children who interact with your dog.

Interview by Edith Shier