From Today
By Jen Reeder
Every day, Pat Smith’s rescue dog, Brady, puts on a show for her.
Before she gives him a meal, she says, “Circles,” and he dances around and around. Then the mixed-breed pup sits politely until she puts down his bowl and says, “OK.”
During the daytime, Brady zooms in and out of his doggie doors, frequently checking on Smith or asking to play ball or head out on a walk. At night, he cuddles in her lap while she watches TV. When she announces, “Time to go to bed,” he immediately runs outside to do his business and then hurries into his crate to wait for a bedtime cookie.
“He’s a wonderful companion,” Smith, 71, told TODAY. “He’s very active, but he really is my best buddy. No matter where I go in my house, he follows me. He’s a real comfort to me.”
Smith, a resident of Grand Ledge, Michigan, adopted Brady two years ago from a local Humane Society. Because she is over 60 years old, the shelter told her she qualified for a $100 adoption discount from Pets for the Elderly, a national nonprofit that offers grants to participating shelters.
The retired middle school math teacher was delighted by the news and said it’s a helpful program. She credits her energetic dog with getting her “moving around a lot more,” and hopes other seniors will consider adopting dogs.
“I just think everybody should have a pet,” she said.
Since its inception in 1992, Pets for the Elderly has paid a portion of pet adoption fees for nearly 100,000 “seniors” aged 60 and up from more than 50 shelters in 34 states. Now the group is alerting shelters of a new option to help cover the costs of routine veterinary care, surgeries, pet food, grooming and in-home visits, in which shelter employees check in on senior citizens caring for adopted pets.
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