While walking the dogs is a perk of the job, Babiski (left) said one her favourite parts is spending time with the seniors. (Lauryn Mackenzie/ CHLY 101.7FM)

A group in the Nanaimo-Oceanside area is calling for more volunteers to help make sure seniors can keep their dogs at home.

ElderDog Canada is a charity group that pairs volunteers with local seniors to help support the seniors' dogs.

Volunteers walk dogs for seniors, pick up dog food and bring it to the senior’s home, drive the senior and their dogs to vet appointments, and help with general hygiene tasks for the dogs.

ElderDog also runs a fostering program for older dogs who have lost their human companion.

ElderDog Nanaimo-Oceanside is one of the largest ‘pawds’ in Canada with almost 100 seniors and 300 volunteers.

But even with a large number of volunteers, the list of dogs waiting to be connected with a new walking partner is continuing to grow.

Susan Timbrell has been using the service for over three years.

“I heard about ElderDog as a charity to help seniors keep their dogs at home, and I wanted to actually volunteer for them by fostering, but I had some health issues, so I wasn't able to do what I wanted to do,” Timbrell said. “I had my own dog, Toby, at the time, and so I actually asked if I could get a walker for Toby. When Toby passed on, I asked them, I said, ‘I would like to get another dog, would they walk my new dog,’ and they said yes, they would. So then I've got Jaxxsen walked six days a week.”

She said she was able to adopt Jaxxsen two and a half years ago through the ElderDog foster program.

“So I'm very glad I got him,” she said. “He's a real sweet dog, and he's my family.”

Jaxxsen lives with Timbrell and her cat Moshi in their apartment.

“He's very cuddly, he'll come on my lap and put his head on my chest and just look into my eyes, and it's like, "Oh, I just love you, Jaxxsen.’ He loves to play with his toys,” she said. “It's really weird, most dogs are territorial inside, he's not. He'll allow other dogs and people to come in, play with his toys, sleep in his bed. Outside it's a different story.”

Currently Jaxxsen gets walked six times a week by a group of volunteers who take him around the neighbourhood.

After walking the dog, some volunteers even stay and have longer visits with Timbrell to keep her company throughout the week.

Timbrell explained she would love to have Jaxxsen walk seven days a week but there are currently not enough volunteers to do so.

Cocoa Bean (left), Carl (middle), and Jaxxsen (right) on a walk with Babiski and Simpson (Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7FM)

“I love the walkers. The fact that they helped me out in more ways than one. Dogs are everything to me, they always have been,” Timbrell said. “As I don't have any family and never have, it's my pets that are everything to me.”

Katherine Babiski and Megan Simpson are two volunteers who regularly take Jaxxsen on his walks.

Joining them on the walk is Babiski’s own dog Carl and Simpson’s own dog Cocoa Bean who have both become best friends with Jaxxsen.

Babiski has been volunteering for ElderDog for two years now.

“I had some significant health issues some years ago. I had six surgeries in five years, and I was very fortunate that I had nearby friends and family and neighbours that helped me with my dogs,” Babiski said. “But it occurred to me when I heard about ElderDog what it must be like for people who are really struggling to care for their dogs, if they have to give up their dogs just because they're not well or injured or need surgery, that would have been worse than the cancer. I thought this is a perfect fit for me.”

Babiski spends around seven hours a week walking four dogs for ElderDog.

Simpson joined ElderDog around four years ago wanting to find a fun way to spend time with dogs.

“I moved out of my family's home after high school, and I missed having dogs in the house, and I had a bunch of roommates at the time, so it wasn't really gonna make sense [to get one],” Simpson said. “It was a good way to get to hang out with pets and still have them in my life without having full responsibility.”

Currently Jaxxsen is the only dog Simpson walks and she walks him once a week.

While walking the dogs is a perk of the job, Babiski said one her favourite parts is spending time with the seniors.

“I really like to spend some time with Susan as well. That's the other bonus about it, is that some people who are elderly and might have some health issues, they get eyeballs on them on a regular basis to make sure everybody's okay,” Babiski said. “It keeps the dogs out of the shelters, and in a home where they are already cared for and loved. The shelters are overflowing with pets that need good homes, and these ones already have good homes.”

Simpson agrees that the most important part of volunteering is making sure the pets stay with their family.

“Just the thought of anyone having to give up a pet that's become a family member just because they're having a little bit of trouble at one point in their lives is just so unfair,” Simpson said. “So it's great to be able to help prevent that, and then just getting to talk to the owners of dogs, who I probably wouldn't necessarily meet otherwise, but have all been just lovely people, and getting to spend some time outside with pups.”

Sharon Speevak is the communications coordinator for ElderDog Nanaimo-Oceanside. She has been volunteering in this role since the start of the local chapter in 2020.

“It was a great combination for me of two things that I love, which is dogs, and entering myself into senior years, I sort of have an affinity for the problems that start to come with ageing,” Speevak said. “I just thought it was a really simple solution to a significant problem, which is that seniors are so often forced to give up their dogs prematurely, when with just a bit of community support they could stay a family for years longer.”

She said the service is beneficial to seniors who can feel guilty if they are not able to give their dogs all of the care they need.

“I mean, they can feed them, they can love them, they can cuddle them, they can watch their favourite shows together, but they can no longer do long walks, or it's hard for seniors to get out and buy big bags of dog food and schlep them home,” Speevak said. “Maybe they've even lost their driver's licence, so just getting to a vet or a groomer is hard. So this is a perfect service where you get to keep your dog and bring in someone who just helps you in those areas where you need it.”

Speevak explained they currently have 88 seniors who need full time service. That means they need at least five days a week of support.

A number of seniors only occasionally need support for things like taking their pets to the vet or groomers.

While the local ‘pawd’ has over 300 volunteers, Speevak said that is still not enough

“If you think of 88 people who need services five days a week, you're talking about in excess of 900 hours,” she said. “So if you have 300 volunteers, and they're only doing, say, one shift, and we do have volunteers who will take more than one day, we currently have probably about 26 or 27 dogs waitlisted, waiting for people to come walk them.”

Speevak said she hopes now that the weather is getting nicer they can get more people signing up to volunteer as the need is huge.

More information about the ElderDog program can be found on their website at elderdog.ca. As well, those interested in volunteering or arranging the service for seniors can contact the Nanaimo-Oceanside ‘pawd’ by email nanaimosm@elderdog.ca or by calling 250-729-2795.

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.