Elderly adults in care facilities can experience a range of emotions, including depression and loneliness. Luckily, a furry little friend may help a senior by providing companionship and assistance with daily activities.
Benefits of Service Dogs
Dogs are able to sense human emotions and can provide love and affection to those in need. Even petting a dog releases oxytocin, which contributes to happy emotions.
Specifically, service dogs can help with the following tasks:
- Picking up dropped objects
- Alerting hearing-impaired seniors to sounds, such as smoke alarms
- Bringing an emergency phone to the owner
- Keeping away strangers
- Waking up the owner
- Turning on lights
- Providing directions to a safe walking path
Benefits For Dementia Patients
Dogs are able to read and respond to people’s impulses and emotions, making them perfect for dementia patients and their needs. Service dogs can help dementia patients by:
- Carrying a GPS locator in their collar to help families find a lost loved one and in turn, help guide the owner home
- Assisting with daily tasks such as waking up and providing reminders about medications and eating
- Evoking memories and reminiscing
- Helping them stick to a routine
- Improving socialization and offering a conversation starter
- Keeping the dementia patient from walking out of their home alone
Best Dogs For Elderly People
Here is a round-up of some good dogs for elderly people, along with some great reasons to snuggle up and love them.
- French bulldog
- Great walking partner
- Small
- Solid companion
- Shih Tzu
- Easy to train
- Minimal shedding, which makes it a great dog for elderly people with allergies
- Gets along with children
- Poodle
- Easy to train
- Playful and energetic
- Minimal shedding
- Maltese
- Lap dogs/great companions
- Easy to clean
- Small and portable, making it perfect for traveling
- Pomeranian
- Affectionate and loving
- Virtually scentless, making it ideal for indoors
- Small and easy to pick up
- Schipperke
- High energy level and exercise-ready
- Weighs 12-18 pounds
- Inquisitive
- Pembroke Welsh corgi
- Active
- Easy-going
- Intelligent
- Beagle
- Low grooming needs
- Playful
- Great with kids
- Havanese
- Coat that is easy to maintain with regular brushing
- Loving and playful
- Peaceful and gentle
