When Jo lived at home the family had a dog, which she liked to take for a walk and was great company when she was at home on her own. She taught it tricks which she was very proud of and often spoke about.
When Jo moved into her own home the landlord stated that they were not allowed to have pets.
Jo really missed the company of animals, and with support from the staff they looked into whether Jo could volunteer at an animal centre. Jo used her iPad to go onto the website and find where the nearest centre was and with a little staff support she contacted them to arrange a visit to the centre to have a look around and see if it was something that she would like to be involved in, and to see how she could actually get involved. Then Jo and the staff put some questions together on what Jo would like to know before the visit took place.
However, after meeting with the staff at the centre Jo realised that because she used a wheelchair some of the jobs that she was interested in, she was unable to do. Jo took this on board, but still wanted to do something that involved animals.
Jo approached HULA and was faced with some barriers, as Jo wanted to do more than just working in the office.
Jo continued to show an interest in animals and the staff team recognised how important this was to her. More conversations about animals took place and it was clear Jo was determined not to give up and the staff really wanted to come up with a creative solution. They then had an idea... staff approached Jo with the possibility of taking their dogs for a walk. Jo was thrilled and really excited. She went out and bought a lead, poop bags and of course some doggy biscuits so that she could teach the dogs new tricks.
Jo was spending time with Dawn and Gemma’s dogs, and taking them for walks so when Zoe, a new member of staff came to work with us Jo naturally asked her to bring her dog `Daisy` in. Daisy is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and Jo has now taught Daisy to ‘sit’ and ‘wait’ and this is all rewarded with a biscuit.
Jo and Daisy have a real bond and Daisy gets really excited when she is approaching Jo`s home. Jo even likes Daisy to sit on her lap when she is off to Tesco in her wheelchair.
I’m so pleased that the staff team recognised how important this was to Jo, and that they tried hard to come up with an idea that has enabled Jo to spend time with and train dogs.
Jo continues to request that Zoe brings Daisy to work with her once a week...after all, there is always more to learn!
Elaine Forbes
Head of Service
Milton Keynes