A Healing Paw
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on October 16, 2017 11:27 AM
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News-Argus/BECKY BARCLAY
Cindy Monaco puts therapy dog Mickey through his obstacle course.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Cindy Monaco and therapy dog Mickey wait for the elevator at Wayne UNC Health Care to take them upstairs to patients' rooms for a visit.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Mickey the therapy dog plays his musical toy for a patient at the hospital.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Cindy Monaco and Mickey the therapy dog visit Alice Croom in her hospital room.
Alice Croom is still grieving for her beloved terrier, Molly, who died a few weeks ago. On top of that, the 71-year-old recently ended up in the hospital for cellulitis, a bacterial skin infection.
But just for a little while, she was able to forget about her troubles because of a visit from Mickey. Mickey likes to visit patients in the hospital. He looks at them with his big, friendly eyes and goes right up to them to be petted.
Mickey is a therapy dog. The Labradoodle is just 3 years old, but knows his job well.
His owner is 64-year-old Cindy Monaco, a retired nurse.
She had dogs growing up and as an adult, but wasn't able to give them to attention she wanted to.
"I knew when I retired that I wanted a dog because I knew I'd have time to play," she said. "And I wanted a companion. My daughter and I spent two years researching. She was the one who said she thought a Labradoodle was my best bet. I was trying to have an open hear and an open mind as to what kind of dog I would get."
When Cindy and Mickey saw each other, it was love at first sight, she said. She got him at 8 weeks old, and he weighed six pounds.
"He's happy and he's sweet," she said. "But he was a wild puppy. He can get really excited."
Cindy wanted Mickey to not only be her companion, but a therapy dog for others who really needed his attention.
But she decided right up front that even if Mickey didn't pass all the training necessary to become a therapy dog, that was OK. He would still be her companion.
Training started out with a pile of books Cindy bought. Then she took him to obedience classes and when he received his good canine citizenship certificate, he was ready for dog therapy training, which they did at a training center in Cary for about three months.
The first place Cindy took Mickey was to Brookdale to visit the residents there.
He's also stopped by the library to listen to children read.
"These children need a little extra help reading," Cindy said. "I had one little boy who, after we would read, he and Mickey would play."
The Labradoodle also visits patients at the hospital here.
"We do on all the floors," Cindy said. "We start at the top and work our way down. He's good for about 90 minutes. That tends to be between 12 and 18 patients and about 30 nurses."
One of those patients recently was Alice.
"I have dogs and cats at home," she said. "I come up here and miss them. Mickey's visit just made me smile. For a little bit, it makes you forget what's going on in your hospital room."
Her little terrier, Molly, died a few weeks ago and Mickey's visit made the grieving process a little easier, Alice said.
"I see the staff stopped to pet him, too, so it's got to be good for the staff. They are work 12 hour shifts and it's day after day."
Don Hill, who has been a nurse for 17 years, said it definitely does help the hospital staff.
"Mickey just brings joy to every one of us, the patients and staff," he said. "He's just like a breath of fresh air or a little ray of sunshine. He gives us joy, even if just for a few seconds. It makes our day. When he comes, we enjoy a few minutes of puppy playtime."
Cindy said Mickey loves a group of four or five young nurses crooning over him.
"He has a couple secretaries at the hospital that he likes to lay by their feet while they work," she said.
She said Mickey was with a military veteran in the hospital recently and the veteran was telling her how lonesome he was.
"Mickey stayed with him a lot that day," Cindy said. "I told the man to whine a little, and he did and Mickey was up by his face nuzzling him in a heartbeat.
"Patients sometimes miss their own dogs so much that they cry when they see Mickey, they are so happy to have a dog visit.
"Patients who have had knee replacements have said they wanted pain medication and they didn't need it when we came into the room."
Cindy said she wants to add Kitty Askins Hospice Center and the Peggy Seegars Senior Center to the list of places Mickey visits.
"He's brand new having been doing this only 11 months, so I don't want to burn him out or overwhelm him," she said.
Even when Mickey is not officially on duty as a therapy dog, he still brings smiles to people's faces.
"I noticed that when he's in the car with me, he can engage people in other cars at the stoplight," Cindy said. "He does it through eye contact, and they don't look away. And before the light changes, he has smiling drivers. Less road rage."
Mickey has that same affect on people when he goes to the park.
At home, Mickey will usually play for about 90 minutes a day. That is in addition to walks with Cindy.
He likes to play hide and seek. He also likes food puzzles. Cindy put tennis balls in the cups of an old muffin tin and hides treats under the balls. Mickey will toss the balls out of the cups with his nose then devour the treats.
Mickey has his own bed, but doesn't like it and instead sleeps in the bed with Cindy and her husband, Larry.
"He's a good little snuggler," she said.
"He's my little bestie. He hangs out with me all day long. He gives me unconditional love."
Cindy constantly praises Mickey for sitting pretty, doing something nice, obeying her command and other things.
And her husband will even cook scrambled eggs for Mickey on the weekends.