KYLE — The Philomena, an assisted living and memory care facility in Kyle, has a new resident: a 7-year-old shih tzu named Chewy.
On Jan. 31, Chewy was found wandering the streets of North Austin by an employee, said Priscilla Duran, a dog mom and executive director of The Philomena. She was notified of the dog and took it to the vet, where they scanned for and found a microchip. Duran attempted to call the owner on file, but she explained that, unfortunately, the previous owner responded that he no longer wanted the dog and blocked the number Duran called from. After calling several times, from different numbers, she was given the same response and blocked again.
“[Chewy] was in pretty bad shape, just appearance-wise,” said Duran. “He’s a shih tzu and so, [his hair] had been completely overgrown. His hair was matted to the point that it looked painful and he looked like he’d been living on the street for a few months.”
Originally, one of the residents at The Philomena was going to adopt Chewy, but after Duran took him to the vet and groomer and really bonded with him, they decided that he belonged with her.
“I said, ‘What if he is our dog,’” explained Duran. “Because at that point, it became very clear that he’s so good with people; he’s good with other dogs. He was already house-broken, well mannered [and] didn’t bark at anything. [He] doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. He’s just the chillest, coolest little guy.”
During his time with Duran at The Philomena, Chewy has really made a difference with the residents.
“I’ve not seen him pass anybody who does not grin ear to ear by seeing this little dog,” said Duran. “Even in memory care, when words are not enough, you realize, with an animal and somebody with dementia, that words aren’t needed … Dogs are just proof that actions speak louder than words. That’s what I’ve always said because they don’t speak, but you know how much they love you. Pair that with dementia — where they have that difficulty with words anyway — and we put these two together, there’s a lot that’s said, even if there isn’t an ability to communicate verbally.”
While Chewy has not been trained as a therapy or service dog, he does provide comfort and joy to residents, specifically those in memory care.
“Just seeing residents light up and [for those] in memory care, residents light up who normally don’t try to speak, who suddenly do try to talk because they’re trying to communicate with him or tell me how happy [they are] with him,” said Duran. “Dementia is such a self-isolating disease and, especially as the disease progresses, they tend to go further and further in and from the caregiver standpoint, we usually do a lot to try and bring them out of it. The work is cut in half with a dog like Chewy present because they’re trying to interact with him.”
To see more of Chewy and to follow his story, visit www.facebook.com/ThePhilomena.
