Recently I was in Missouri and learned about the WAGS animal program: Wonderful Animals Giving Support. The program was started by Carol Parmenter through the University of Missouri Extension. WAGS presently operates in Vernon, Bates, and Platte counties. A feature article by Heather Berry in Rural Missouri, February 2008, reports that the "goal with WAGS is to educate, promote growth and enhance healing to the spirit and body through the use of animal-assisted activities."

The group currently has twenty-five volunteer teams that go to nursing homes, libraries, hospitals, and schools to offer support. A team includes the volunteer and the animal. To become a team, the animals are evaluated on how they handle strangers, petting, crowds, and distractions and the volunteers are evaluated on how they enjoy being around people. Volunteers must keep their animals clean and stay up-to-date with veterinary visits. The team is certified by WAGS and must attend workshops and be recertified annually. WAGS is open to all kinds of domestic animals. Their most unique animal now is a pony who wears gripper-soled shoes when appearing in public!

What do the volunteer teams actually do? Tasks include listening to a child read or allowing an Alzheimer's patient to pet the animals and reminisce about animals they loved long ago. For example, at Benton Elementary in Nevada, Missouri, the volunteer teams visit an after-care program called Bee-A-Reader. Second graders take turns reading for ten minutes to a furry animal. Their teacher reports that "the pet loves the attention, and the kids seem to be more at ease reading to an animal. The kids actually get excited about reading. They can hardly wait until it's their turn."

Do you know of any examples where cats are used successfully in animal-assisted activities?

Happy Purrs!