Puppy Lights Up Lives of Care Home Residents
A care home nurse was reduced to tears after witnessing the overwhelmingly positive effect a police puppy had on one of her elderly patients. 11 week-old Daisy was brought in to Surbiton’s Star and Garter care home by Kingston Police in order to meet the residents as part of a presentation by Sergeant Tony Marshall on scams and crime prevention.
Daisy was taken upstairs to meet some of the care home residents who were unable to get down to meet the other police dogs due to their impaired mobility. When they placed the puppy on the bed with Muriel — who is “normally very quiet and doesn’t show much emotion” — she “lit up”.
Here’s Kingston Police’s story in full:
Yesterday Sergeant Tony Marshall from Response Team B led a presentation to the residents of the Star & Garter residential care home in Surbiton.
The nurses told Sgt Marshall that his visit had been a hot topic during residents discussions for around a month now and they were all really excited to see him.
Sgt Marshall spoke about scams and other important crime prevention messages however the excitement for all the residents in the room came from the 5 police dogs that appeared.
However, sadly some residents were unable to come downstairs due to their conditions/abilities. Sgt Marshall and the dog handler didn’t want them to miss out and decided to take 11 week old puppy Daisy to them.
Muriel (pictured) has been at the Star & Garter for a few months now and the nurses say she is normally very quiet and doesn’t show much emotion.
However when Daisy was placed on her lap in bed she lit up and gave us a big smile!
This sort of reaction is so unusual for Muriel that it caused her nurse to cry.
Kingston Police’s story seems to have touched a lot of people on Facebook.
“It was a great privilege to be able to talk to the residents of the Star & Garter,” said Sergeant Tony Marshall. “They were a great audience and asked questions at every opportunity.
“I was shocked to see Muriel’s reaction and I would like to thanks the Star & Garter for having me, it was a great opportunity and something I will remember for the rest of my life.”