New group's goal: Turn heartache into happiness

[bigdoglover]

Sentinel

By Patricia A. Miller

It all began with Beethoven. Animal lover Meryinda Fuellhart got an emergency call from a worker at the Associated Humane Societies' Newark shelter.

"She said we have a 12-year-old Lab whose folks are losing their home and they need to move," Fuellhart said. "It was just heartwrenching. She said, 'He's dying, he's not thriving, we have to get him out of here.' "

Fuellhart took the heartbroken chocolate Labrador retriever home that night.

"He was a mess of patches of dry skin; his hair was falling out," she said. "I thought he was going to die in my rec room."

Her daughter, who works for Sunrise Senior Living, put out an emergency e-mail to all Sunrise facilities in New Jersey. She got a hit from the Edgewater facility. Today, Beethoven is happily settled in his new home, surrounded by residents who love him and spoil him to pieces.

"He's right by my desk," said receptionist Rosina Sorrentino. He's a joy. Not only do we love him, he loves us. He has made such a difference."

Sorrentino often works into the early evening.

"When the residents are going to bed, they come to say good night to me," she said. "They go over and they kiss him and pet him. He'll go to their rooms."

It's a happy ending Fuellhart wants to see repeated. She and Woodbridge resident Melissa Peterson have formed "New Beginnings," a nonprofit volunteer organization dedicated to finding homes for unwanted or abandoned senior dogs.

The new group will hold an informational session at 7 p.m on July 18 at the Fords Public Library at 211 Ford Ave. in Fords. The main goal is to recruit volunteers for all phases of the project, Peterson said.

"We are just starting out," she said. "We have an opportunity to place 30 dogs in 30 facilities, and we want to make sure we can get it done properly. We need good people to do that."

The group is looking for people who know how to write grants, people who can do fundraisers, people to look for suitable pets in animal shelters and assessors who will go into the senior homes and do an assessment of the home's population, activity level, tolerance level and determine who would take care of the animal.

"We recommend a primary caretaker," Fuellhart said. "It's up to the staff to maintain the activities of the dog. It's usually a dog lover, somebody who will watch out and make sure the vet visits are done on time."

"That's why we need an assessor to look at the people who are running it," she said. "There's a big turnover. Sometimes the people who are assigned to a dog may not be there in a year. We need people to follow up to make sure who is in charge."

Older dogs are often a "perfect match" for seniors, Fuellhart said.

"They are house-trained, are used to being with families, have better manners and not a huge amount of energy," she said.

But older dogs are often the hardest to place and the most traumatized by being given up or abandoned, Fuellhart said.

Beethoven was their first.

"If you could have seen him before, he was so depressed," she said. "He was heartbroken. They've only known a home with people who love them and they wind up in a concrete pen, with smells and noise."

New Beginnings also needs to raise money for full physicals for dogs before they are placed in a nursing home.

"This way we can send them knowing what the issues will be," she said. "And we've expanded our horizons, including grief counseling and follow-up after the dogs die. That's why nobody wants them. They don't want the emotional attachment and then have to put the dog down. Some of the residents are going to need help with that."

It took Beethoven about two months to come out of his shell. Now he's a different dog, Sorrentino said.

"It's like he's going in reverse," he said. "He's going like a puppy. He's playful. He's adorable. He loves to be petted."

The residents at the Edgewater facility have gotten very attached to the dog.

"They love him to death," she said. "They pet him. Things they wouldn't do before - they bend over and pet him. A lot of them are not that flexible, but they make the attempt to play with Beethoven. He's a joy."