When I met Tom Hutton (last week's Neighbourhood Hero), I also met his wife Marie Hutton and Sounder (this week's Neighbourhood Heroes).

Marie and Tom are both teachers who retired from NDSS in 1996. That's when Sounder joined their family. Sounder is a Golden Retriever.

Sometime later, Marie saw an ad in Canadian Living magazine for the St. John's Ambulance Therapy Dog program and she called to see if the program had been established in Nanaimo (it hadn't been). On the same day, having seen the same ad, Chris Kazial made a similar call.

When the two got together, the Nanaimo St. John's Ambulance Therapy Dog Program was born.

Soon they had a total of eleven dogs participating. Today there are 25 dogs and 23 handlers in the group and new programs have been created in Victoria, Duncan and Courtney.

I had never heard about therapy dogs until six years ago when I was visiting a very sick friend in hospital and a therapy dog arrived for a visit.

When I saw the way my friend responded to this four-legged visitor as he hopped onto her bed and curled up beside her, there was no doubt which one of us was the most beneficial to her ... and it wasn't me.

Watching this little poodle do it's magic was simply amazing.

Research has shown that stroking and touching a dog lowers blood pressure, calms the mentally disturbed and refreshes the minds of the confused.

The St. John's Ambulance Therapy Dog pamphlet says, "Unlike the best intentioned humans, therapy dogs are completely accepting of people to whom they have been introduced ... They offer an unconditional affection that is beneficial for a person's well being."

There is no doubt that people need physical touch, the kind of touch that goes beyond the neutral touching involved in professional care.

Therapy dogs provide an opportunity for patients to satisfy that essential human need to touch and be touched.

Marie Hutton puts a lot of time and energy into coordinating the therapy dog program in Nanaimo so what does she get back for all this effort?

First of all, Marie says she learns every day from the seniors she visits, especially about local history, and she gets a lot of personal satisfaction knowing that she and the other 22 handlers are helping so many people, people in fifteen different seniors residences and other facilities spread between Chemainus and Parksville.

Sounder loves the experience too.

You can tell that Sounder is ideal for this job as he approaches you with his tail wagging a mile a minute ... that's the same tail that got him into trouble early in his therapy dog career.

From the beginning, he loved visiting seniors in their rooms and showed his joy by enthusiastically wagging his tail. In fact one day his tail wagging was so enthusiastic that he knocked a table over.

As Marie was getting the table and his rear end back under control, Sounder's front end was busy getting him in trouble.

When things finally seemed to be settled down, Marie found Sounder chewing on what she thought might be a cookie that had been dropped under the bed - It turned out to be a set of false teeth.

If you and your dog would like to join the St. Johns Ambulance Therapy Dog Program, call 741-0102. For your information, the SPCA has a similar pet-visiting program that includes cats and other pets. There is also the Pacific Pets program in Courtney and another organization called PADS.