Oz Mengine wasn't always a productive member of canine society. When veterinarian Tam Mengine rescued the young Siberian Husky from euthanasia, following a hit-and-run accident in 2004, Oz was a 9-month old juvenile delinquent who had already estranged his first two owners. Within a week of bringing Oz home, Dr. Mengine understood their frustration. Oz had chewed up the living room furniture, used the carpets as his toilet, and literally yanked her off her feet more than once on their daily walks. Despite his problems, however, Oz's blue eyes, bushy tail, and constant exuberant grin made him a charmer, and he loved everyone that he met. Dr. Mengine suspected that Oz would thrive as a house pet, if he just had a job to do. After a few months of training and discipline, she contacted Pals For Life, the local pet therapy organization. With their help, the former Bad Dog is now bringing joy & affection (wrapped in a cloud of white fur) to the local people who need it most.

Pals For Life is the Philadelphia-area's largest pet therapy group, performing over 700 visits at more than 70 different facilities each year – many of them on or around the Main Line. Founded by Director Paula Kielich in 1985, the program has steadily expanded, thanks to a large base of volunteers, both human and animal. While most of the scheduled visits are to nursing homes and rehabilitation centers, there are also children's programs at local libraries, and stress-relief visits to local campuses during final exams. Most of the visiting pets are dogs and cats that belong to volunteers; however Pals For Life also works with guinea pigs, rabbits, and most recently a miniature horse! And you don't need to own a pet to volunteer with the group. As part of its mission to help pets as well as people, Pals For Life fosters kittens via the SPCA, and takes them on therapy visits until they can be placed in permanent homes. Suitable shelter dogs are also borrowed for the length of a visit. Not only does this help homeless pets to find loving families, but it gives would-be volunteers without suitable pets of their own a way to be actively involved in pet therapy.

Becoming a therapy pet starts with a temperament test at the Pals For Life office in Wayne. During the test, pets are evaluated for their ability to remain friendly and unfazed in a variety of scenarios, similar to ones they might encounter in a nursing home or hospital. During Oz's test, he was bumped into by a walker, shouted at, tapped with a cane, and (the best part!) sniffed by the Pals For Life rabbit, Taffy. Once Oz showed he could keep his cool under these situations, had demonstrated that he could sit and shake, and had provided copies of his up-to-date veterinary records, he was approved to go on visits.

To be an active volunteer, Oz must go on at least two visits a year. Each month, Dr. Mengine receives a Pals For Life schedule, via email, describing all available visits (typically about 60 per month). Based on her schedule that month, she and Oz sign up for as many or as few as they want to attend. Nowadays, when Oz arrives at one of his "regular" visit locales, he immediately begins jumping straight up and down with excitement. He loves his job as a therapy pet, Dr. Mengine loves seeing him bring joy to others, and local patients love the site of him running down the hallway, full of unbridled enthusiasm and affection. If you'd like to get involved in pet therapy, would be interested in adopting one of the foster therapy pets, or would like to make a charitable donation, visit the Pals For Life website at www.palsforlife.org, or talk with Dr. Mengine at Ardmore Animal Hospital. And if you feel your pet is not yet ready for therapy work, feel free to contact Director Paula Kielich to discuss group or private training sessions. With her positive, reward-focused approach to dog training, she’s even been able to teach the stubborn, “untrainable” Oz a few new tricks.