Ita Buttrose talks about caring for Seniors with pets

In last week’s episode, we caught up with Shark Tank’s Janine Allis and her pooches. This week we meet the one and only Ita Buttrose and her Groodle Cleo to find out more about their work together to support seniors with pets.

As an ambassador of the Animal Welfare League of Queensland’s (AWLQ) Golden Hearts program, Ita was named Australian of the year in 2013 for her charity work to highlight the needs of senior people in the community.

When you consider the ageing Australian population, and the vast majority of seniors with pets, there is no doubt a great need for programs such as the Golden Hearts program, particularly to support seniors with emergency foster care for their pet if they have to go into hospital.

The program also offers support to older people who need to transition into an aged-care facility that does not allow pets. Saying goodbye to a beloved pet under these circumstances can be very hard for everyone involved, so the AWLQ tries their hardest to match these animals with loving new homes in a similar environment to what they had, making the transition for everyone much nicer.

If you would like to find out more about their work and how you can support the program for seniors with pets, visit their website.

You may have already seen on social media how excited we are to reveal Darcy’s DNA in this week’s episode. Is it one or four or six breeds all mixed into Darcy?   Not only will we make the big reveal, you’ll also find out why it is important to know as much about your dog’s DNA as possible to help you understand their behaviour traits, as well as the possible health risks they may face in the future.

We hope you enjoyed the first episode in our second series. If you missed it don’t forget you can catch up on TENPlay

Lara & Darcy x

About the Author: Lara Shannon is co-Host of Pooches at Play and has completed a Certificate III in Dog Behaviour & Training with the National Dog Trainers Federation. Lara also runs her own dog training, minding and walking business in Melbourne’s Bayside area.