Cocker spaniel and owner make a volunteering team

Cydnie wanders the halls of the Pines of Sarasota, a rehabilitation and senior care community, like she is the queen.

In a way, she is.

Cydnie, an 11-year-old English cocker spaniel, visits the Pines every Tuesday with her owner, Janice Cook, as a pet therapy dog. She is certified by The Bright and Beautiful Therapy Dogs Inc. and is recertified every year.

“She’s tested to make sure she has the temperament for visits and social ability, so she won’t react to wheelchairs,” Cook said.

Cook and Cydnie have been visiting the Pines since 2015. Before that, they volunteered for Tidewell Hospice and visited patients in homes. And even before that, Cydnie, who began her pet therapy career at a year-and-a-half old, brought smiles to patients’ faces in Pittsburgh.

When Cook retired from managing a medical office as a medical technician, she originally wanted to volunteer as a reading tutor for children. Instead, though, she turned to pet therapy.

Now, visiting with people is Cook’s favorite part, something she thinks most volunteers at the Pines would say.

“We’re not giving back,” she said. “We get more than we give. I love these people.”

That’s evident as Cydnie and Cook make their rounds.

They walk around two skilled-nursing units at the Pines, and they have residents they regularly visit. When Cook went a little off their normal path, Cydnie stopped in front of a resident’s room she knows she visits weekly.

Cook assured her they would say hello to Patrice in a minute after they visited another patient in the hallway.

“She decides when we walk,” Cook said of Cydnie.

Cydnie brings a smile to the face of nearly everyone she passes. But sometimes, her visits mean a bit more to patients.

Cook recalled two people Cydnie formerly visited. One, a gentleman who was blind, taught Cydnie to shake hands. Another was a resident who was nonverbal who finally spoke.

“For two years, she visited a nonverbal man, and a week before he died, he said, ‘Thank you’ to her clear as day,” Cook said.

That same man’s caretaker said his blood pressure would go down when Cydnie visited. Cydnie  also offers a sense of nostalgia for residents.

When Cook isn’t visiting the Pines with Cydnie, she assists a chef during Italian cooking classes through Adult and Community Enrichment Classes at Suncoast Technical College, volunteers at the Sarasota Film Festival and at rowing competitions at Nathan Benderson Park. She’s also a member of the Longboat Key Garden Club.

As to why she volunteers, Cook said she learns a lot and gets to meet new people.

“There are some social aspects for me,” she said. “I get to meet people who I wouldn’t normally meet when I volunteer because they’re coming from different parts of the town and different economic groups and different age groups.”