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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><div style='mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 5.0pt;background:white;margin-left:0in;margin-right:3.75pt'><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:19.2pt;background:white;border:none;padding:0in'><i><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#333333'>FYI<o:p></o:p></span></i></p></div><div style='mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 5.0pt;background:white;margin-left:-.25in;margin-right:3.75pt'><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.25in;text-indent:-.25in;line-height:19.2pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;background:white;border:none;padding:0in'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol;color:#333333'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'><img width=9 height=9 src=PicExportError alt="*"><span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><i><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#333333'>1 Oct 2012 Copyright Ottawa Citizen DAVE BROWN brady.brown@bell.net <o:p></o:p></span></i></p></div><h1 style='line-height:19.2pt;background:white'><b><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Bond between pets and the homeless transcends economics: Furry friends offer hope<o:p></o:p></span></b></h1><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.3in;line-height:19.2pt;background:white'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Most of us have seen homeless people with dogs, and some have asked whether people who can’t provide for themselves should be allowed to have pets. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.3in;line-height:19.2pt;background:white'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Veterinarian Michelle Lem has made it her mission to help care for the homeless pets of homeless people, and she was ready for the question. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.3in;line-height:19.2pt;background:white'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333'>“The question should be: Should we allow people to be homeless?” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.3in;line-height:19.2pt;background:white'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333'>The Kanata mother of twins, age six, is the driving force behind Community Veterinary Outreach. The volunteer agency started reaching out nine years ago and has since vaccinated about 1,500 dogs. The idea has reached Hamilton and Toronto, where similar agencies are in operation. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.3in;line-height:19.2pt;background:white'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333'>The question about street people being responsible pet owners might be moot, but to Lem the answer is obvious. It was the subject of her thesis when she earned her master’s degree. During her research, she found that 12 per cent of street people (she calls them “street-involved people”) had pets, almost always a dog. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.3in;line-height:19.2pt;background:white'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333'>“The pet and owner relationship is the same. They may have limited resources, but they go through a bonding process. Research has shown that their pets are often their only source of companionship and love, and actually help the owner’s emotional health.” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.3in;line-height:19.2pt;background:white'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333'>She says she surveyed 89 pet owners she says were “street-involved youth” and 100 who didn’t own pets. The research was done in Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton and Kingston. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.3in;line-height:19.2pt;background:white'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Of those who had four legged friends, half said having a pet decreased their use of alcohol and drugs. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.3in;line-height:19.2pt;background:white'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Sixty per cent said the pet kept them on the straight and narrow because they couldn’t risk arrest because they had a furry friend reliant on them. She says she found depression was far more prevalent in those without pets. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.3in;line-height:19.2pt;background:white'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333'>From her notes is an example from a 23-year-old male. “Before I was a pet owner, my life was drugs, alcohol, all the bad things. Crime. I was in and out of court and in and out of jail. Didn’t matter to me. Once I got Mackenzie (a dog), my life actually had meaning to it. I haven’t gone back to jail yet. It has been at least two years since I’ve gone to jail. I don’t do heavy drugs anymore.” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.3in;line-height:19.2pt;background:white'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333'>In 1992, I got to know a homeless dog named Tramp after his photo appeared on the front page of the Citizen. Staff photographer Bruno Schlumberger saw Tramp huddled with his owner, a man known only by the street name Wolf, as they panhandled on a slushy corner in ByWard Market. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.3in;line-height:19.2pt;background:white'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333'>It was a remarkable shot that summed up the situation at a glance. Tramp showed obvious devotion to his master, and just as obviously didn’t give a damn about economics. Among those who responded to the photo was a lawyer who became Wolf’s trusted adviser on all things legal and financial. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.3in;line-height:19.2pt;background:white'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333'>The photo brought Wolf more attention than he wanted, but he handled it surprisingly well. He was a guest on radio shows, including CBC’s flagship national feature Morningside. He was articulate and respectful. He once confided to me that the biggest problem was that too many people started dropping off food for the dog, and Tramp was getting fat. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.3in;line-height:19.2pt;background:white'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333'>When Wolf died in 1995, his popularity was such that the chapel at the Shepherds of Good Hope couldn’t handle the crowd, so the service was held in the cafeteria. Tramp attended. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.3in;line-height:19.2pt;background:white'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333'>The lawyer opened her home to the orphaned dog. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.3in;line-height:19.2pt;background:white'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333'>A year ago, Vet Outreach appeared in a Citizen story after it stepped in to help a man who was a double amputee and whose best friend was a hound. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.3in;line-height:19.2pt;background:white'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333'>The dog needed eye surgery and its owner, scraping by on a disability pension, couldn’t handle it. Lem said the situation was one of “exceptional circumstances,” and came to her attention through the Ottawa Mission. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.3in;line-height:19.2pt;background:white'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333'>The animal was in great pain caused by pressure behind an eye, and the eye had to be removed. Community Veterinary Outreach currently runs a project through the Ottawa Mission, in which street pets are examined, vaccinated and treated for parasites. Their owners are given advice on care for their pets. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=art-legal1 style='line-height:19.2pt;background:white'><span style='font-size:6.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Printed and distributed by NewpaperDirect | www.newspaperdirect.com, US/Can: 1.877.980.4040, Intern: 800.6364.6364 | Copyright and protected by applicable law.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Linda O'Neil<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Public Education Consultant<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Canadian Mental Health Association, Ottawa Branch<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>301-1355 Bank St., Ottawa ON, K1H 8K7<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><a href="mailto:loneil@cmhaottawa.ca" title="mailto:loneil@cmhaottawa.ca"><span style='color:blue'>loneil@cmhaottawa.ca</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Tel: (613) 737-7791 Ext 135</span><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>