Dog Lover Joan gets a Canine Cuddle for Mother's Day

Joan Shewry recently celebrated her 100th birthday – and now the centenarian dog lover has been wished a happy Mother’s Day by miniature poodle Mya.

The visit was organised by the care team at Walfinch Oxford, who provide care for Joan alongside her son David. David says: “Joan really appreciates her Walfinch carers – and when they discovered that Joan was a dog lover, they arranged for Mya to visit."

“Mum enjoyed the visit from Mya, who is 14 years old – so almost 100 in dog years. Seeing Mya brought back lots of happy memories for mum and she and Ann Latham, the volunteer from Pets as Therapy, who brought Mya to see us, talked a lot about their love of dogs and shared photographs of Ann’s other dogs.”

Joan and her family were always dog lovers. Joan explains: “The family had several dogs over the years, including Dinkie, a Jack Russell, who was naughty and used to get into bed with me as a child, Monkey, a wire-haired fox terrier, Dinah, a golden retriever, and Toksy.

“Toksy was a cross between a Border Collie and a Chow, which is quite unusual, and she came to us in an unusual way,” says Joan.

“Our family used to go on holiday every year to a farm in the Lake District, and one year one of the farm dogs had a litter of puppies. As a cross-breds, the puppies were no good as a working dogs with sheep, so we adopted Toksy and took her home with us, where she lived happily for 15 years.”

Teresa Caboz, one of the carers who has a particularly happy relationship with Joan, was there to meet Mya too. David says: “Teresa enjoyed the visit – but as she said, anything that makes Joan happy makes her happy too.”

David adds: “Mum really appreciated meting Mya and Ann. It was a great day and a lovely surprise.”

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