PAWS Pet Therapy, based in Orangeville near Camden, began in 2012 when founder Sharon Stewart recognised a need in her community.
Sharon loves animals and, with her background as a registered nurse and experience working with people with additional needs, she was well placed to start what has become a well-respected non-profit providing pet assisted therapy. In fact, recently Sharon and PAWS won a Westfield local hero award.
From its inception at the Southern Highlands Cancer Centre, where chemotherapy patients were greeted by Sharon’s Siberian husky and PAWS “foundation dog” Zep, PAWS has continued to grow and now has more than 100 trained volunteer teams registered. These teams visit more than 200 facilities and schools, bringing the magic of pet assisted therapy to people with a range of needs.
At a recent PAWS celebration, I met Towradgi volunteer Ursula Hatton. Ursula and her Labrador Quineisha (Quinnie) won the 2023 Kath and Beau award for outstanding service. Ursula and Quinnie began volunteering earlier this year, visiting children at Wollongong Hospital twice a week, bringing joy and comfort to them, their extended families and the staff.
Ursula is a retired school admin manager and Quinnie is a retired guide dog breeder. Ursula and her husband raised guide dogs for many years and Quinnie was one of them. While with the Guide Dog Association, Quinnie had two litters (14 puppies in total) by caesarean section. She was also bitten by a snake while at the facility in western Sydney.
“She was very sick for a long time," Ursula says, "and she was on medication for her kidneys, so she was retired and offered to us which was lovely. She’s fine now. She had the best care and that’s why she recovered.”
Quinnie knows just what to do with the children. She gets up on a chair next to the hospital bed so she's at eye level and “poses like a queen”. The staff take a photo of the child with Quinnie and print it for the child to take home.
“Even with the toddlers waddling around the place in their nappies, very often with drips, she’ll drop with her paws in front and wait for the little one to come to her," Ursula says.
"I’m always really close because not every child is gentle.”
This kind of work takes a toll on the dogs. PAWS recommends limiting a dog's therapy time to one to one and a half hours.
On one of their hospital visits, Ursula and Quinnie responded to a request to work with a child who was terrified of dogs. They visited the family and, with the support of the child’s parents, very gradually over five visits, the child became comfortable and was eventually able to walk with Quinnie on a lead.
“The parents felt their child achieved so much," Ursula says. "He was just so much more relaxed, he wasn’t scared anymore. I did remind him that every dog is not as nice as Quinnie and he must remember that he must always ask before he patted a dog.”
Why does Ursula do it? “I always wanted to share her because I just thought she was an outstanding dog. She’ll give someone else pleasure, not just me and my husband.”
PAWS volunteers have different backgrounds and skills, but they all share a love of dogs and a desire to help those in need. There are PAWS volunteers in the Illawarra, Sydney, Central Coast, Newcastle and now interstate.
About the writer
Balgownie local Susan Luscombe writes about food, sustainability and community for the Flame. She is a member of Thirroul's Flame Tree Co-op and a self-confessed 'food nerd' who reads recipe books for fun and collects recipes in every format, from hand-written pages to digital bookmarks. Her favourite room in the house is the kitchen.
Susan and her Labrador, Monty, are a PAWS volunteer team.
