Every Visit Starts
With a Tail Wag
Companion pairs certified therapy animals with seniors in assisted living and memory care — bringing the kind of warmth that medicine cannot prescribe, one unhurried visit at a time.
Not every gentle animal is a therapy animal.
Companion's evaluation takes four to eight weeks.
Every golden retriever and rescue cat in our program passes a structured temperament evaluation modeled on the Alliance of Therapy Dogs standards — assessed across noise tolerance, touch sensitivity, stranger comfort, and stress recovery. Animals who show any anxiety in clinical settings are redirected to other programs. The ones who stay are the ones who lean in.
Biscuit didn't just tolerate the wheelchair — she rested her chin on the footrest and waited. That's not training. That's temperament.
The right animal for the right resident on the right afternoon.
Matching takes care history, not just preference.
Before a first visit, our program coordinator reviews the resident's care notes with the facility's social worker — previous pet history, current medications that affect mood, sensory sensitivities, and communication level. A resident with mid-stage Alzheimer's who grew up with farm cats gets a different introduction than a former dog trainer with early-stage dementia. We don't send a dog into a room that needs a cat.
She hadn't said a full sentence in three weeks. When the tabby settled in her lap, she said 'I used to have one just like this.' That was a Tuesday in February.
Clinically rigorous. Warm enough to exhale.
Every visit follows a written infection control protocol.
All Companion animals are current on vaccinations, receive monthly veterinary wellness checks, and are bathed within 24 hours of every facility visit. Handlers follow hand hygiene protocols at entry and exit, wear facility-issued ID badges, and carry a laminated copy of each animal's health records. Facilities receive a full compliance packet before the first visit — and annually thereafter. The goal is that the infection control officer signs off before the resident ever needs to ask.
Our infection control nurse reviewed the compliance packet and said she wished our human volunteers were this thorough.
Forty-five minutes from greeting to goodbye.
A session has a shape — and every resident knows how it ends.
Visits follow a gentle structure: the handler introduces the animal at the resident's own pace, allows time for the resident to initiate contact, moves into a quiet 20-minute companionship window, and closes with a consistent farewell ritual the resident comes to anticipate. For memory care residents, that predictability is itself therapeutic. Handlers log brief session notes — engagement level, physical response, any verbal output — which feed into the resident's care record.
My father doesn't always know my name anymore. But he knows when Thursday is coming. He starts asking about 'the dog' on Tuesday.
The Companion
Family Guide
A plain-language PDF covering what to expect during a first visit, how to speak with a facility about starting a program, and the signs that animal-assisted therapy is genuinely working — written for families, not clinicians.
- What happens in a 45-minute therapy visit
- Questions to ask an activity director
- How to recognize emotional engagement in memory care
- When to request more frequent visits
Get your free copy
No spam. Just the guide, and occasional updates when a new facility joins.
Ready to put a visit
on Tuesday's calendar?
Companion works directly with activity directors and social work teams to build recurring visit schedules that fit your programming hours, your residents' care levels, and your facility's infection control protocols. No paperwork maze — just a conversation.