When Bill, a 10-year-old blind dog, first arrived, his busy rescuers at Vintage Pet Rescue weren’t sure how to handle his demand to be carried all the time.
They then remembered possessing a life-sized human dummy. It was the best reaction.
The large dummy, known as FARC, has been used by the sanctuary to reassure old dogs before.
When rescue owners Kristen and Marc Peralta wanted a solution for their senior pug, Shorty’s separation anxiety, FARC was created out of necessity. Shorty would get depressed whenever Marc was gone because he missed his dad.
Then Kristen’s mother, Joanne McManus, had a brilliant thought: why not put one of Marc’s shirts on a gigantic dummy? It was a total success.
Now, if a puppy at the shelter needs a little extra care, FARC steps in to assist. To the delight of the dogs in his loving, plastic arms, FARC is willing to lounge around endlessly, even if a real human must finally get up. Every time we got a new dog with stress or separation anxiety, we’ve employed FARC over the years, Peralta said. It’s quite amazing to see how the dogs respond.
Bill was ultimately adopted into his new family after being held by the FARC for several weeks. Now he is receiving the affection he deserves from someone who has the time to spend with him.
