Therapy dog and her owner celebrate 10 years of helping Calgarians

Pam Pastirik and her 12-year-old golden retriever Callie are celebrating a decade of bringing comfort and happiness to people in Calgary.

“Callie is extremely good at finding people who need the stress relief, or they need the attention or they need somebody to just check in with them,” Pam said.

Pam decided to join the Pet Access League Society (PALS) in 2013, shortly after she retired from teaching.

She was looking for something meaningful to fill her time and she had the perfect furry friend to help.

“For Callie to be able to make a difference in someone’s day, well, that’s exactly what it is. I share her because she shares love and she makes them feel better,” Pam said.

The duo can often be found at the Calgary International Airport or at retirement homes, lending a paw to people who need it.

“There’s just lots of occasions where you go, ‘Wow. I guess if I hadn’t been there, that would have turned out differently,’” Pam said.

Though Callie takes her job very seriously, she has a hard time saying “no” to one thing.

“Belly rubs. She likes her belly rubbed,” Pam said.

Pam has since got her other dog Bisou, an eight-year-old Portuguese podengo, involved with PALS as well.

Pam and Callie aren’t the only ones marking this major milestone.

Patti and Darby, along with Valerie and Tazo have also been with PALS for more than 10 years.

“The volunteers have that buy-in and belief in what we’re doing, so they are a backbone to the entire organization and without them, we would obviously not exist,” said Diana Segboer, executive director for PALS.

Jessica Lee, another long-time volunteer, says the experience with her seven-year-old Maltese Hera is rewarding in more ways than one.

“It’s the people, the community, like how often do you walk into the room when everybody is happy to see you?” she said with a laugh.

As for Pam and Callie, they have no plans to stop anytime soon.

“As long as she loves doing it, we’ll keep doing it,” Pam said.

PALS has more than 300 volunteers but is always looking for new people to help serve more than 50 facilities across Calgary.

For more information, head to their website.