What is a Therapy Dog?

The Mirror recently introduced us to Basil the Beagle, who has a 'starring role as a Comfort Companion' at Clive Pugh Funeral Directors in Shrewsbury.

Beautiful Basil is eleven years old, having joined the family business aged six back in 2016. As a natural healer, Basil sits beside families as they make funeral plans, accompanies families to the Chapel of Rest when they visit their loved ones and attends funerals in churches and crematoriums; sitting beside the entrance in the hope his presence will calm mourners as they say their final farewell to their loved one.

Basil's owner Rosalinda told The Mirror:

“Human beings can, understandably, feel uncomfortable when dealing with grief and loss. Basil follows the lead of service dogs often used in health care settings, such as hospitals and nursing homes.

“When families are arranging the funeral of their loved, their minds tend to be all over the place. Basil is very perceptive and seems to know that they need to be comforted and as such will sit beside them letting them pat him and stroke him. You can really feel the tension leaving the room."

"This kind of support is vital and families often remark on how helpful having Basil has been for them."

“He is a real ice-breaker. He greets people when they arrive and he automatically seems to put people at ease. It feels almost normal for them to be able to stroke a dog. If people come with young children, he helps distract them too so they can fuss him while their parents make arrangements," says Rosalinda.

“We affectionately call Basil our ‘Comfort Companion.’ He provides families with unconditional love and support, as well as a subtle distraction from grief. When you have lost a loved one, sometimes it seems like nothing can make you feel better. That is, until you get a cuddle from a therapy dog. We hope that for those experiencing grief when they come to us, having Basil will put smiles on their faces, at least for a moment. It’s just something to lighten the load of that journey.”

Over the past five years at Clive Pugh Funeral Directors Basil has comforted hundreds of grieving families. His adoring owner told Mirror reporters Rachel Mainwaring & Julie Hill 'he (Basil) has a special sense of what is needed when people are suffering from loss'. During this time Basil has also found time to become something of a local celebrity, including an appearance on ITV's This Morning.

To read more about brilliant Basil, visit mirror.co.uk for the full story.