When I'm by myself, my dog Pato keeps me company. When he's sick, I take him to the vet. It feels good to care for him—to look after him, play with him, feed him. I play with him using a plastic bone. I really love Pato! When I come home from Impronta, he's always waiting by the door, ready to go out. Sometimes I take him to get a bath. Having a dog is also a reason to get outside!
He's very affectionate with me and gives me so much energy. He helps me feel better mentally. When I'm anxious, he sits next to me, or he calls for me when I don't sit down at the table. He knows when something's wrong with me… When my mom scolds me, sometimes he growls at her. Or when I have an argument with my dad that upsets me, he won't leave my side until it's over… he listens to me. Even when I tell him not to bark at people, he listens.
I would really like to volunteer at a shelter. I asked about it, but the shelters are far away and my mom can't take me there: feeding the dogs and spending time with them would make me so happy. Can't you help us? I'm not afraid of big dogs. They do it at the center where I go, but only with one person at a time and an educator… and I'm already in the theater group… I can't do everything. But if they did it for me too, that would be great. We had an autistic boy who was very afraid of dogs. Even though we tried to tell him the dog was calm, he would still run away. I think an experience like that could really help him. Having a dog helps so much, especially when you don't want to be alone.
I got the dog for my daughter Simonetta partly to help myself get over my own fear of dogs… even though it hasn't completely gone away. And it's true—when I'm at work, Pato keeps her a lot of company. He's a presence for her. It's a reason to go out, take a walk, and meet people. Don't even scold Simona! Sometimes, before he got too old, he would jump from his chair onto the table and bark at me. They're like peas in a pod, those two—they have their own way of talking to each other. Now he's getting old and it's very hard to keep him. We haven't even been able to take vacations because he's too much trouble to leave with someone or take along. For a young person with a disability, having a dog at home is a gift, but if there are people around who can help, that's better… otherwise it becomes too much of a sacrifice. The young person learns to deal with a living being, and it becomes a way to share in responsibility. His presence is wonderful for companionship: for someone like Simona, he's very good for keeping sadness away. For me, it's hard to take Simona to the shelter the way she wants. At the day center, some of the kids have personal projects there, but she already has the theater group and couldn't take on another one. Still, she would be so good at it. She's not afraid, it wouldn't be a burden at all… She wouldn't just play with the animals—she would take care of them.
(Franca Falcone)
