PetFinder.my - Dr Gideon will be sadly missed by children

this one taken from NST newspaper

Dr Gideon is actually a dog {shy} Dr Dog
highly respect! may he rest in peace

Dr Gideon Sunday was put to sleep at 8.30pm two Sundays ago. He was 11 years old, or 77 in human terms.

Dr Gideon was the country's first dog to assist in the therapy of human patients.

His guardian, author and lawyer Shoba Mano said Dr Gideon had cataracts and suffered arthritis which made it difficult for him to walk.

"My husband and I kept him as happy and as comfortable as we could but he began to deteriorate over the past few months, and seemed to have completely lost the will to live.

"We decided to put Dr Gideon to sleep after consulting his veterinarian. It was a very difficult decision, as he was very much a part of our family. But it had to be done to save him from pain," she said.

Shoba said Dr Gideon, who had made numerous visits to children's welfare homes and homes for the aged, was supposed to have officially retired on Oct 4 at the World Animal Day celebrations at Bangsar Village II Shopping Centre.

"We had planned a retirement ceremony for him. The Furry Friends Farm (FFF) community was looking forward to the event. We are really sad that Dr Gideon can't be there with us," said Sabrina Yeap, FFF founder.

Dr Gideon was declared the country's first Dr Dog in June last year by world-renowned animal welfare proponent and founder of Animals Asia Foundation (AAF) Jill Robinson.

In 1991 Robinson started the Dr Dog programme in Hong Kong, where she lives, to provide animal assisted therapy to hospital patients, stroke survivors, and abused and neglected children.

Her programme, supported by Hong Kong celebrities, also started a powerful move across the territory to end the practice of eating dogs and skinning cats and dogs alive for their fur. And last December Hong Kong imposed stiffer penalties for animal cruelty, and gave the police the power to enforce the anti-animal cruelty Act.

Robinson was made a Member of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for her work to save China's Moon Bears from farms where they were forced to live for up to 20 years in small cages so their bile could be harvested.

She won the Readers Digest "Hero For Today" award in 1995, and the Genesis Award in 2002 -- the only major media and arts award specific to animal issues.

At the time of Gideon Sunday's selection, Robinson said: "Gideon was selected as Malaysia's first Dr Dog because of his wonderful, loving nature. Despite our rigorous selection criteria, he never once snapped at us. He's a real darling."

And launching Malaysia's Dr Dog programme with local partner FFF on the same day, she said: "The medical staff we work with through our Dr Dog programmes in Hong Kong and elsewhere have found that patients also improved in their physical, occupational and speech therapy because the dogs motivated them to exercise their verbal and coordination skills."

Apart from Hong Kong and Malaysia, the Dr Dog programme has been adopted in China, Taiwan, Japan, India and the Philippines. To learn more about the Dr Dog programme, visit www.remembersheena.blogspot.com and http://www.furryfriendsfarm2006.blogspot.com/