Volunteers' Week 2025: Debbie's story

Volunteers’ Week 2025: Debbie’s story

It’s Volunteers’ Week and we’re celebrating all our amazing volunteers who dedicate their time to Pets As Therapy.

Today we chat to Debbie Law, a Volunteer Area Coordinator (VAC) and Assessor from Perth, central Scotland.

Tell us about your PAT role
I am an Assessor and carry out assessments for any potential volunteers, which is amazing for me as I get to meet more dogs!

I also recently became a Volunteer Area Coordinator, or VAC. That's great too because I get to keep in touch with other volunteers and help them with anything they need. Also, if I have completed their assessment, it's nice to see how they are getting on with their visits.

I really love doing the assessments especially when the pet is successful as it means more people will get the chance to experience a PAT visit. I think it's so lovely for people who want to share their time and their wonderful dogs with those who need some pet therapy!

What does volunteering with PAT mean to you?
I always think of a PAT visit as a happy triangle between the dog, the person being visited and the volunteer.

The dog provides therapy just by being itself, but it actually thinks it must be doing something special because it gets all this attention and sometimes a treat! The dogs don't even realise how brilliant they really are. They know exactly what to do without any special training.

Then the person receiving the therapy is giving back to the dog through the attention. And the volunteer is the connection between the two. Seeing your dog happy and cheering someone up is the best feeling.

When did you start volunteering with PAT?
I signed up as a volunteer in 2023 with my cocker spaniel Tilly, who was nine at the time. We went on three visits a week to a couple of local schools/ nurseries and also a care home. Tilly has retired now, though. She will be 12 this year and is hopefully going to pass the baton to her little sister Blossom, who will turn soon be a year old. Fingers crossed she is successful with her assessment!

Why should others volunteer with PAT?\
Volunteering with PAT is one of the best things I have done. I wish I could do it all day every day because I have seen how much of a difference dogs make to people's lives. I love how happy it makes everyone who is involved.

On my very first care home visit with Tilly, one of the residents started to cry. She owned a dog called Murphy a long time ago and Tilly was identical to him. She was so happy to see Tilly and made me promise to come back. She said the visit had made her day and she missed being able to spend time with dogs. It was an emotional visit, but confirmed to me how great it is to volunteer.

I think if people have a little bit of spare time and a pet with a good temperament, then definitely consider an assessment because there is no pressure at all to do a certain amount of visits. It's also a nice way to spend time doing something different with your dog.

We are always looking to recruit more volunteers.

You can find more info here

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