It’s been two years since Sally, a nursing home resident at The Arbors in Westfield, passed away — and therapy dog Luna, the English cocker spaniel with the “long beautiful lashes,” still runs to her room every time she visits.
“And Sally’s no longer there, and we start crying because she still remembers. She wants to see Sally who just loved and adored [the therapy dogs],” said Talin Ganemian, The Arbors’ reflections director.
The resident was one of many who benefitted from “Love on a Leash,” a nationwide therapy pet program with a chapter in Western Massachusetts.
But 5-year-old Luna and her siblings, Gabby, 3, and Gia, 4, haven’t been making their usual rounds.
Luna has been missing since Sept. 11, after the three dogs ran off in Chester and only two came home.
Luna is a black and white spaniel with black ears and markings around her eyes, long dark eyelashes and a big black spot on her back. Her owners keep her furry white head tufts cleanly brushed, and freckles dot her paws and face.
On Sept. 11, Luna’s owner was taking her dogs out of her car at her home on Bromley Road in Chester, when she fell in the driveway and lost hold of their leashes.
The dogs took off down the street, she said, and Gia came to a stop at a neighbor’s house. But Gabby and Luna kept running, leashes, collars and all.
Owner Assunta “Susie” Criscio, 66, is the Western Massachusetts chapter co-leader of “Love on a Leash,” and has her dogs trained as volunteer animals through the program.
Luna (bottom right) with other “Love on a Leash” therapy dogs. Photo by Assunta Criscio
She brings them to comfort people in scheduled visits to The Arbors, three other nursing homes, a Holyoke mental health clinic, St. Mary’s Parish School, Westfield State University and other Massachusetts and Connecticut schools and summer camps.
Immediately, Criscio and her friend, roommate and former police chief Judy Jackson, 79, set out to search the streets on their own — but the dogs had vanished, Criscio said. They reported the animals as missing to law enforcement, and put up posters in a 10-mile radius of the home.
Bromley Road is in a heavily forested area of Chester, a tiny town of around 1,500 people just less than an hour outside Springfield.
People searched the woods with ATVs and drones, hunters checked trail cameras and friends covered every street in town. There were four to five people looking “at all times” from “dawn to dusk,” Criscio said.
“Gia sat on the back of the couch from morning ‘til night, just looking out the window at the driveway,” Jackson said, but there was “no sign” of Gabby or Luna — until five days later, when Jackson got a call.
Gabby turned up on the main road, about 2 miles away from home with her collar and leash still on.
Luna and Judy Jackson’s dog, Mindy. Photo by Assunta Criscio
“She was sitting right there beside [the neighbor] when we got there to pick her up,” Jackson said, recalling how happy the reunion was.
But in Luna’s absence, Criscio said her little family is “not doing too well” — Gabby refuses to go outside without Criscio at all, and Gia can’t go to any of their regularly scheduled therapy sessions because she “screams” when she’s left alone; a new behavior since her return.
“They’re not for my therapy… well, maybe they are,” Criscio laughed half-heartedly. An owner of English spaniels for years, she’d gotten Luna first from her trusted breeder in New Hampshire.
“And then, it’s easier with two,” Criscio said, explaining how she went to Indiana for Gia next. Finally, it was back to New Hampshire to get Gabby, and the trio was complete.
“It’s just amazing what a visit with a dog can do … even at the university level, very often you hear [the students] say, ‘I miss my dog. I’m so glad you’re here,’ or ‘I really needed you today,’” Criscio and Jackson said.
“It’s good for the dogs, it’s good for the people we visit. It’s also good for us,” Jackson added. And that goodness is spread throughout the community.
Luna on a boat. Photo by Assunta Criscio
When the residents at The Arbors know “Love on a Leash” is coming to visit, they spend the day baking cookies and arranging bandanas in excitement — especially for Luna.
“We are just so heartbroken. The residents are missing her,” said Ganemian.
“Luna has a lot of impact on everyone because of her beautiful lashes; I mean, this is the dementia community, and the first thing they notice is how pretty her lashes are, and they start saying, ‘Won’t you wish you had lashes like that?’” Ganemian said.
“They cradle her; she makes this cute ‘cry’ noise for attention … and everyone would stop, and then she’s got the cutest eyes and is bobbing her lashes [at them]. She’s very special to us and we miss her; we need her to come back home,” the director said.
Dog cookies at The Arbors in preparation for “Love on a Leash.” Photo by Talin Ganemian
The English spaniels also give children a safe space to learn how to read “without judgement,” Criscio said. The dogs sit with the children as they read aloud with a “Love on a Leash” volunteer, who’s there for reading support if they need it.
“I think the children were able to help Luna with her training of being a service dog and being around a lot of people; there’s a lot of children coming and going,” said Jennifer Van Heynigen, third-grade teacher at St. Mary’s.
“It’s more suited for building their confidence … if they get stuck on a word, the person they’re sitting with can help and they don’t have to worry about feeling embarrassed because of the dogs,” the teacher said.
“When their books get more challenging, they love telling the dog, ‘OK, we have a harder book, a chapter book.’ [The dogs’] presence is just so comforting and makes the kids so happy; they become more confident and then they’re better readers all around,” Van Heynigen added.
Assunta “Susie” Criscio and Luna reading with a child at St. Mary’s in Westfield. Photo by Jennifer Van Heynigen
Criscio and Jackson do feel, however, there was something a little off about Gabby’s sudden return in perfect condition.
“After five days, she’s not even hungry,” Criscio said. Gabby was also completely clean — “If she had been in the woods, she would have been stuck with branches or twigs, especially with her cocker ears,” Jackson said.
“Her collar wasn’t dirty; it’d rained for two days and the leash was barely damp, and there was not one spot on it,” Criscio added.
The circumstances have led the pet owners to think someone could have picked the dogs up from the road, though that has not been confirmed by law enforcement. Criscio added Gabby is a “handful” and hard to manage, and is not yet fully trained with the therapy program.
The women are hopeful if Luna is still with a person, she will be brought to a groomer’s or vet’s office because she’s microchipped.
Criscio is not looking to blame or accuse, and is even offering a monetary reward — anything for Luna to come home.
To report information about the missing dog, call Criscio at 413-977-9214.
