Wag and Company is a charity for the dog lovers among us. They are a visiting dog charity based in the North East that’s mission is to end loneliness by enabling professionally assessed volunteers and their pet dogs to befriend and regularly visit elderly dog lovers. They aim to provided elderly people, often in poor health, bereaved and isolated, with something to look forward to like some human company and a cuddle with a furry friend.

There are an estimated 51,000 pensioners across the North East who are chronically lonely which can have a massive impact on life expectancy and quality of living. Wag volunteers and their dogs are there to provide friendship and comfort for these people with a simple cup of tea and a chat. A dog is a great to bond over and chat about and their bright enthusiasm and unbridled love are great cures to feeling low. They recently celebrated 10 years of operating and in that time have supported 2646 people and conducted 239,586 visits to homes! Wag launched with only 10 teams back in 2016 and have now grown to a whopping 447 today. The Barbour Foundation has proudly supported Wag for a number of years. When talking about the relationship with the foundation, Wag founder Diane Morton said, “without help like yours, our growth simply wouldn’t have been possible”.

In July, we we’re fortunate enough to be able to accompany a Wag volunteer, Jan and her dog Teddy on a visit to meet Sheila, a former volunteer at the RVI. There we got to see first-hand the joy that these visits bring to people’s lives and the importance of friendship and companionship for the elderly. Having teddy there to play, entertain and cuddle brought so much happiness to the room.