WHEN FRIENDS COME CALLING

Lola Meier smiled broadly as Annie, a standard poodle belonging to Carla Karr, put her paws on Meier's lap and started licking Meier's fingers.

"I had chicken for lunch," Meier explained. "She's probably just licking off the grease."

As she begins to talk about the dogs that have been brought to visit her in her room, Meier, a resident of Heritage Gardens nursing home in Jackson, speaks of the dogs like she's talking about old friends. One of the dogs, she said, shared the same birthday with her.

"I always had a dog at home," she said.

Just the act of petting Annie seemed to spur memories for resident Olen Hughes. He began to tell how he used to raise coon dogs and rabbit dogs and how, as a boy, he used to skip school in the eighth grade to go coon hunting with a friend and their dogs.

"I loved my dogs," he said.

Wilma Barber, another resident of Heritage Gardens, echoed Hughes.

"I've always had dogs and I miss them," she said, as she waited for Annie to be brought over to where she was sitting.

Annie is one of a dozen animals involved in the Pet Pals program sponsored by the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri. The program brings carefully trained pets and their owners into nursing homes, hospitals and other facilities to interact with the people who are there.

Cynthia Kothe of the Humane Society said that program, funded in part through a grant from the Cape Girardeau County Senior Citizens' Services Fund, said that at first she was skeptical of the effectiveness of bringing dogs and cats into care settings.

But then Kothe, whose background and training is in gerontology, saw how some otherwise noncommunicative residents responded to the animals, smiling, laughing, talking and becoming more expressive.

In addition to nursing homes and hospitals, Pet Pals visit the Veterans' Home and care facilities for mentally handicapped people. Today, as a part of the Humane Society's celebration of "Be Kind to Animals Week," the Pet Pals will visit several area preschools.

Quoting medical studies, Kothe pointed out that animal-assisted or pet therapy has been recognized nationwide as a valuable treatment tool for a wide-range of conditions, such as depression, head injuries, speech disorders, confusion and chronic illness. It also has been noted to soothe and relax patients recovering from heart attacks by lowering their heart rate and blood pressure, she said.

"It's not a cure, but it can help," she said.

Chris Scherer, activities specialist for Southeast Missouri Hospital, said that the pets have been very therapeutic for many patients. The pets become a helpful part of the recovery process as they patients begin to talk about the pets they have at home.

"The visits bring the patients out of their depression and sometimes gets them stimulated by taking their minds off their pains," Scherer said.

The hospital, which has participated in the program for about a year, has Pet Pal visitors to its pediatric and skilled nursing units every Tuesday.

Carla Karr, the owner of Annie as well as three other dogs, has been a pet pal with the Humane Society since the program began two years ago. Karr, a dog obedience instructor, also evaluates the animals and owners who want to be a part of the program.

Each animal admitted into the Pet Pal program has to go through basic obedience and temperament training. In addition, they must be certified by a veterinarian as healthy.

"We want to make sure that the animal is under control, will obey commands and enjoys being touched and handled by people," Karr said.

Animals are also gauged to make sure they can handled the stress of being in an unusual setting such as a nursing home or a hospital. Those places may have noises and sights to which the animals are not accustomed, such as walkers and wheelchairs.

Owners also are tested to make sure they can handle the pets in those places and situations.

The Pet Pals includes several different breeds of dogs. In addition to the poodle Annie, their ranks include a basset hound, a boxer, two golden retrievers and a pit bull. They also have two cats in the program.

But for Lola Meier, it is the visit from the dogs that she enjoys the most and that bring back the rush of memories.

"I don't like cats," she said. "I like dogs."