Marley’s ghost visits pet conference in Morristown

marley & me poster
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Marley’s Ghost pervaded the Hyatt Morristown on Monday.

This wasn’t the stern Dickensian apparition, however. Rather, it was an incorrigibly mischievous, rambunctious, tail-wagging Labrador retriever.

John Grogan, author of 'Marley & Me,' speaks to pet therapy conference in Morristown. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
John Grogan, author of ‘Marley & Me,’ speaks to pet therapy conference in Morristown. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

As it turned out, the departed canine carried a message remarkably similar to the life-affirming admonition received by Ebenezer Scrooge so many Christmases ago.

“Marley was with us for 13 years, changing the family we would become in ways he would never understand,” said  John Grogan, author of  the 2005 best-seller Marley & Me. 

Grogan channeled the book’s namesake at Morristown Medical Center’s second annual Pet Therapy Conference. 

“He taught us about patience…and about accepting those we love, flaws and all. He had a lot of flaws. He taught us about the value of commitment, and that living beings are not widgets to be blithely discarded when we become inconvenient,” said the Pennsylvania writer, whose book began as an obituary column for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Nearly 200 people from various pet organizations attended the daylong conference, which promoted the therapeutic benefits of animal interactions with patients and medical staff.

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“There is more to healing than drugs and needle-sticks,” said William Neigher, chief strategy officer for the Atlantic Health System, parent organization of Morristown Medical Center. “The role of pets is profound.”

Suicide rates are high among soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. “Dogs have rescued these veterans when nothing else worked,” Neigher said.

Last year the hospital established the National Center for Animal Assisted Therapy, which aims to become a clearinghouse for research about the healing powers unleashed by bonding with pets. The hospital’s pet therapy program has quadrupled in size since its inception in 2009.

Leo, an arson-detecting dog, indicates he has heard handler Brooks Frederick's story before. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
Leo, an arson-detecting dog, indicates he has heard handler Brooks Frederick’s story before. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

One of Monday’s speakers, Rebecca Johnson, directs the Research Center for Human Animal Interaction at the University of Missouri. She cited studies that suggest a few minutes with a dog can trigger the release of neurochemicals that lower blood pressure and induce sensations of happiness.

One study even hinted that you can boost your math scores by studying alongside your dog. Spot is nonjudgmental, so you can relax around him. That’s the theory, anyway.

Of course, pets provide a buffer against loneliness. Their companionship often gives the elderly a reason to keep living, Johnson said.

Pets are welcomed at Tiger Place, a retirement community in Missouri where veterinary care is offered on-site and residents create “bereaved pets endowments” to ensure that their pets are cared for after they die, Johnson said.

Health benefits may cut both ways, according to Cindy Otto, a veterinarian from the Penn Vet Working Dog Center  at the University of Pennsylvania.  Working dogs seem to live longer than sedentary family pets, she said.

Scientists, meanwhile, are striving to develop an “electronic nose” to mimic dogs’ mystifying knack for detecting ovarian cancer, diabetes and epileptic seizures in humans, Otto said.

‘A HIGHER CALLING’

These amazing olfactory abilities were demonstrated by Leo, an arson-detecting dog that works with Lt. Brooks Frederick of the Austin, Texas, fire department. The dog scurried around the ballroom, detecting trace samples of accelerants that Frederick had hidden.

For Leo it was a homecoming of sorts. The Labrador was bred by The Seeing Eye Inc. in Morris Township and raised as a puppy by Peggy Grow, coordinator of Morristown Medical Center’s pet therapy program.

It was a tearful reunion for the Morristown woman.

HOMECOMING: Peggy Grow gets a lick from Leo, who she raised as a puppy, at Morristown Medical Center's second annual Pet Therapy Conference. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
HOMECOMING: Peggy Grow gets a lick from Leo, who she raised as a puppy, at Morristown Medical Center’s second annual Pet Therapy Conference. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

“Leo was one of the easiest puppies to train,” said Grow, who has raised eight of them for The Seeing Eye over the years.

When the famed organization rejected Leo for guide dog service–he was too easily distracted by scents–Grow resisted the temptation to adopt him.

“I just felt he had a higher calling,” she said.

More eyes moistened as Grogan re-told his now-familiar stories about Marley, who devoured chair legs, birthday party hot dogs, obedience school certificates and anything else he could sink his teeth into, before finally going the way of all dogs.

Over the years, Grogan said, numerous friends inquired why he didn’t just get rid of the unmannered beast that was shredding his house and driving him crazy.

Owen Wilson played John Grogan in the movie version of his book.
Owen Wilson played John Grogan in the movie version of his book.

But thanks to Marley, the journalist found a new career — Grogan has spun off children’s books and a memoir. Owen Wilson portrayed him in the movie version of Marley & Me, opposite Jennifer Aniston. The director even gave him a puppy.

And as Marley got creaky, he taught the Grogan family “about grace and optimism in the face of adversity.

“He showed us how to embrace life’s simple pleasures — a walk in the woods, a nap in a shaft of winter sunlight. Mostly, he gave us that gift of unconditional love. And [my wife Jenny] and I would eventually learn that if you have that, most of life’s other pieces fall into place.”

Despite his flaws, Marley “taught us what really mattered, and what does not,” Grogan said.

“A dog does not care what car you drive, or whether your house is a mansion or a shack. He doesn’t care about your zip code or your social standing. He doesn’t pay attention to race or creed or class. Give him your heart and he will give you his.”

 

 

 

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