Amy McRary

Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel

KINGSTON, TN - Izzy the dog moved into Brookdale Kingston Senior Living with her owner, Jim, last September. When he died shortly after, Izzy stayed.

Jim (Brookdale releases only first names for privacy reasons) had no family in Tennessee who could take Izzy. But there was no debate at the assisted living facility; Izzy was wanted and adored at Brookdale. Everyone agree she'd live there, cared for and cherished by staff members, residents and visitors.

“She needed us,” said Lesa Fuller, one of Izzy's main caregivers and Brookdale marketing and sales manager.

Now the mixed-breed, 50-pound, black-and-white dog is Brookdale’s “official greeter," welcoming nearly every visitor or resident at its double front doors. “She thinks it’s her job,” said Fuller.

With a plush bed behind the front lobby desk near a large window, Izzy can dash to the doors multiple times a day. There’s no doorbell to alert her -- only a buzzer that sounds softly on the desk -- and Izzy’s sight is dimmed by cataracts. But the affable canine somehow knows when there's hospitality to be shown. And in between, she nestles to nap on her blanket-covered bed.

Not much is known about Izzy’s life before she retired to senior living. Maybe there's some collie in her DNA. Jim told others he’d owned the dog since she was a pup; her age is estimated at between 10 and 13 years. It was certain he loved her. He refused to enter assisted living unless Izzy came with him. “He was in the hospital and he would not come without his dog. I went and visited him in the hospital, and I assured him Izzy would be taken care of if he came here,” Fuller said.

Brookdale has a pet-friendly policy. Kingston residents own a total of four cats and, recently, a pair of dachshunds. Animals are allowed if their owners can care for them and they're no danger to anyone. Fuller says Brookdale staff can help walk and feed animals. When Jim's respiratory problems limited his ability to wholly care for Izzy, staffers began helping out with the dog that had quickly padded into their hearts.

When Jim died Fuller said, “we just didn’t even have a second thought” about what would happen to Izzy. “We knew immediately she had to stay with us because we had already gotten so attached to her. You know, we rescued her but she really rescued us.”

Fuller first worried Izzy might “grieve herself to death.” Jim had gone to the hospital before he died, and Izzy remained at Brookdale. So Fuller tried to slowly transition the dog out of Jim’s room. For several days, Jim’s room remained as he left it. His clothing wasn’t washed; his door left open. Gradually Fowler moved Izzy’s belongings out of the room. First it was the blanket over her bed, later the bed itself.

“We’d let her come and go and she would go back to his room and come back to the lobby. After about a week and a half, we shut his door. She made the transition pretty well. I think it was the residents loving on her. She would go from one door to the next, and each one of them would pet her, give her treats.”

Izzy got so many treats – and sometimes cookies baked for human residents – she got a tummy ache in December. Well-wishers had to be cautioned against overfeeding her.

She's in fine shape now and still makes her rounds of resident rooms. She’ll wander into the director of nursing office for a respite when she gets "overloaded," Fuller said. Or she'll head to Fuller's office, next to the large dining room, to cuddle under Fuller's desk. Staff members share care for Izzy, who sleeps on her bed behind the front desk at night. Family members who visit residents also take her for weekend walks and give her attention. Vendors bring her dog treats.

At times it's tough to realize the gray-muzzled animal is a senior dog. She dashes out for walks on Brookdale's front lawn. She doesn’t need a leash and readily returns when called. She chases to fetch a squeaky rubber chicken she brought to assisted living.

Her sight may be dim but her smell is top notch. She can smell bacon and gravy behind the closed door of a break room. She likes to be with residents as they do morning exercises. “She wants to be right in the middle of whatever they are doing,” Fuller said. Recent medication has helped Izzy's old-dog aching joints that had limited her mobility.

She's also got a good sense of who likes her and who can live without her. She’s never tripped an unsteady resident; never gotten in the way of a walker. “She knows when to stay back,” Fuller said. Even residents who don't like animals agree Izzy's a good dog.

Walter Greene, who visits his wife, Lou, at Brookdale, is one of Izzy's constant friends. “I love her,” said Greene, who lost his two dogs last year. “I love dogs.” Izzy was resting on her lobby bed when Greene first met her. “I went over and said, ‘Hi puppy’ and she wagged her tail.“

She happily whirls around Dee Meloche, Brookdale chef and dining services coordinator, when Meloche leaves the kitchen to visit. But she knows not to go into the dining room. “She’s just so laid back; she’s good to be around. She knows who loves her,” Meloche said.

She alerts Debbie Tinnel, Brookdale business office coordinator who sits at the front desk, if she needs to go out. She also knows a box of Milk Bones is stashed under Tinnel's desk.

Brookdale staffers have a backup plan if for some reason Izzy could no longer stay in senior living. “One of us would take her, for sure,” Fuller said.

But it looks as if she’s got her forever home.

“The residents will not tolerate her being anywhere else,” Tinnel said.

“I felt like she needed to be here, to live out her life here,” Fuller said. “We wanted to give her the opportunity to stay here until she dies, as it should be.”

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