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Woman Has Been A Friend To Greyhounds

Cheryl Bentley/SUNCOAST

During Nancy Nessler's recent visit to Peninsula Care Rehabilitation Center, in Tarpon Springs, Lucylle Cadovius, seated, enjoys Meghan, another Nessler greyhound, while Nessler straightens Meghan's Halloween costume.

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By Cheryl  Bentley | The Suncoast News

Published: October 31, 2008

Updated:

The elderly woman sits in a chair, head forward, eyes closed. Decked out in Halloween gear, greyhound Meghan comes up to her and sits quietly.

The woman's head jerks up. "Oh, she's beautiful," she says of the dog. A smile flickers on her lips.

Then she is gone again, head forward, eyes closed, lost in her Alzheimer's world.

Meghan's guardian, Nancy Nessler, is use to such reactions to Meghan. Patients who are unresponsive to other stimuli, often become animated - if only for a few minutes - around Meghan, she says.

Nessler has been visiting Peninsula Care & Rehabilitation Center in Tarpon Springs with her dogs since 1987, a stint longer than any other volunteer. She and Meghan also visit Coral Oaks, an assisted living facility in Palm Harbor.

"Residents always want to see what attire they will come in," said Social Service Director Paula Senft about Nessler and Meghan. The two often dress in holiday-themed attire. "They are always looking forward to the visits. They give them a sense of comfort and something to talk about."

Meghan is one of the 68 greyhounds Nessler has fostered over the years and one of the three other Nessler dogs who have made visits to residences for the elderly and ill over the years. Since being fostered, Meghan has earned a permanent spot in the Nessler household.

Project PUP

For her nursing home visits, Nessler works through Project PUP, a group in Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties whose screened volunteers and pets provide animal visits to health-care facilities.

On a recent visit, Meghan comes dressed in Halloween ghost headpiece, orange bandana and black beads and wanders through Peninsula Care halls. Residents' faces light up when they spot the greyhound. Meghan nuzzles hands gently and stops for pats.

She is particularly adept at getting Alzheimer's patients to respond. "She loves dogs. She perks up," says Herbert Jones about his wife, A. Christie Jones, an Alzheimer's patient.

Meghan's visits are also therapeutic for Nessler. "It makes you feel good," Nessler says. "I've felt why am I doing this today, at times. But when I get here, I feel so good."

Nessler began her Peninsula visits with Holly, a Dalmatian. She bred Dalmatians when as a divorced mother, she arrived in Tarpon Springs from Chicago with three Dalmatians and a daughter and bought the house in which she has lived for the past 30 years. A few years later, she married her present husband, Ron Nessler.

Before retiring, she worked as a medical technologist at Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital in Tarpon Springs.

It was limpid brown greyhound eyes that Nessler saw at the St. Petersburg greyhound race track, Derby Lane, that caused the switch from Dalmatians to greyhounds. "I looked into those eyes," she recalls. Nessler was hooked.

Getting Rusty

She got her first greyhound Rusty in 1984. Rusty had been trained in Alabama by using an electric prod to make her leave the racing stall. Her legs bore the scars. The unsprayed female came with heartworm, hookworm and ear mites. In spite of her condition, she lived to be over 14.

After Rusty, Nessler became active in the Tampa Bay Chapter of Greyhound Pets of America, a nonprofit adoption group for retired greyhound racers. Members work with Derby Lane to place greyhounds in new homes. Nessler has only praise for Derby Lane, which she says treat its animals well and has donated a kennel for the use of future greyhound pets.

Nessler has fostered 68 greyhounds. Fostering is important because it allows fosterers to check out the animals' personalities to pair up humans and dogs most efficiently. Most greyhounds are gentle creatures, she says, who live well with other animals and do not require a lot of exercise. In fact, they often are couch potatoes who like nothing better than curling up with their people.

She prepares herself mentally for her foster dogs' inevitable departures, Nessler says, but husband Ron has more trouble saying goodbye. "Every dog that leaves, he cries," she smiles.

Besides Meghan, the Nesslers have two other greyhounds of their own, Charlee Girl, who carries her beloved stuffed toy wherever she goes, and accident-prone, good-natured Dave, who sleeps on the couch on his back with legs up in the air and head hanging down.

The animals give back far more than they receive, Nessler says. "If you love them, they just love you back - times 10."

How to help

For information on fostering or adopting greyhounds, visit www.greyhoundpets.com or call 727-595-7852. For information on Project PUP, visit projectpup.org or call Pat at 727-596-1469.

Cheryl Bentley can be reached at 727-815-1069 cbentley@suncoastnews.com.

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