LEWISTON, Maine — Every Thursday, Forest the Great Dane walks into the southern location of the Dempsey Center, ready to offer hours of cuddle therapy. He’s one of five so-called “Dempsey Dogs.”
"When people come into the Dempsey Center, they have a lot going on in their life. They are either in active treatment, they are coming out of treatment, or they are caring for somebody who is in active treatment," Katelynn Davis said.
Davis is the communications and marketing director for the Dempsey Center. With locations in Lewiston and South Portland, the centers have been offering services like massage and counseling to anyone battling cancer—and their families—for free. They call it holistic care, meant to complement your cancer treatment.
The Dempsey Dog program is meant to complement those services.
"That chance for them to just take a break and enjoy the time with a Dempsey Dog is incredible," Davis said. "You can see it on their face, you can see it on their shoulders as they’re relaxing, and it’s just really beautiful to see."
Forest comes in and waits for anyone who might need a snuggle after some acupuncture, or just a quiet shoulder to lean on in counseling.
"I just think dogs have that sense," Tina Buckley said.
Buckley is Forest's handler, and the two are trained to offer therapy, but Buckley said she mostly holds his leash while he does the work.
"There was a little boy who sat with him as [his] mother was getting a massage or something, and for a whole hour, this little boy sat with Forest on the floor, and he just relaxes and gets in it."
Buckley has been bringing Forest in for two years. Before that, she knew very little about the Dempsey Center.
"My initial thought was, it’s gonna be kind of a gloomy place, and it couldn’t be more different," Buckley said. "I’ve seen some amazing things in here. There’s one woman who would get on the floor with him and wrap her arms around him while her husband was getting acupuncture. And later on, when he had passed, she came back and she would sit on the floor with him again. It was just really sweet."
The day our cameras were there, just moments after our interview, we were lucky enough to meet that woman: Pam Hurd.
"I met Forest in 2022. My husband and I were coming in for counseling," Hurd told us.
Her husband Herbie passed earlier this year. While they both utilized the services at the Dempsey Center before, she continues the counseling, although never alone—scheduling her appointments around Forest’s visits.
"There’s just something about a dog, you can sit on the floor and rub him and there’s no expectations," Hurd said.
The Dempsey Dog program has received so much great feedback from clients, that it continues to grow. It now includes an Australian Shepherd, Bernedoodle, Poodle, and Bullmastiff. They visit hospitals, the centers, the retreats, and even the Dempsey Challenge. They make quick, quiet contact or long-lasting connections.
"He holds all of the secrets," Hurd said, turning to Forest to look him in the eye. "All my secrets, huh? On my good days and my not-so-good days."
"Somebody said it was the icing on the cake to be able to see Forest, and that made me happy because I just don’t feel like what we do is a big deal," Buckley said. "To hear things like that, you know when somebody says you made my day, and it’s such a simple thing to do."
Not that simple, though, as it does take quite a bit of training and certification to become a therapy dog, so they all have that background.
Even Forest utilizes the services at the Dempsey Center. While we were there, he was a little nervous about our camera crew, but immediately started relaxing when one of the ladies started doing Reiki on him.
To learn more about the Dempsey Center, click here.