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First, this is about puppies and not pills but I find it pertinent enough to post to the list. Sometimes I do things right. My Mom lived with us for a while. After trying that and various other living arrangements for about 4 years, my now 90 year old Mom has resigned herself to residence in the Randolph County Nursing Home. There she is attended by "kids" many of whom she had taught English years before. It is a pleasant enough place if you like that sort of thing, but it remains a warehouse for "older" (as defined by our youth worshiping culture) human beings. The second player is a silver miniature poodle named Charlee. This little bitch was a Christmas present to Mary a couple of years ago from her sister in New Mexico. One should know that I never liked ankle biters, preferring larger dogs. For a while I just tolerated "my wife's lap varmint". Then I started learning her personality. You gotta understand; Charlee thinks she's a bear. With no justification at all, she tries to take on much larger dogs in the neighborhood. This fearlessness and her determined efforts to repel borders such as the US Mail person and UPS person have earned her some measure of admiration in my eyes. She makes a burglar alarm of high quality. The fact that she is also cute as a button and plays fetch and tug-o-war with such enthusiasm does not hurt her standing either. However, her best accomplishment to date was giving birth and nurturing. five poodle puppies. Charlee was a good mom with her first litter. Twice we took the pups and Charlee to visit Mom. The nursing home had a resident stray dog, but I think we were the first to officially bring granddogs to visit. If questioned I was prepared to swear that the mamma poodle on the leash was a PD facilitator dog. We showed up with "Charlee Parton" (great big ones) and a whole sack full of puppies. Mom and the whole place were thrilled. We had to protect several of the pups from heavy-handed loving (and potential abduction?) by the residents. Mom was as pleased as punch with her lap full of pups and Charlee too. For weeks, thereafter she was asked about the puppies. What we did lent her a sort of status that is lacking for many nursing home residents. The same drill was used a couple of weeks later--with many similar results. However, this time, the pups were larger and scrambled around fighting (it sounded fierce) with each other and amusing the residents with their play. Mom was again rewarded with an increase in status . She was noticeably brighter of countenance and probably rested a little easier that night because of what we had done. The reason I brought up the idea that this belonged on a Parkinson's disease forum is that I have seen elderly PWP "stored" in other nursing home s. Sometimes these patients suffered the indignities of being told that they were uncooperative by the staff. Sometimes they were even given Haldol (to "solve their problem"). That is where one abandons all hope. . Why is this on the Parkinson's List? What we did was not a particular hassle. It required no special talent (unless you count giving birth to the puppies). It produced good results. It gave status to the powerless. We all have situations like this under our very noses. Nursing homes need a list of drugs contraindicated in PD for the staff. -These are available on the list. Take one to them. Try to make someone feel special this week. Regards, WHH 55/19