Animals Amid Alzheimer's Patients
Canby Herald - March 2002
by Rachel O'Doud Vega

Max is full of energy as he investigates his surroundings at Country Side Living, an assisted living center for people living with Alzheimer's disease or other related dementia in Canby.

Residents are either please or reserved as he makes his rounds, but all of them are responsive to the big chocolate-brown Labrador who makes Country Side Living his second home.

"I encourage people to bring in animals," said Erik Berkey, the owner of the Country Side Living centers in Canby and Woodburn.

"They (residents) can't go out into the world, so I invite the world to come in."

Berkey not only invites domestic pets to the facility, but also llamas, chickens, and even horses and cows.

Parakeets and finches live in cages within the facility, which also features a large fish tank. "My residents really like the sounds of birds," he said of the facility's current 14 residents.

Berkey's dog, Bear, accompanied him to the Country Side Living in Woodburn before he passed away six months ago. After hearing positive remarks about Project Pooch's nonprofit organization that trains unwanted dogs for adoption, Berkey invested in Max, a Project Pooch prodigy.

Based in MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn, Oregon, the Project Pooch program pairs dogs that have been abandoned or abused with juvenile offenders. The young men work with the dogs on a daily basis, rehabilitating, grooming and training them.

Ideally, the dogs are then adopted by willing people and families in the local communities.

Max was a "chicken killer," Berkey said. His owners decided they no longer wanted him on their farm, according to Berkey, who believes Max actually killed only one chicken.

Regardless of Max's checkered past, Berkey has yet to witness any misbehavior by the canine on his own Hubbard farm.

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