ohmidog!

A retired Annapolis lawyer whose assistance dog helped her cope with hearing loss is now training dogs to help the elderly and disabled.

Ilene Caroom, 56, recently opened Canine Solutions for Seniors, a service focused on training dogs to perform tasks to help the elderly.

“This is what I wanted to do with retirement. This is immensely gratifying,” Caroom says in a feature story in Sunday’s Annapolis Capital.

Caroom helps train dogs to do everything from picking up a dropped cane, to delivering a note, to  helping with the removal of clothing — depending on the needs of the client.

“The idea is that most people have dogs, and dogs love to do this,” she said. “The very things that (people might have) problems with can be turned to an advantage.”

Caroom has trained animals, including her own pets, for more than 20 years. She and her former “Super Hearing Dog,” Noah, who accompanied her to the law firm she worked at, were featured in the United States Border Collie Club newsletter, back 1996.

Caroom now has two border collies — Strike, a hearing assistance dog, and Moss, who is trained to do a variety of tasks.

For more information about Canine Solutions for Seniors, call 410-533-2832 or e-mail k9solutions4seniors@gmail.com.

(Photo: Annapolis Capital, by Colleen Dugan)