Social Aid for Walking a Dog

An old lady in a suburb of Stockholm applied to the social services for social aid to walk her dog on days when she could not walk the dog herself. The lady was alone, unhealthy, and the dog was all the family she had. The social services denied the old lady social aid for this purpose. She appealed to the County Administrative Court of Stockholm County, which upheld the negative decision. However, the woman did not settle with that. She appealed to the Administrative Court of Appeals of Stockholm, and won. The court says she has right to social aid for walking her dog on the days when her health makes it impossible for her to do so herself.

In the judgment, the Administrative Court of Appeals agrees with the County Administrative Court that the keeping of pets is something you cannot normally get social aid for. On the other hand, each case has to be determined upon its own merits in accordance to the law. The old lady is 73 years old, has no other family than the dog and few other contacts with other humans. The dog is her primary company and motivates her to fight her illness, among other things through the walks they take together. The lady's illness, however, causes her not to be able to walk the dog every day. The Court concludes that, while the lady's need for help varies from day to day, her need for aid to walk the dog cannot be fulfilled in any other way than for her to get aid from the social services.

I fully agree with the Administrative Court of Appeals. While I believe that no human should ever buy a dog, without being able to afford it or take care of it, on rare occasions like this, granting social aid for the benefit of human and dog is definitely the right thing to do. The judgment also underscores how important a dog can be for the health of his or her human.

Thus, today, just like yesterday, I had good news to write about in the middle of the economic turmoil. There are always good news around, for those of us who can see them.