Not too old to help, 82-year-old Bill O’Leary has adopted an animal shelter dog and has taken in a foster dog.

The group helps provide care and adoptions for abandoned and stray dogs that end up at Vector Control, the county's animal shelter. The 82-year old O'Leary decided he would get involved.

According to Diana Davis, "He (O'Leary) had seen the first article in the Beacon and looked up our number and called us at home. He seemed like a very interesting man, who had lost a lot of what he lived for - his wife and his dogs, within a year and a half time. He was lonely and when he read the article about Pound Buddies he thought having a dog back in his life might help."

There are no age requirements for adopting dogs through Pound Buddies, according to Diana. "We get all ages of people come in that want to adopt, or foster," she says. "But the majority of people are younger. When the older person comes in, we try to match a dog to the person's lifestyle, or maybe ask them if they would consider a senior dog, for a senior citizen."

O'Leary met the volunteer couple, visited the shelter and decided to adopt a dog.

"We felt an adult dog, of small to medium size would be best for him," says Diana. The couple chose dogs from the shelter's wards and brought them out individually to meet O'Leary, who eventually chose to adopt an adult female he named Lulu.

"I was no good to anybody," he recalls. "Lulu gave me a reason to live." He says his doctor agreed and told him it added about five to ten years to his life.

O'Leary continued to stop in at the shelter after adopting Lulu, visiting with the Davis', and checking out the dogs that had been brought in. A few weeks ago, he says, the shelter was "running out of room" and he decided to take another dog home to train and house until it could be adopted permanently.

"She's (Lulu) been an excellent dog," he says, "but she needed someone to play with, too. I can't play too much anymore. And I have this yard."

It was a good idea, according to Diana.

"We felt that he had done so well with the dog he adopted," she says, "that letting him help another dog get out of the pound to find a home of its own was great.

He wanted to adopt another one for himself, but then decided that may not be the best idea at his age."O'Leary plans to take on all of the jobs of a foster volunteer, including taking his foster dog, Taz, to adopt-a-dog events. "It will be hard to give up Taz," he admits, "but I'll find another dog to foster."

O'Leary was once an active volunteer at an animal rescue facility in Florida, where he would exercise 40 to 50 dogs every day for seven days a week.

"I have had a dog ever since I could crawl, I think," he observes. Just last week, O'Leary fell while outdoors and was comforted by the two dogs, who stayed with him until he could get up and back into the house. "I feel like I'm protected," he says.

Getting a new dog wasn't the only benefit of his interest in helping Pound Buddies.

"One thing I got out of this whole thing is two new friends," he says. "Duane and Diana have been over here now and then. We chitchat all the time. These people are in a mold all by themselves."