After losing her pet Rottweiler, retiree Cheryl Cooper longed for animal companionship.
Ms Cooper lives in a retirement home at Edgeworth in New South Wales' Hunter Valley where it is too difficult for her to own and care for a pet.
But two years ago, she discovered the not-for-profit organisation Happy Paws Happy Hearts (HPHH), which connects vulnerable people with rescue animals as a "flip" on animal therapy.