certified, the animal therapy organisation reported recently.

Pets With A Purpose, which is based in Warwick, prepares animals and their owners for visiting patients and residents in a variety of hospital and hospice settings.

Such visits, it has been proven, serve as excellent therapy for the institution-bound, many of whom are children.

Among the local institutions that Pets With A Purpose arranges visits for are Agape House, the Packwood Home and St. Brendan's Hospital.

Recently, moreover, the organisation certified ten local "dog teams'' to take part in such visits.

They included Ms Judith Swain and her golden retriever Moet, Ms Caroline Armstrong and her beagle mix Zephyr, Ms Kay Collins and her shepherd Maegan, Ms Janice Moran and her keeshund Lexie, Ms Le Ann Perry and her samoyed Tasha, Ms Donna Mello and her pit bull Rocko, Ms Phyllis Madeiros and her weimaraner Passion, Ms Sue Stan and her jack russell Blitz and Ms Diane Adams and her pomeranian Bandit and Chesapeake Bay retriever Bonny.

In addition to the dog teams, Pets With A Purpose also has a number of cat owners and their pets on hand, including Ms Linda Counsell and Molly, who reportedly visited the Packwood Home in June and was "very well-received.'' The dog teams, meanwhile, were said to have undergone two to three one-to-two-hour training sessions a week for at least six weeks.

The classes, which were conducted by Ms Betty Leighton and Ms Adams, were designed to "socialise'' the animals and prepare them for hospital settings.

"I know,'' Ms Adams said in the organisation's most recent newsletter, "that many people questioned the need for classes. They felt they had a nice family dog and why not just take them out.

"Unfortunately,'' she continued, "the lovable family dog does not always react predictably when faced with something new -- strange equipment, people that are different.'' Consequently, the dog trainer noted, the need for some training was vital, and she reported that the various dogs that were trained came out of the sessions "exposed to many objects, behaviours and situations.'' Currently, Ms Adams is planning a new set of dog classes for mid to late September. Class size has been limited to a maximum of twelve places, six of which have already been filled.

Anyone who would like to enrol in the classes or receive more information on the organisation can call or fax 238-3947. The Pets With A Purpose mailing address is PO Box 84, Warwick WK BX.

*** Miss Caroline Troncossi, a recipient of the 1995-1996 Masterworks Art Scholarship, will hold her first Bermuda exhibition this week.

Housed in the Bacardi International building on Pitts Bay Road, the show will be held from Thursday to August 18.

Miss Troncossi, who currently studies fine art at the Parsons School of Design in New York, has had previous exhibitions at Parsons and at the Rhode Island School of Design.

The daughter of well-known Bermudian artist Carole Holding, she has also shown with the Bermuda Society of Arts and the Bermuda Arts Centre at Dockyard.