When Parkinson’s disease forced Ruth Carlson to leave her home and go into a nursing home, she faced a tough decision.

Her companion of nine years, Trooper, a Jack Russell terrier, had nowhere to go. She checked nursing homes in Mason City, Iowa, where she had lived for 33 years, but they weren’t interested in allowing her to bring her dog, she said.

“I was beside myself that I’d have to leave him,” Ruth, a retired teacher, said.

She tried to get a friend to take Trooper, but she already had a dog, so that idea was out of the question.

When her son, John, who lives in Lake Mills, suggested she try the Lake Mills Care Center, Ruth got a pleasant surprise.

Not only could she move in, but so could Trooper.

“I nearly fell over,” Ruth said.

Trooper is the first four-legged resident at the care center. The pair moved into the center in January.

“They said he couldn’t bark during the night,” Ruth said. “And he knows he can’t go in anybody else’s room.”

Ruth’s grandson, who lives in Des Moines, had wanted a dog like Wishbone, the star of a former Public Television children’s show. However, his parents didn’t want a dog. So Ruth asked if it would be all right if she got a Jack Russell terrier and brought him to visit her grandson once a month.

Ruth got Trooper when he was only 3 months old, so they’re very attached to each other.

For the first five years, he slept on a blanket on the living room floor. Then, a friend kept Trooper for Ruth while he was recuperating from an illness, and he slept on the friend’s bed.

“Since then, he’s slept on my bed,” Ruth said.

Once Ruth is in bed for the night, Trooper jumps up to sleep there too.

Nursing home employees take Trooper outside when he needs to go out. He goes along to her physical therapy appointments, and can find their room on his own.

“The men here like to pet him,” Ruth said.

Elaine Helgeson, Lake Mills Care Center administrator, said the arrangement has worked out really well.

“I think it’s made a big difference on Ruth’s well-being and the well-being of other residents as well,” Helgeson said.

Ruth loves the new accommodations, as does Trooper.

“It’s a pretty place. I really like it,” Ruth said.

And she’s closer to her oldest son. “He stops in daily,” she said. “It’s so nice to get to see him more.”