Caesar was 4 when we first registered as a Pet Partner team in 2010. He served until 2021 when we retired him at the age of 14. He was a husky/shar pei, shepherd mix — red and white — who we adopted at 4 months as a rescue. He loved everybody, and I first thought about therapy work with him after seeing my father-in-law who had dementia and loved dogs light up whenever we visited, even though he didn’t know who we were.
We were a busy team, visiting 2-3 times per week for many years. We visited a senior center’s assisted living and dementia units, worked with adults with mental and physical disabilities, and made many visits to college campuses to help students relax as they prepared for exams. We also were one of the first teams to start a therapy animal program at an in-hospital hospice unit where he especially excelled at comforting staff and families. He lived a happy life after retirement and never lost his love of people. He crossed the Rainbow Bridge on January 10, 2023.