Stories

For almost 10 years and 1,000 hours, Dodger and I visited patients of all ages. She was a magnet for eyes and smiles as we walked the hospital halls. People asked to pet her. Kids hugged her, some not wanting to let go. A little boy asked her to kiss. Some patients cried because she brought back memories of their dogs.

Allie loved her job as a therapy dog. I called it “pet the people.” When I was getting ready to go on a visiting day, I would say we were going to pet the people, and she became so excited and eager to go.

Over the last 8 1/2 years, we have volunteered locally at St. David’s Hospital Georgetown, as well as many assisted living/nursing homes, the Georgetown school district with Read With Me, and a local behavioral hospital that treats people with substance use disorders and mental health issues, as well as military veterans with PTSD.

Bosun and I LOVED every minute of every single time he had the opportunity to share his love of people. Bosun especially loved our weekly visits to a large rehabilitation facility for developmentally disabled adults that became the highlight of our weekly schedule for a number of years. To the people there, Bosun was a real “rock star.”

The courtyard was packed with students from the start and stayed that way until the bell rang to indicate break was over. It was evident that they received benefits from all the teams participating in this event.

I am a licensed clinical social worker and work with parents and young children in my regular practice. I have developed a niche of using exposure therapy with real dogs to help people of all ages overcome a fear of dogs, aka cynophobia.

I wanted to share my story and also say thank you to Pet Partners for their gracious assistance we recently received to help Gus battle cancer, with their Cancer Care Fund.

I call Luna “the Love Dog” because she has so much affection to give.

To those of us who had the opportunity to meet Carolyn, be mentored by her as an evaluator and instructor, and learn from her vast experience and knowledge, she is remembered with love and affection. She always had the patience and time to teach us more about the human-animal bond and encouraged us to work closely with our animals to become the best therapy animal teams we could be.