{"id":71026,"date":"2026-05-23T08:38:53","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T12:38:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/specially-trained-dogs-helping-young-patients-heal-at-childrens-hospitals-nationwide\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T08:38:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T12:38:53","slug":"specially-trained-dogs-helping-young-patients-heal-at-childrens-hospitals-nationwide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/specially-trained-dogs-helping-young-patients-heal-at-childrens-hospitals-nationwide\/","title":{"rendered":"Specially Trained Dogs Helping Young Patients Heal at Children’s Hospitals Nationwide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n

When 5-year-old Calvin Owens ventured outdoors for the first time in over a month, he encountered his four-legged companion Hadley on a hospital courtyard. Connected to medical equipment through various wires and tubes, the young patient still found the strength to rise from his wheelchair briefly to throw a ball for her.<\/p>

His face lit up watching her retrieve it. Medical staff applauded the moment.<\/p>

“Look how good you’re doing!” encouraged Hadley’s handler, Schellie Scott.<\/p>

These meaningful breakthroughs and joyful instances occur regularly when Hadley or her three fellow facility dogs at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital make their rounds. These four-legged healthcare workers differ from typical volunteer therapy dogs that visit hospitals for patient comfort. They receive extensive specialized training and work full-time schedules, offering emotional assistance during difficult medical procedures, encouraging physical activity, and helping make hospital environments feel less intimidating. Healthcare professionals report these programs are expanding rapidly at pediatric medical centers nationwide.<\/p>

Growing scientific evidence demonstrates that brief encounters with facility dogs can enhance children’s general wellness, lessen their pain perception, and diminish stress indicators including cortisol concentrations and blood pressure readings.<\/p>

“These dogs are making a real difference,” said Kerri Rodriguez, director of the Human-Animal Bond Lab at the University of Arizona. “They can provide a little bit of normalcy, a little bit of comfort, in a really stressful, sterile environment that kids might not feel comfortable in.”<\/p>

While nobody maintains official statistics on facility dogs working in pediatric hospitals, Rodriguez notes the steady expansion of the annual Facility Dog Summit, where handlers and participants connect professionally. Attendance at this gathering almost doubled between 2024 and 2025. Though other medical facilities employ full-time dogs, healthcare experts indicate children’s hospitals drive most program growth. Canine Assistants, a major Georgia-based nonprofit organization, operates a dedicated pediatric hospital program that has deployed over 80 dogs across the nation.<\/p>

Canine workers have served for years at facilities including Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital in New York, Norton Children’s in Louisville, Kentucky, and St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Additional programs continue launching regularly. Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Maryland welcomed its initial two facility dogs this past March.<\/p>

Medical centers typically obtain these animals through nonprofit organizations. Groups like Canine Companions, Cincinnati Children’s dog provider, handle breeding, raising, and training before partnering them with hospital personnel while retaining ownership. The dogs and their handlers share both living and working arrangements.<\/p>

While hospitals avoid direct purchase costs for the animals, they cover ongoing expenses including food and medical care, which can accumulate significantly since most are larger breeds such as Labradors or golden retrievers. Medical facilities commonly organize fundraising campaigns or pursue grants to manage these costs.<\/p>

Healthcare professionals emphasize the clear advantages of these “animal-assisted therapies.” Rodriguez co-authored a 2022 research study examining survey data from 17 pediatric hospitals. Pediatric healthcare workers described how facility dogs offered reassuring companionship, established connections, and created familiar hospital atmospheres for children and families. A 2021 Journal of Pediatric Nursing study determined that animal-assisted interventions benefited pain management and blood pressure control in children and adolescents. Additional research found these therapies decrease anxiety and discomfort while potentially improving cardiovascular and respiratory function.<\/p>

Facility dogs access more restricted hospital areas than volunteer animals and sometimes focus on specific departments. Opal, one of two St. Louis dogs, divides her schedule between the pediatric behavioral health unit and the child protection program.<\/p>

Regardless of their work location, maintaining cleanliness remains essential.<\/p>

Hadley receives baths twice monthly because she operates in the cancer and blood diseases section, where patients may have compromised immune systems. She gets additional baths or special wipe cleanings following potential germ exposure. Handlers utilize easily sanitized leashes and toys, and people must clean their hands before and after dog contact.<\/p>

When patients require isolation, dogs remain outside their rooms. The single exception occurs when terminally ill children request canine companionship. In such situations, caregivers determine that comfort and fear reduction outweigh infection concerns.<\/p>

Hadley begins her workday when her handler Scott \u2014 whose child life assistant role involves maintaining patients’ normal routines \u2014 reaches the hospital. Hadley primarily visits patients but also takes breaks for free play time.<\/p>

During a recent morning, the Labrador-golden retriever mix ran energetically around a grassy play space with her colleague, Grover. While Grover maintains calm composure, Hadley’s excitement leads her to shake her head while tossing balls to herself.<\/p>

“Hadley loves life,” Scott said. “Hadley lives big.”<\/p>

Throughout the hospital, the dogs receive continuous attention. For handlers, “it’s like being the assistant to a famous person,” joked Scott.<\/p>

Evidence of their celebrity status appears everywhere.<\/p>

They feature in closed-circuit television programs produced by the hospital and broadcast to patient rooms. Holiday and event-themed dog photographs decorate corridor walls. Special mailboxes allow children to send letters or drawings to the dogs and receive responses.<\/p>

Patients can collect trading cards featuring each dog with information like breed and birthday, decorate bandanas for their furry friends, or receive small stuffed dogs. Healthcare workers create dog-themed books showing children upcoming procedures or treatments.<\/p>

Children with extended hospital stays develop close relationships with the dogs.<\/p>

Aspen Franklin, a 14-year-old battling a serious immune disorder, has visited the hospital since toddlerhood and spent weeks there recently. Sometimes, Hadley has cuddled next to her in bed.<\/p>

“She has a calming presence,” Aspen said. “That is a comfort to me.”<\/p>

Like other facility dogs, Hadley also supports families. When Aspen’s younger brother Emory provided cells for her bone marrow transplant, Hadley spent time with him and other visiting siblings.<\/p>

Having Hadley present “is really nice because they’re away from their animals at home,” said their mom, Brittney Franklin, whose family has two dogs and a cat.<\/p>

Franklin recently observed Aspen creating art with Hadley. Since the dog couldn’t enter her room so soon after transplant, Aspen applied paint colors to a small canvas and gave it to Scott, who placed it in a plastic bag with peanut butter spread on top. Just outside the room, Hadley enthusiastically licked the surface. Abstract artwork resulted.<\/p>

Hadley’s following patient was Calvin, the young boy she encountered on the courtyard. Calvin suffers from a rare, severe form of juvenile arthritis and recently underwent bone marrow transplant. Despite only managing to stand briefly at a time, he repeatedly made the effort to play with Hadley.<\/p>

“He’s such a strong little man,” Scott said.<\/p>

Following Calvin’s return indoors, Hadley visited 11-year-old Bethany Striggles, who recently completed chemotherapy treatment for bone cancer. The girl threw the ball down the entire hallway length, and Hadley ran joyfully to fetch and gently return it. Bethany rewarded her with an ice pop.<\/p>

“She helps me exercise more,” Bethany said. “She’s energetic and happy and always likes to see me.”<\/p>

Eventually, Hadley does become tired. When this occurs, she returns to an office lovingly called her lair, containing treats, toys and a large dog bed.<\/p>

Above the bed hangs a bulletin board filled with artwork, photographs and messages. One, written on orange construction paper, displays a small, pink handprint and reads: “Thank you for being my BEST FRIEND.”<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Children’s hospitals across the country are increasingly using specially trained facility dogs to provide emotional support and motivation for young patients. These full-time canine caregivers help reduce stress, pain, and anxiety while making hospital stays less frightening for kids and their families.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":71025,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[837],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/news-1779539932737.jpg?fit=1000%2C666&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbtNqq-itA","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":71020,"url":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/specially-trained-dogs-bring-comfort-to-young-hospital-patients-nationwide\/","url_meta":{"origin":71026,"position":0},"title":"Specially Trained Dogs Bring Comfort to Young Hospital Patients Nationwide","author":"Admin","date":"May 23, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Full-time facility dogs are increasingly being used at children's hospitals across the country to provide emotional support and reduce stress for young patients. 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