WAGS Therapy Dog

Hope and I were called last week to visit a hospice patient at a Board & Care facility in Citrus Heights. So yesterday afternoon, I spent a lot of time brushing her out (its shedding season!), doing nails, brushing teeth, cleaning ears (which she HATES!), and giving her a bath. Today when I called, the patient had changed her mind and didn't want a dog to visit after all. I had taken her to work with me, so she was all groomed with nowhere to go. Luckily, I was able to get in touch with Sutter's volunteer coordinator and received permission to visit the STARS unit at Sutter Hospital near work.

We visited about four patients today and she did very well. One of the patient's wanted her on the bed with her and I was so proud of her that she was able to get up gently on the bed (many of these patient's cannot move on their own and there's very little room for a dog on the bed, plus these patients are on respirators, so we have to be careful of the tubes), she even managed to relax enough that she was falling asleep as the lady scratched her on the head and on her chin. She even made little "kissy" noises at Hope and Hope gave her a little smooch with her nose which made the lady very happy. What a little miracle girl she is...

Normally, Hope wears a WAGS (Wonderful Animals Giving Solace) scarf that was given to us by Sutter to wear, but a friend had given her a scarf that is so perfect for her to wear as its pink and black with paw prints. So many times people think she's a boy, so this scarf is perfect as it makes her look more like a girl and is perfect for a black dog.

Here's a picture I took of her today sporting her new scarf!



It thrills me that Hope still has such a desire to work...this morning as I was getting ready to leave for work, I put on Hope's "working" collar. Even though our houseguest, Sergi, wanted to play, she was all work and just stood there without doing anything with him. Guess she knew she was in work mode now....