Canines Offer Patients Cheer Visiting Dogs Trained To Lift Spirits Of The Sick

A golden retriever wearing glasses, a plaid hat and a wristwatch is enough to make anyone laugh, even the most depressed patients at St. Mary Medical Center.

When the patients smile, so do Bill Van Beek and Opal Walker. The two volunteers visit the hospital twice weekly with dogs trained to brighten patients’ days.

The dogs nuzzle their heads up against the patients, who pet them on their soft, yellow crowns.

While Kye and Belle, owned by Walker, and Banjo, owned by Van Beek, can supply instant cheer to the dog days of hospital life, they occasionally do much more.

Walker and Van Beek both tell stories of dramatic patient improvements when the dogs are around. Sometimes it’s as simple as a recovering patient walking an extra lap around the gym, but on other occasions patients in a coma have responded favorably to the animals.

One of those responses was the catalyst for Pet Loving Care, the 7-year-old local volunteer group in which Van Beek and Walker participate with one other dog owner, Melanie Reiswig.

A young girl had awakened from a coma, but failed to respond to anything around her. One day, on her way to therapy, the girl was instantly excited when she saw a seeing-eye dog that belonged to a hospital therapist. Her face lit up and she tried to speak - something she had not tried to do since the accident.

While such dramatic reactions to the animals are rare, Walker said she has seen it happen more than once.

“The responses to the dogs are great,” said Pat Hobkirk, director of volunteer services at the hospital. “Everybody, including staff and visitors, loves to see the dogs.”

Banjo was the first of the three golden retriever spays to become involved in hospital visitation programs. Since she flunked out of seeing-eye dog school because of weak hips, she has spent the past 6 1/2 years bringing cheer to the hospital.

When Walker, a hospital volunteer, saw the things Banjo did, she knew she wanted a similar dog. Kye, she thought, was bright enough to do the same things Banjo was doing, so Walker decided to train and socialize her to enter the same line of volunteer work 5 1/2 years ago.

Three years later, Walker took in another dog, Belle, who did not have a home. She didn’t plan to train Belle for pet therapy; however, before the dog was a year old, Walker realized she, too, had an even temperament and was easy to train - qualities that make for a good therapy dog.

So, for more than a year, Belle went through the same training as Kye and Banjo. That included basic obedience training from the local 4-H club; extensive socialization; tests from the Delta Society, an organization that believes in the healing qualities of pets; and tests administered by the hospital. Although the 4-H and Delta Society trainings are not required for dogs visiting the hospital, Belle, Kye and Banjo still took the classes.

The most important part of the training is the socialization, according to Van Beek and Walker. They took the dogs everywhere they went to familiarize them with as many real-life situations as possible. They took trips to the bank, restaurants, construction sites and museums. The process worked for all three dogs.

The dogs’ mild temperaments also are tested at home.

“The dogs play with Phoebe (Walker’s cat) at home,” Walker said. “The cat dive bombs the dogs and the dogs bathe the cat.”

That lackadaisical, carefree attitude is similar to that of Van Beek’s dog. “There is very little that is unfamiliar to these dogs,” Van Beek said.

In order to work in the hospital’s semi sterile environment, Walker and Van Beek also spend several hours a week cleaning their dogs. They check the dogs for fleas, give them baths, brush their teeth and clip their nails. The animals are also given the usual shots and inspected for internal parasites.