Yesterday was Pet Therapy Appreciation Day, and the hospital where my dogs and I volunteer gave a celebration! Zoe, one of my pet therapy dogs, and I went to the hospital to celebrate.

Both dogs were pretty excited as I got out my uniform. But only one got to go.

Tegan did her best to make sure that she was the one who got to go. She lay on my uniform so I couldn’t put it on without noticing her and what a good dog she is.

She rolled on the floor. Good dog here! Pick me!

But Tegan gets nervous around other dogs, so I chose Zoe instead.

Tegan was devestated. She kept trying to will the door to open so she could go with us.

To start things off, we had a group photographs taken in the lobby of the hospital of the pet therapy teams that came. It is almost impossible to coordinate ten teams so all the dogs and all the people were looking at the camera, and not making awkward faces. The photo above is actually a pretty good shot for us.

As part celebrating Pet Therapy, patients and staff came up to visit with the dogs. One man came up to Zoe and started petting her. He didn’t speak much English, but he was able to convey that his mother had had a stroke. She was in the Neurological Intensive Care Unit (Neuro ICU). He showed me a photo of his mother and her three Rottweilers (three? really?). It was one of many wonderful encounters with all sorts of people who came by.

In between people petting them, most of the dogs waited patiently for pup cups.

Zoe, on the other hand, did what she does best — begged for treats.

We took a second photo at the end of the celebration for teams that arrived a little later. Everybody looks good in this shot.

As we were wrapping up, the son with the mother in Neuro ICU came back. He wanted Zoe to visit his mother.

I went up a few minutes later, and found his mother struggling to stand in a walker. When the mother saw Zoe and I walk in the room, she threw her hands in the air. Her very good son quickly positioned his hands to spot her in case she fell, and the physical therapist grabbed the belt they put around people’s waists. She didn’t care. She was ecstatic that Zoe was there.

I picked Zoe up and held her at eye level. The woman grabbed Zoe’s head and pressed her own into it, with tears in her eyes. We all stood like that for a few minutes, then she began to tire. I excused Zoe and I, and we left, everybody feeling better than when we came in.

This is why we do Pet Therapy.

Once we got home, Tegan tried to process the betrayal of being left behind. I don’t think she believed my explanations.

Zoe came home with her tummy was full of treats. She was so exhausted after the party that she lost control of her tongue and produced a blep.

A good day celebrating one of our favorite things to do.