Therapy dogs and endless smiles.

One of the greatest things Ann and I have in common is the love of animals. She is a very savvy little 4 year old who knows about animals, and can correct you about them too. But with the love of animals comes something greater, therapy. When Ann was hospitalized the first time last April, she had a difficult time adjusting to an environment without her dogs. Her dogs are like her friends (or as I call them her fury little siblings.) Being an only child has proven to be a little difficult for Ann because she has nobody else to play with. This is where our dogs come into play. Ann as curious as she has always has been, would always be by the back door of the house looking outside at the dogs. As she grew a bit taller, she decided she would play with the dogs, even if this meant for her getting full of mud, or occasionally dipping one of our chihuahuas in a bucket of water. She would carry them as her children (only the 2 small ones.) Lucky for us, none of our 6 dogs are bad tempered or fighters. They are very trust worthy and wouldn't harm a fly. Ann would sit on top of our lab and pit-bull mix, and they wouldn't mind it at all. These dogs have been very kind and patient with Ann. So many stories to tell about dogs, with so much impact on a little girl. So back to the first hospitalization. Ann would cry endless amount of tears because she wanted to go home with her dogs. She would cry and say she missed her dogs. Her dogs are her world. Our first hospitalization lasted 6 weeks and a half. One day, during her first week of hospitalization a special friend came by. A beautiful bernese mountain dog made an appearance at our room. Ann was thrilled and was laughing. She caressed the dog and hugged it like it was her own. Across our long stay at the hospital we had a few dogs visit us: golden retriever, australian sheepdog, lhasa apso, labrador retriever, great pyrenees, and couple of others. Those visits made Ann feel much more better. We even had printed pictures of our dogs near the wall by her bed. But the day that she felt happiest was the day she was finally out of the hospital. She came home and immediately ran to the back door to see her dogs, the dogs she cried lots of tears for, the dogs who she would ask for, the dogs she would mention to everyone at the hospital. Those dogs, who are the ones that bring her laughter. Now that Ann is immobile, she still gets to see her dogs. She likes to ride in her wheelchair to the back door and see them. She manages to give them treats, and they manage to jump up her wheelchair to lick her face. They provide her unconditional love and she provides them laughter. They have been the ones to lift her up in her toughest of days. So to those of you who have pets, remind yourselves that they give love, when love is given. They don't complain, they don't whine, they simply wag their tails and asked to be loved.  They provide the therapy that a human therapist can't.