12/03/2025
This time of year, the demand for therapy-dog visits seems to take on a special urgency, so Joey and I have been out and about visiting quite a few different places. I’ve been visiting hospice patients since 2012, and Joey is my third golden retriever partner in this work. That’s his little “business card” I hand out to everyone we meet.
About seven years ago, I also began mentoring new pet-therapy teams at Hospice, helping them prepare for this incredibly rewarding - and sometimes challenging - work. And because I’m a photographer, I volunteered to photograph all the incoming teams as well. Which brings me to introducing handsome Otis… the sweetest bundle of love you can imagine.
Here’s a quick Otis story.
Otis and Joey were recently signed up to attend a mental-health event at a local grammar school. During one class period, about 45 wild and wonderfully energetic fourth graders came bursting into the recreation room to meet the dogs. I’m not sure either dog was quite prepared for that level of joyful chaos, but they handled it like champs.
I play a little game with kids: they line up and each get one of Joey’s cards, and to come pet him they have to bow and say, “Hello, King Joey.” They loved it—some even dropped all the way to the carpet in a dramatic play bow. It was hilarious. In between dog visits, the kids could do arts and crafts and other activities, so it was a truly sweet event.
When we were packing up to leave, Otis’s mom showed me something special a young girl had made just for him: a paper crown, because she wanted Otis to be a king, too.
Sniff. 💛
