In honor of National Pet Therapy Day, children at Hopkins were visited by some very special friends.
The Johns Hopkins Hospital participates in the Pet Partners animal therapy program. Dog-handler teams visited pediatric patients in the lobby of The Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children's Center in celebration of National Pet Therapy Day.
The pets help the kids relieve some of the stress, pain and anxiety related to illness and hospital stays.
Patient, Annie Gruner, got to experience these benefits firsthand saying, "It's definitely exciting because when you are like stuck in the hospital for awhile you can kinda start feeling sorry for yourself and it's kinda something to be excited about and kinda distract your from the hard stuff that you're going through."
For a dog to become a Pet Partners therapy animal, he or she must be at least one year old with no history of aggression, must exhibit good obedience skills and must welcome interaction with strangers.
