My West Highland Terrier, Griffin, and I have been members of Dogs On Call, Inc. since 2005. During this time we have visited our share of nursing homes and hospitals and been a R.E.A.D. team. We enjoy our visits to different facilities and Griffin seems to like R.E.A.D. the best. We had started a program …
On our very first visit at St. Mary’s Hospital on a Friday, Buddy met a little boy who had his tonsils out on Tuesday. He was supposed to go home on Wednesday, but because he wouldn’t drink anything, the hospital wouldn’t discharge him. His frustrated mom said he’d eat hot dogs and chocolate cake, but …
While visiting with the children at the local homeless shelter one little boy became quickly enamored with Button. Throughout the visit every 10-15 minutes he would be back to visit talking to just her. Towards the end of the visit Button was laying across my lap resting when the little boy showed up again crying. …
We can’t talk about Meriter Hospital and Dogs On Call without also talking about Lynn Malayter and her dog, Murphy, the pair who started the program at Meriter. They were the first Delta Society Pet Partner team in the state of Wisconsin and were also the first team to walk in the door of Meriter …
There are now 20 exclusively Delta-registered Dogs On Call teams visiting at either Meriter Hospital or the Meriter Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Facility. Most teams spend time at Meriter Hospital, enjoying the flexibility to visit when their personal schedule allows. At the hospital, teams may choose to visit between many different units, whatever suits their …