

	Featured Story		Dog of the Day

Kiki

Please Note: The dog in the accompanying photograph is the subject of the story, but the person pictured is probably not the patient in the story.

A few years ago, my sister-in-law, who is not really a “dog person”, decided she was dying to adopt an adorable Labrador puppy. Since she clearly didn’t understand all the work involved in training a puppy, my wife and I were not surprised when she called and asked us to take her puppy ten days later. We already had a Sheltie, but we readily agreed to take the Lab puppy, Kiki. We decided to train both dogs to be Therapy Dogs, and now they are active volunteers for Love on 4 Paws.

One of my most memorable experiences happened while Kiki and I were doing a visit at Shriner’s Hospital. When we entered the prosthetics waiting room, we heard a little boy crying. A doctor was working with a young boy who had recently been fitted with a prosthetic arm. The doctor was trying to help the child learn how to open and close the hand on the end of the prosthetic arm. The little boy was becoming very frustrated because he was having a hard time using the hand. When the doctor saw Kiki, he immediately decided to take a break and let the boy play with Kiki. Kiki loves to get treats while she is working at the hospital, and her favorite treat is a small piece of lettuce. The doctor saw me giving her bits of lettuce and got a great idea. He took a piece of lettuce and showed the little boy how to hold it with the prosthetic hand. Once the little boy had learned how to pick up the lettuce, he showed him how to release it and give it to Kiki. This “game” was an instant success! The little boy was giggling and having a great time treating Kiki with strips of lettuce. Every one was a winner in this story. The little boy stopped crying and was learning how to use his new arm, and Kiki was getting lots of treats.

We haven’t visited Shriners Hospital in a while, but I still often think of the day we worked with this little boy. More than just cheering him up and brightening his day, we actually participated in his physical and occupational therapy.