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Blueberry the Animal Assisted Therapy Dog

Please Note: The dog in the accompanying photograph is the subject of the story, but any persons shown are probably not those in the story.

Photograph of Blueberry dog

Blueberry is a Basset Hound with lots of experience visiting individuals of all ages. She pretty much loves them all. On this particular day, we were visiting in a group setting of individuals with emotional difficulties.

When we entered the room, Blueberry strutted around the group, wagging her tail, and saying hello to almost everyone. She's always seemed extremely intuitive to people's emotions, and she seems to "feel" who wants her attention.

Once she finished her parading around the room, she pulled me over to this young woman. The woman was dressed in all black, hunched over, pale and looked sad. Blueberry ran over to her, jumped up (as much as a Basset Hound can jump), put her front paws and big muzzle on the woman's lap, looked straight into the woman's eyes, and gave her the longest lick I've ever seen.

The woman completely melted and started laughing and smiling. She cuddled Blueberry's head and neck. The two of them stayed in that position for about three minutes, which is a long time for Blueberry to stay still.

After our visit with everyone was over, and we were ready to leave, the woman came over to me with tears in her eyes and thanked us over and over for being there. She smiled, and left the room. Wow!!!!