Happy birthday.

Come sit, sit here you go.

Good boy.

Like so cute.

Oh, not.

Oh good boys.

So De de 1231232.

That’s a very right here.

Oh my God, that’s so good.

He’s eight years old.

Take some activities with you.

You’re a big doggie.

My doggie is so tiny.

I will have a picture with him too.

Thank you.

Do you want one of him or buddy?

Oh buddy.

You got a whole, so she brought you good smells for your birthday.

I see.

She smells so good.

Oh, very good.

I’m sure one of these.

I’m obsessed.

We always get so excited.

We get to see them.

I know because we never get to see him.

Ok, we’re here to celebrate Dexter’s eighth birthday every week.

We do an event.

We call it wagon Wednesday here in the park where any child who is admitted in the hospital is invited to come and engage with our facility dogs.

The the dogs typically work one on one meeting like an individualized goal with the patient while they’re here.

But we also recognize the desire that most people have most kids have when they’re here to interact with one of our dogs.

So we have this event and obviously when it’s around one of the dogs, birthdays, we have to have a party.

So we are all about a theme.

Dexter turned eight this year.

So eight part seemed very fitting.

So we’re here to celebrate him, gather, have a party and have fun.

Create a space where kids can come, be kids, um come and play, come and meet peers who are here, come with their siblings with their family members, even though they’re in the hospital come, create fun memories, take pictures together.

As a family watch a magic show together, be able to do things that you might be doing outside of the hospital.

Um We still want you to have that opportunity to do even though you are in the hospital.

Dexter was our very first facility dog.

He started in February of 2019 was when our facility dog program began here.

So we’ll, we’ll call him the OG facility dog.

Uh, it’s been about 5.5 years now, but really just looking at what can a trained, an animal trained as a service dog bring into the hospital environment to help kids meeting their goals.

So he, he’s not my service dog.

I don’t need him to pick up the things that I drop.

But we show up to a kid’s room who needs to go on a walk after surgery and he’s holding their leash and he opens the doors for them and that’s a way more positive experience for kids to, to do the hard things that they need to be doing in the hospital with a dog alongside them might be receiving a poke that doesn’t feel good for anybody.

Um, but with his training of being able to lay completely still next to them while that procedure is happening, to give that child something else tangible to focus on, to touch him, to pet him.

Uh, it’s just a huge, a huge relief for them.

Another alternative focus.

Yeah, I mean, as the handler who’s with Dexter every day, I’m the one who gets to see every day when he shows up to their door, the change in their face, um, their just sudden willingness to participate in the hard thing that maybe they were having a hard time doing.

I’ve had a lot of parents tell me this is the first time I saw them smile because he showed up at the door.

Um, kids in the hospital can be very fearful of the, the staff who are here.

All a bunch of grown ups.

Um, there are painful things that happen here.

So when, when strangers are coming in, in and out of their rooms that can be stressful.

So to see a dog show up, um, I’ll incorporate a lot of his training and have him carry something into the room.

They see him holding a bucket of toys and all of a sudden they are so willing to engage in the activity that, that we’re working on, maybe doing medical play, helping them to become a little bit more familiar with the medical equipment that’s on them.

But now I’ve brought it in a play session where they can really explore, interact with this thing that’s on their body.

It can become less fearful, less frightening for them when they’re actually being able to touch it.

When we give Dexter an Ivy, not actually right, we kind of tape it around.

Um, but for him to be that person engaging with them, it just, it’s a game changer for them.

We’re just so thankful for Dexter.

He is, uh, and all of our facility dogs, Pilot Declan, they, they just bring something to the hospital that no matter how well intentioned I am as the human.

I, I can’t show up and be that, that cute furry face.

So we’re just very, very grateful for the work that, that they all do, um, every day that they’re here.

So typical workday, Dexter lives with me.

Um, pilot lives with Renee Declan lives with Shelby.

And so we all take care of them in the evenings when we’re here at work.

They are here at work.

When we go home for the end of the day, they go home with each of us respectively and, and their dogs, they’ll run around, they’ll have their zoomies at home, playing with toys.

Um, they’ll relax after a hard day’s work, unwind in the backyard or with that invitation onto the couch to snuggle at home.

Um, but it’s just, it’s really cool to see them come in each day, do their work and see what each day has for us.

Uh, we usually, we carry our caseload so we’ll identify which patients it is who we’re going to see that day and how we’re going to help those kids in meeting their days.

Go follow them throughout their time here.

Maybe we’re meeting them for a one time only.

Might be at Wagon Wednesday.

We come in, we know we have this activity each week.