Roe, a husky-poodle mix, making friends with a patient at the Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program. Part of BMC’s Healing Pups program, Roe is a regular visitor to the program.

Health & Medicine

Boston Medical Center’s Therapy Dog Program Brings Comfort to Patients, Staffers

Team of four-legged “therapists” are also helping advance medical research

It’s a recurring joke at Boston Medical Center that the hospital’s best therapists are four-legged.

The joke refers to the Healing Pups program, a team of 20 certified therapy dogs that visit patients and families at BMC, Boston University’s teaching hospital. The dogs range from big—like Biko, an energetic German Shepherd—to the aptly named Bitsy, a teacup Chihuahua who usually sports a tutu bigger than she is.

The dogs go all over BMC’s large campus. During one recent weekday, Bitsy and her colleague Monroe—Roe for short—an athletic husky-poodle mix, were stationed at the Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program (BHCHP) on Albany Street. The two are regular visitors to the building, and a small crowd of patients and staffers quickly gathered when they arrived. 

People took turns petting Roe and tossing hedgehog toys she eagerly retrieved. She chewed on a Dunkin’ Donuts toy—a squeaky sausage-egg-and-cheese—in between throws. Meanwhile, Bitsy, clad in a Grinch-themed dress and a tiny Christmas hat reading “Naughty,” was continuously cuddled by Donna, one of the patients.

“I tell her I’m her second mommy,” Donna says, holding Bitsy close to her chest. “She knows Momma’s here.”

There is a natural camaraderie between the dogs and those interacting with them. People discuss Bitsy’s and Roe’s temperaments—Bitsy, allegedly, is a diva at home, while Roe learned to paddleboard this summer—and talk about their own pets, past and present. That’s typical when the pups come around, says Sheryl Katzanek, director of BMC Patient Advocacy and head of the Healing Pups program. “Anytime there’s a dog, it’s a good entrée into a conversation,” she says. 

A robust “rufferal” program 

Patient Advocacy started the Healing Pups program in 2012, with two dogs. Since then, “it’s just grown exponentially and so far has surpassed my expectations on what it could do,” Katzanek says.

Many of the program’s dogs belong to BMC staffers. To become a Healing Pup, the dogs have to pass the Therapy Dog International Test. But a busy hospital, with all its sights and smells, is a highly particular environment. All potential Healing Pups undergo an additional behavioral evaluation to make sure they can handle working at BMC. For example: the dogs have to be comfortable around wheelchairs and walkers. And—crucially!—they cannot treat the tennis balls that are often on the bottoms of walkers as toys. And yes, each dog has his or her own staff ID. 

The Healing Pups visit patients of all stripes, from pediatric to geriatric. The program largely operates on a “rufferal” basis: departments can request dogs when in need of a pick-me-up. (Some dogs, meanwhile, have regularly assigned locations they visit.) Initially, that meant just visits to comfort patients and their families. But staffers soon started making requests, too, Katzanek says. 

Biko, an energetic German Shepherd, is one of BMC’s largest Healing Pups. Photo courtesy of BMC Healing Pups/Instagram

“We’ll get a call from a chief resident saying, ‘My team had a few tough cases this week—can you guys come visit?’” Katzanek relates. “One thing we didn’t anticipate is the impact that these dogs would have on the staff. We have almost as many referrals for staff as we do for patients.” 

Looking over the program roster—and the Healing Pups Instagram account—it’s easy to see why the animals are so popular. The roster includes Blue, a smiling black lab with a uniquely fluffy coat, Memphis, an English bulldog covered in (highly squeezable) rolls, and Maggie, a mini Aussie who can dance like a ballerina. On the dogs’ Instagram account, one photo features a group of staffers grinning as they pose, mid-pet, with Sully, a Bernese Mountain Dog with giant, floofy paws. 

Sully, a Bernese Mountain Dog, with his swimming goggles. Photo courtesy of BMC Healing Pups/Instagram

The variety of breeds is a nice feature of the program, Katzanek says. Some patients prefer smaller dogs, while others like the larger ones. Or, if a staffer knows that a patient has a Labrador Retriever at home, for example, they can request one of the program’s Labs to come cheer that patient up. 

“The message is that any dog can be a Healing Pup, and any dog can be a really good therapy dog,” Katzanek says.

Pups help in research

The Healing Pups are also helping advance research. Several of the dogs are part of a BMC research trial studying whether therapy dogs can improve acute trauma patients’ pain levels and quality of life.

The trial was partly inspired by one researcher’s relationship with her own pets. Research resident Sara Myers, a clinical instructor at BU’s Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, adopted a cat several years ago and added a dog to her family earlier this year. The immense joy her pets brought her was immediate, Myers says. She observed similar reactions to the Healing Pups: “Patients just light up when the dogs come to visit,” she says. “A dog will come in, and the most defensive patients, who are in so much pain, will change 180 degrees in their mood and demeanor.”

She began wondering how measurable those effects might be. Plenty of literature exists showing the benefits of animal therapy on long-term illness and trauma, she says. There’s far less research on acute trauma—so along with BMC trauma surgeon Sabrina Sanchez, also a Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine associate professor of surgery, in June Myers began a trial with acute traumatic injury patients, who are typically in the hospital for shorter stays. 

The trial splits participating patients into two groups—one group receives two visits from dogs, and the other receives two social visits from a person (usually a researcher or one of the Healing Pups handlers). After each of the visits, researchers ask patients to rate their pain level, quality of life, and mood. The scores from each group are compared. 

The results are promising so far: “Preliminarily, we’re seeing that quality-of-life scores are almost 20 points higher in the group that sees dogs,” Myers says. “We’re not trying to cure cancer,” she adds. “We’re just trying to make patients’ days and lives better after they’ve been hospitalized for a traumatic injury. It’s truly so wonderful to feel like you’re bringing a ray of light to people in really tough situations.”

Joy in darkness 

Bringing joy among life’s darkest moments is a recurring theme for the Healing Pups. Per Katzanek, the program really took off in the immediate aftermath of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. One of the handlers started bringing his boxer, Dexter, to visit bombing victims and their families every day. The effect Dexter had on patients was tremendous, and Katzanek and her colleagues knew they were onto something. 

Now the dogs are a regular part of life at BMC—so much so that almost every nurse’s station has a drawer stocked with dog treats, according to Katzanek. “I am forever moved by how embraced these dogs are by BMC staff,” she says. 

Back at BHCHP, patients and staffers continue to filter by to visit with Bitsy and Roe. Talk turns to the therapy alpaca (yes, that’s a thing!) who sometimes visits the hospital, and who the Healing Pups handlers like to joke they have a rivalry with. 

BHCHP patient Donna briefly gives Bitsy up to someone else to hold. Once she gets the tiny chihuahua back, Donna gently cradles her and says her aches feel better already. Bitsy just snuggles further into Donna’s shoulder, perfectly content to be held.