Pet Therapy Dog

Bodhi of the Rockies

Had another magical visit to a woman in ICU. Bodhi has great intuition.

Special Request

Another special day. I hadn’t been to the ICU since our first day, so we visited a few families in the ICU waiting room. As Bodhi was comforting one family, another family kept watching us. We went up to them and a man asked if we could visit his mom – she was just told she was dying.

That’s what we are here for, so we followed a few other family members to her room.

denver therapy dog bodhi

The patient didn’t seem very sick and was very talkative, reminiscing about the poodle she grew up with. She and the other family members were petting Bodhi and I could tell he was relieving their stress and anxiety. Bodhi is magical at taking people’s minds off of the hospital and bringing joy and comfort.

Bodhi lay down and didn’t want to leave. I asked him a few times to leave but he said no, this is where I need to be right now. I don’t question his intuition so we stayed in her room for about 15 minutes. I can tell they all thought that was pretty special. We went back out to the waiting room and I told her son that his mom really enjoyed Bodhi’s visit.

Special Thanks

Bodhi was an Ambassador Dog at the recent Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies (GRRR) Gala. He had a great time schmoozing around to each table and trying to steal the dog toy out of people’s gift bags. Each greeter dog made a special video (you can view that in the prior blog.) It was so fun to bring him to the Gala. I’m so proud of him.

I was forwarded me this awesome email from a GRRR member:

“Our daughter is a BSN, RN OR Nurse at Littleton Adventist Hospital – has been for several years. I was telling her about Bodhi’s video. I had saved all of them to watch now and then since the Gala – a little fur-treat to myself while at work. She’d just gotten off her shift and I started to tell her about Bodhi to see if she’d seen him at work. I didn’t even get to finish the story when she exclaimed, “I KNOW HIM – he is the sweetest, most loving guy. He is just so calming. He just made my day after a particularly grueling day in the OR when a bunch of other nurses and I ran into him in the hallway. He let me just love on him and love on him – and love on him. I needed that so much!” She just could not say enough about Bodhi and the difference he made in her day that day. 

It’s so gratifying to hear how much these dog visits mean to the patients and staff.

He makes a difference in my life too.