Therapy dogs are patients' best friends

As Lisa Towner enters Primary Children's Medical Center with her dog, Hoop, she is met with smiles all around. Hospital employees and visitors turn to smile and greet the pair warmly.

Once they reach the rehabilitation unit, Towner and Hoop's first visitor is Christian Jensen, 7. Christian is overjoyed to see the dog, especially as Hoop gets permission to lie right on the bed with him. Chantel Jensen, Christian's mother, is happy at the distraction the therapy dog offers her son.

"It's such a unique experience," she said.

"This dog is great."

Towner and Hoop's next stop is the rehabilitation gym. Ashley Covington, 16, of Taylorsville has been working on shoulder strength and manual dexterity. Covington was bedridden for a month to recover from a rare disease called Lemierre's syndrome.

Once in the gym, Towner and Hoop begin their real work. Towner assigns Covington the task of taking hold of Hoop's nose and balancing a treat on top of it so he can catch it. It looks as if Covington is just playing a game with the dog when she is actually working on her finger dexterity, Towner explains.

Hoop helps Covington build shoulder strength by fetching a ball she throws to him. Towner holds the ball up above Covington's shoulder, so she must reach up to get it. Throwing the ball also helps build her shoulder strength.

Towner, a licensed physical therapist, volunteers at Primary Children's Medical Center once a week along with Hoop. Much of her volunteer work focuses on neurological trauma patients and emphasizes bodily, neck or arm control and verbalization.

If a child is barely starting to speak, he or she can give commands to the dog. If the commands aren't loud enough for the dog to respond, Towner can signal him to do so. When the child meets his goal or is improving, he will be rewarded with the dog's response. In Covington's case, Towner encouraged her to speak louder so Hoop could hear her commands.

Towner works closely with the hospital's physical and occupational therapy team to help the patient. Many times the patient will respond to her dog when he or she won't respond to anything else. With the assistance of one of her dogs, Towner uses techniques to help make the muscles fire, while emphasizing the activity with the dog.

"When the child is totally involved in play, he isn't thinking 'work, work, work' or getting fatigued or hurting," she said.