Shriners Children's Boston Pet Therapy Program

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Brooke Allen, Child Life Specialist, Shriners Children’s Boston:

My name is Brooke Allen, and I am a child life specialist and the pet therapy coordinator here at Shriners Children's Boston.

Paul Pierce, Shriners Children’s Boston Pet Therapy Volunteer:

My name's Paul Pierce. We're part of the child life pet therapy dog teams that come here.

Brooke Allen:

In 2017, the program that we currently have right now, we got started with our partnership with Dog B.O.N.E.S., which is a nonprofit organization. And we partner with them and have their therapy dogs come into our hospital to provide therapy.

Paul Pierce with Duncan, Shriners Children’s Boston Pet Therapy Dog:

He's so gentle. He loves kids. And we just have fun doing it.

Brooke Allen:

I think pet therapy is so important because it's just another avenue and another therapeutic modality for our patients to create some normalization in the hospital. It helps decrease stress.

Paul Pierce:

Pet therapy is just all about calmness. There's so much anxiety with a lot of the kids that he just has a way of calming.

Brooke Allen:

It provides this opportunity for them to interact with an animal, who doesn't really care what language they speak, doesn't care what they look like, they're not judging them, so it can help them to build self-esteem.

Paul Pierce:

We love coming here, and this is a remarkable hospital. He loves being Duncan. He loves being a therapy dog. It doesn't take much for them to realize that he's just a really gentle dog.

Brooke Allen:

Every dog is just a little bit different and what they can provide, and we're very lucky to have that. It's really just wonderful to see their spirits lift. To see them relax. Gives them a bright spot in their day, gives them something to look forward to.

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