Hudson

Entrant's First Name
Julie

I am a Therapy Animal

Tell us a story about how pet therapy touched your life.
Pet therapy has given me the opportunity to give back to my community by sharing Hudson with others who may be struggling or facing stressful times. During the last years of my husband's life Hudson was also our therapy dog. I was able to experience first hand the joy and relaxation he brought to my family and me. We were even able to prove that having a dog to pet will lower blood pressure, in a hospital setting! ;-)

Give us an example of a special interaction between your therapy animal and the person they were visiting.
There are so many! One was on a college campus. Hudson was on his back in the middle of a group of students getting belly rubs. A blind student walked over and knelt down. Hudson immediately got up and walked over and sat close to her. Her first words upon petting him was "it's like touching a cloud!". On another occasion we arrived in the major surgery waiting room and as a gentleman passed us he said "I think there's a young lady who could use you over there". When I looked, there was an adorable 5 year old crying her heart out. She'd been there with her grandmother for close to 8 hours waiting for her mother to have cancer surgery. Hudson and I walked over, I sat on the floor, and her tears immediately dried up. We visited for more than a half hour while I heard all about her dogs at home and her doll babies and her mom. She was all smiles by the time we moved on to visit others who were waiting. Finally, there was the elderly gentleman at the airport in a wheelchair wearing a WWII veterans cap. I had to stop, shake his hand, and thank him for his service. We ended up visiting for quite a while as he talked about why he was here (to help with commissioning a new naval vessel!), his time in the war (he was at Pearl Harbor), and then he asked about my dad so then we talked about his time as a B17 pilot. All the while, Hudson was hanging close getting pets and thoroughly enjoying the exchange. We just meet the most fascinating people!