'Dog therapy' among the prescriptions at children's hospital

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MCT) - When Nel the Dalmatian stuck her head in the hospital room, Stephanie Brown's mood changed from sullen to tickled.

"When Nel walks in the room, Stephanie just lights up," said Debra Hardy, mother of Stephanie Brown, a patient last spring at St. Louis Children's Hospital.

Stephanie, 16, had been in and out of the hospital since November. Nel visited her there, hopping into the bed to snuggle.

"I've been missing my dogs at home," Stephanie said, adding that when Nel arrives, "I feel good; but when she leaves, I feel bad again."

Nel is one of a dozen therapy dogs at Children's. Nel allows children to grab _ sometimes at high speed _ hug, kiss and cuddle her. She often wears costumes: bright-colored hats, star-shaped sunglasses and neckerchiefs with her name on it.

She's allowed into bed with children. She seems to just know how to pay special attention to a child who's sad, and to play with a child who needs to burn energy.

June Brennan-Mueller, Nel's handler, recalls a 15-month-old girl who wouldn't walk and hardly moved.

"They'd stand her up for a moment and she'd sit back down," Brennan-Mueller said. "Nel went in and the girl became fascinated with Nel's wagging tail. She followed Nel's tail and before long she was walking all the way around the room.

"The children love her and she loves them. When we come into the hospital, it takes us a half-hour to get from the lobby to the elevator" because of the children.

Jill Malan, Child Life Services Manager for St. Louis Children's Hospital, directs programs that help children enjoy their times in the hospital. The program is more than 10 years old.

"The children are glad to see the dogs, and the dogs are glad to see the children," Malan says. "They're great motivators."

Doctors are known to prescribe dog visits, Malan says.

Bill Dahlkamp, director of the TOUCH Dog program with Support Dogs of St. Louis, says his service provides dogs for about 70 sites.

It takes a special kind of dog to visit pediatric hospitals, Dahlkamp says.

"We want a dog that's tolerant in any situation and a dog that's cautious around patients and hospital equipment," Dahlkamp said.

To get into the TOUCH program, the owner volunteers along with the pet. Both go through 12 weeks of training.

Nel is a Dalmatian _ a breed known to be high-energy, impulsive and hard-headed _ but that doesn't faze Dahlkamp.

"We don't look at breeds," Dahlkamp says. "It's all based on temperament. We have a Rottweiler, pit bull, mixed breeds."

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The typical graduates, though, are golden and Labrador retrievers.

HIGGINS THERAPY

Keshia Fulton, 16, is another fan. She was born with cerebral palsy and gets regular physical therapy at Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital to stretch her tight muscles _ exercises that can be painful.

Then one day, in walked Higgins, a 72-pound Golden retriever-poodle mix. Keshia became so fascinated with the dog that she disregarded the pain. The physical therapist was able to stretch her legs almost 30 percent more.

"If they're with Higgins, they'll pay attention to him and not the pain," says Betty Miller, a nurse and handler for Higgins.

Dogs are more like "specialists" at Cardinal Glennon. Children with brain tumors, strokes and head injuries "come in confused and crying," and the dogs get specific tasks to help the children.

Some examples: Higgins will play tug of war with children who need to get stronger, obey commands from children with speech problems due to brain injury and play fetch with children who need to work on coordination skills.

A dog will help a child focus, get control and be distracted from the ordeal of being hospitalized, Miller says.

"Once a child was crying during a hospital visit," Miller recalls. Higgins quieted the child _ reflexively, it seemed _ by putting his head in the child's lap. "Dogs just seem to know."

What sort of dogs are suited for this work?

Higgins was specially bred and trained by C.H.A.M.P., which stands for Canine Helpers Allow More Possibilities.

Nel, on the other hand, was an apparent casualty of the Dalmatian fad that followed the Disney movies "101 Dalmatians" and "102 Dalmatians" several years ago. A dog rescuer in rural Missouri found her abandoned, and Spotsavers, a Dalmatian rescue group in St. Louis, took her in. Brennan-Mueller, a Spotsavers member, volunteered her for therapy dog training. That was five years ago when a veterinarian estimated that Nel was 2-3 years old. Nel graduated with the highest grade a dog can get _ four weeks ahead of schedule.

"Nel was sweet and good with people," said Dahlkamp of Touch Dogs.

Joey Murphy would agree. As a toddler, Joey, now 8, grew afraid of dogs after watching a family puppy bite a sibling while playing. Even when he first visited St. Louis Children's Hospital a year ago to battle leukemia, he put a sign on his door, "No Dogs."

One day, Nel got close enough to lick his hand and nuzzle him. They've been friends ever since.

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When asked where Nel got her name, Joey threw his arm around Nel's neck.

"Never Ending Love," he said with a smile.

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