Pet Therapy Dog
Bodhi of the Rockies
As we reflect during the Thanksgiving holiday about being thankful, I know that I have so much to be thankful for too, and am grateful every day. I love this quote: “It is not joy that makes us grateful, it is gratitude that makes us joyful.”
Things I’m thankful for
I’m grateful I get to work at home with my dogs (Bodhi and his sister Darby). They come up to me numerous times a day for some “therapy visits”…giving (and receiving) some loving. Bodhi bumps my arm if I don’t stop working and pet him!
Freedom is important to me. I have had a successful business for 13 years and have the freedom to take off a few afternoons a month to take Bodhi to the hospital for pet therapy visits.
I also use my creativity doing what I love, and am grateful that I get to help so many small businesses present their passion to the world through graphic design.
Life is good
I am also grateful for Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies where I’ve volunteered since 1998. GRRR is a really great organization with many caring people helping many dogs. I have made long-time friends and that’s how I found out about the dog therapy program at LAH. And I get to adopt the “pick of the litter” and am thankful for adopting 5 other dogs previously from GRRR, amazing dogs like Bodhi.
Volunteering with Bodhi at Littleton Aventist Hospital is something I’m thankful for. The pet therapy program is run very efficiently by many caring volunteers. All the hospital staff we meet are so friendly and thankful to the volunteers too, a good reflection on the great care that the patients receive.
Seeing patients in a hospital makes me so grateful for my own good health. Health is so important and so very precarious. That really hit me hard when I saw a critical patient on our first visit. We get to go home after every shift of visiting patients. The patients are not so lucky.
And of course I’m grateful for Bodhi, who brings so much love and joy to me, and to all he meets. I can see how very special he is when he’s “working”. Everyone else can see how special he is too, and feel his love. Staff and patients are always thankful for his visits.
Bodhi is thankful too. Sometimes he looks up at me as people are petting him and telling him how handsome and wonderful he is, and seems to be saying “I love this…best job ever!”