Brownie the Therapy Dog

I took some photos I really like in Pearce, Arizona.  They have beautiful skies there.  This first is the view from my friend's back door.

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Here's the road to her house.

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And the sky at dusk.

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It was hot, and I mean HOT on Friday when we went to the hospital.   I'm talking about 109 degrees.  In spite of the heat, Brownie was a superstar. 

There are teen volunteers at the hospital during the summer.  Brownie is winning them over.  One young man spoke to Brownie and she obligingly laid down on her back so he could rub her belly.  He offered her a waffle fry.  Brownie is now deeply in love with him.   Rubbing and food equals the perfect person in Brownie's book.

We saw a patient whose two adult daughters were visiting him.  He wanted Brownie to lay next to him in his bed.  If a patient doesn't have any orthopedic problems, and wants Brownie in the bed, I allow her.  She laid her head on his knee and made googly eyes at him.  Then when he was putty in her paws, she turned her magic onto his daughters.  One daughter said before Brownie and I left that she wants a dog now.

We saw one nurse right by the elevator.  The nurse was squatting down next to Brownie, who was, of course, on her back to better expose her belly for rubbing.  The elevator door opens and a doctor walks out.   He squatted down and joined in rubbing Brownie's belly.  I think there is something special about my girl to make doctors and nurses equal in the belly service.  That nurse also said she wanted a dog now.

I love it that my precious girl has doctors squatting on the ground to rub her belly.  They leave smiling and I'm sure they're more relaxed and better able to help their patients. 

I found my mother's neighbor down on her floor when I got home from work on Tuesday.  My mother had phoned and asked me to check on her.  She spent several days in the ICU, and is now on a telemetry unit at the hospital where I work.  Brownie has worked overtime visiting Izzie.

Brownie cocked her head to the side when we visited Izzie the first time.  That is Brownie's reaction to being startled.  She does that little tilt of her head to the side.  Brownie is accustomed to meeting strangers in the hospital, not neighbors who dole out treats.  Izzie always has a bag of treats at her house for my dogs.  The whole pack is prone to dragging me or my mother over to Izzie's door.  Once when Logan escaped, Izzie opened her door and Logie ran right to her.

Brownie lolled about on Izzie's bed today.  She lay her head on Izzie's leg, giving Izzie the adoring gaze.  I've been the recipient of that gaze, I know how wonderful it feels. 

I had a nurse who asked me to visit his patient, though I wasn't on my normal day.  I went ahead and saw the woman.  Her nurse told me the patient had recently moved into a long term care facility, and was forced to give up her dog.  Brownie came at just the right time.  This patient got a much needed doggie fix. 

Brownie, Logan and I finished Week 3 Day 3 yesterday.  I had a mishap on Wednesday.  Just a tip, don't run with a testy chihuahua.  My mother was going to take the two little dogs with her, I had Brownie and Logan.  We all started off at the same time, which was our initial mistake.  Logan could see my mother.  He didn't want me.  He decided to remain seated and to gaze mournfully at my mother.  He didn't give up after being dragged half a block.  Paco was also protesting, by yapping and pulling like a sled dog for my mother.   Mother and I decided to swap out Logan for Paco, and I finally began my warm up walk. 

Paco is not a good running companion.  He didn't like other people running past us, he didn't like us running past other people.  Brownie decided that since Paco was barking and reacting to everyone in our general vicinity, she would do the same. 

Yesterday morning was a big improvement on Wednesay.   When I'm running, I'm pushing myself.  My breathing is faster, more in my face.  It's not so easy to let my thoughts wander, so I'm staying right in the present because my muscles ache just a little with every step.  I'm focusing on getting through my run instead of wondering what I'll end up doing at work during my next shift, whether I'll find another part time job soon, whether the State of Arizona is going to cut more healthcare funding, or any of the other things my brain might hold onto during the day.

I feel great when I'm done with my run.  I've stuck it out for one more week. 

Paco in the sun

That is my point in the C25K (Couch to 5K) program.  This morning was the best run I've had.  I fell into a rhythm this morning for the first time while running.  I felt pleasure while running.  I'm sure it wasn't quite a runner's high, but I've felt great all day long.

What I did was start with a brisk 5 minute walk, then I jogged 90 seconds, and walked 90 seconds, jogged 3 minutes, walked 3 minutes, then jogged and walked 90 seconds again, then jogged and walked 3 minutes again. 

The weather was cool, the dogs were happy, life was good this morning.  Plus, I think I feel my ass shrinking.

Brownie and I are running!  No really, you read that correctly.  We are finishing up our second week of the Couch to 5K program tomorrow.  We start with a brisk 5 minute walk, then we jog 90 seconds and walk two minutes, and jog 90 more seconds and walk another two minutes, until 20 minutes has gone by. 

I heard about this program from a woman at work.  I'm pretty excited and motivated right now.  I have fears that I'll get another couple of weeks under my belt and lose my motivation, but I hope not!

I actually took Logan with us on Wednesday.  Both dogs were so sweet and mellow the rest of the day.  I don't always agree with everything Cesar Millan says, but exercising one's dogs is a good thing. 

I'm going to try and get my mother to snap a pic of us running.  Hopefully she can zoom in on the pooches and out on me because that'd just be ugly.  Red-faced, sweaty, panting when I'm running, but I feel better too.  I have more energy, and I just feel better, more comfortable in my own skin.

I have been absent from Vox for the past three months, and I was fading out before that.  Just busy with school, and work, and life in general.  It's summer now, so I'll have more time.  I wanted to let everyone know about Louie.  I'm active on another forum called Chinese Crested Crush.  There are a great group of people over there, and that is where I heard Louie's story. 

Louie

Louie has an intestinal disease that makes it difficult for him to digest fats.  He had to go on a low fat diet, and his owner Laura spent a great deal of time trying to find a diet that helped Louie.  Here is her website devoted to his story.  She finally found a food that worked, and Louie started feeling better.  At his worst, Louie lay in his bed all day long, only moving when Laura would carry him to go out and potty, or to the kitchen to eat.  Now, after a period of time on Royal Canin's Digestive Lowfat food with fish as the main protein, he's almost back to his charming cute little self.  When Laura went to order her last batch of food, she noticed on their website that RC was changing the formulation of their food.  Here is a blog written by a veterinarian about how companies that manufacture dog food can just change their prescription formulas on a whim.

Help Save Louie.  Check out Laura's website. 

Brownie was very excited to be at the hospital on Friday.  I think I may go back to giving her a run at the park on our way there.  A nurse noticed as she petted Brownie that Brownie's chin was sopping wet.  From drool. 

She still made some people happy, drooling or no.  One patient laid on his side in bed and gazed into Brownie's eyes, talking to her, rubbing her ears.  Brownie, of course, ate it up. 

With another patient, Brownie smacked him when he stopped petting her.  She has only done that to one other patient during the history of our pet therapy visits.  She didn't hurt him, it wasn't an actual smack.  She just set her paw on his arm when he stopped petting her.  She's so gentle with the patients.  I get the full fledged smack when she wants to get my attention, sometimes more than once.  Ah well, I also get lots more of the pet therapy than they do.  Lucky me.

Brownie has been therapy for only me the last couple of weeks.  Well, my mom likes her too.  We haven't been to the hospital, though.  I worked on Friday, my normal pet therapy day, and at least 3 people commented on my outfit.  I wear scrubs to work.  When they saw me wearing scrubs, they realized that Brownie would not be visiting.

I also mentioned to my co-workers that I want to be told if any of my co-workers are hospitalized. I had a friend and co-worker who had back surgery and I didn't know.  This friend loves Brownie and probably would have enjoyed a visit.  When I mentioned to the office manager that I'd like to know so that Brownie could visit in the future, she said she would tell me if she heard of anyone else.  Then she said she probably wouldn't want co-workers visiting her if she happened to be hospitalized.  I asked if she wouldn't like Brownie to visit and she said yes, she'd like that.  She just wasn't sure she would want to see me.  Once again, I know my part of the pet therapy team is chauffeur and leash holder.

I've been doing my psych rotation for nursing school at a different hospital.  This other hospital has cards for each of their therapy dogs.  Like baseball cards, with fun facts about the dog on the back and a big glossy photo on the front. I'm so jealous.  I'm even thinking of visiting this hospital with Brownie just to get these nifty cards.  I took one to show the volunteer office at my hospital, although with the lay-offs and hiring freeze spending money on photo cards for the therapy dogs isn't going to happen. 

I know I say it all the time, but Brownie was such a good girl at the hospital yesterday.  I love watching her interact with the patients.  We went to the PCCU and the CVICU (both cardiac care units who have patients with different levels of difficulty in treating).  First off, she throws herself shamelessly at her favorite employees.  She lies on the floor on her back, exposing her belly for rubbing, bracing her feet on whatever is nearby, ankles, chair legs, whatever.  With one nurse, she backs right into the nurse, smiling over her shoulder for a butt scratching. 

With the patients, she is different.  She sits and looks at them, allowing them time to stroke her head.  Almost everyone likes to rub her velvety soft ears.  I had a patient once who told me Brownie's ears felt just like rose petals. 

I love that moment when Brownie works her magic.  She looks at this sick person and the patient returns her gaze and smiles.  Smiles are in short supply at the hospital, especially for the patients.  It's nice to bring a few.