Viral Video: Nurturing Dog and Hospice Patient

dogpaw1 | September 15, 2015 | Health | No Comments

Caring Canine Catching Social Wave

4-year-old golden retriever therapy dog has gotten high praise through social media after registered nurse, Tracy Calhoun, posted this heartwarming video on Facebook, being shared over 200,000 times.

Caring for a hospice patient on the verge of death, this loving video will melt your heart. As a poem is being read to the patient, JJ nurtures her.

Watch JJ in action as she nurtures the hospice patient:

I often do bed visits, though never without The Bossy One. This is a lady who has very few people to visit her. She cannot see and often does not wake up, but she did like having her hand on my fur. She was very calm during my visit. We were listening to Yeats, by the way. I was very insistent to have her touch me, more so than usual. We fell asleep later with her hand splayed on my head, both of us snoring (but no proof of that!) I sure can be silly at times, but I also know when to be quiet and present. Her caregivers were very appreciative when they saw this video.
Posted by JJ, Hospice Therapy Dog on Sunday, February 23, 2014

JJ’s Caring Job

A bed visit typically involves keeping a patient company, and they can also calm the patient to distract them while medication/treatment is conducted. Over the last three years, JJ has worked 12-hour shifts, under her lady boss, Tracy Calhoun.

Calhoun told King 5 News that what JJ has been doing is absolutely touching. She looked very thrilled with the response to the video that she described as amazing and heartwarming and expressed her happiness that the video can be shared. She also apologized on her Facebook wall to those who got teary eyed watching the video.

Reader – Have you experienced therapy dog’s caring service in action?