February 2025 marked my 19th year volunteering at CHLA with my dogs. During that time my dogs, Bruce, Bobbi, Bonner, Willow and Gordon. I am happy to let you know Weber passed his therapy dog test on May 18, 2024, is now a registered therapy dog with Pet Partners and is following in Gordon’s footsteps visiting CHLA. Weber was part of the pilot test program allowing dogs to visit the Emergency Department for the first time ever. Weber also passed the test to be part of CHLA’s Animal Assisted Crisis Response team and went on his first deployment with three of his fellow therapy dog team members May 5th to help console students that tragically lost a classmate over the weekend.

I am so appreciative for the generous financial support my friends and family have shown over the years for the CHLA Dog Therapy Program. CHLA requires a commitment of 24 visits a year and I am happy to say my dogs have exceeded that number by leaps and bounds. Between Gordon, Willow and Weber they logged 157 visits in 2024!! Sadly, Gordon passed away on April 29, 2024, at the age of 11. He visited CHLA for ten years and there is rarely a visit when someone does not share a memory about him or show me a photo of them with him.

Earlier this year while visiting patients in the pre-op waiting room with Weber we were approached by a male nurse who asked me if Bonner was one of my dogs. I told him yes and he showed me a photo of Bonner and his wife and shared this story with me. His wife ran into Bonner at the valet a few years back and had her photo taken with him and I gave her one of Bonners trading cards. She was meeting her husband, a CHLA nurse, for lunch that day to tell him that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. During each of her chemotherapy appointments she taped Bonner’s trading card to her IV pole. I am happy to say she is now healthy and cancer-free.

If you are able, please consider donating to the CHLA Dog Therapy Program. This program is funded entirely from private donations and relies on the generosity of our supporters to keep us going year after year.

Please feel free to reach out to me directly for more information on the CHLA Pet Therapy Program. 818-424-4440

Thank you, Dorothy