Welcome to Team Paws for a Cause -- Please Donate in Support of 25 Years of Dog Therapy at CHLA!

For 25 years, the Dog Therapy Program at Children's Hospital Los Angeles has brought comfort, connection, and moments of joy to children and families facing the unique challenges of illness and injury.  

Dog visits are both exactly what you'd imagine - pets and snuggles and giggles and pictures - and so much more.   Each interaction is also an evidence-informed intervention designed to reduce distress, improve coping, and help children engage more successfully in their care.  That might mean supporting the placement of an IV in the Emergency Department, or being motivated to persist in uncomfortable physical therapy exercises.  Through a unique hybrid model of highly trained volunteer and resident therapy dog teams, CHLA's program delivers more than 123,000 interactions each year across 41 clinical areas.  Dogs visit inpatient units, outpatient clinics, rehabilitation, the emergency department, and more.   The dogs also provide comfort to families and meaningful support to healthcare providers. 

As we celebrate this 25-year-milestone, we are honoring the volunteers, dogs, employees, clinicians, and donors who have helped build one of the most comprehensive hospital-based dog therapy programs anywhere. This program is entirely donor-funded, and Walk & Play LA has been a vital fundraising tool for dog therapy for each of it's 10 years, helping ensure we have the funding for annual operations - from experts in the field developing, studying and scaling beneficial interactions and right-fit training, to collars, leashes, hand sanitizer and trading cards provided to every dog team.  Your support helps ensure that therapy dogs continue bringing hope, healing, and comfort to the children and families who need them most.  

We invite you to join our team . and create your own fundraising page, or make a donation in any amount to the team via the links on this page.  Your gift is tax-deductible, and every dollar earned by our team supports the Dog Therapy Program.

Thank you! 

Team Paws for a Cause