When 5-year-old Calvin Owens finally went outside after more than a month, he met up with his canine friend Hadley on a Cincinnati Children’s Hospital patio. Even though the boy was tethered to equipment with wires and tubes, he stood near his wheelchair long enough to toss her a ball, and he smiled as she ran to retrieve it, according to the hospital’s handlers and caregivers.
Hadley is one of four facility dogs at Cincinnati Children’s, a program that staff and researchers describe as different from the volunteer therapy dogs brought in to comfort patients. Instead, facility dogs are specially trained and work as full-time caregivers, providing emotional support during stressful procedures, motivating children to move around, and making hospitals feel less intimidating, experts say.
“These dogs are making a real difference,” said Kerri Rodriguez, director of the Human-Animal Bond Lab at the University of Arizona, describing the role the animals can play for children and families in clinical settings. She said the dogs can provide “a little bit of normalcy, a little bit of comfort, in a really stressful, sterile environment that kids might not feel comfortable in.”
Rodriguez said research also supports those claims, including findings that even short interactions can improve children’s overall well-being and reduce signs of stress such as cortisol and blood pressure. She cited earlier work that looked across multiple children’s hospitals, along with a 2021 study in the Journal of Pediatric Nursing that linked animal-assisted therapies with benefits for controlling pain and blood pressure in children and teens. Other research she described also connects the approaches with reduced anxiety and pain and potential improvements in heart and lung function.
One reason the programs are expanding, Rodriguez said, is that children’s hospitals tend to account for much of the growth in facility-dog initiatives. She pointed to the annual Facility Dog Summit, where handlers and other participants network, saying attendance nearly doubled from 2024 to 2025. She also noted that while other kinds of hospitals may use facility dogs, children’s hospitals have driven much of the expansion in these programs.
Cincinnati Children’s receives facility dogs through nonprofits such as Canine Companions, which breeds, raises, and trains dogs and then places them with hospital staff while still owning the animals. Rodriguez said the cost model typically means hospitals do not pay for the dogs themselves, but do cover ongoing expenses like food and veterinary care, which can add up—especially because many facility dogs are larger breeds such as Labradors or golden retrievers—so hospitals often fundraise or apply for grants.
Staff also described how facility dogs work within hospital infection-control limits. At Cincinnati Children’s, for example, Hadley is bathed twice a month because she works in the cancer and blood diseases area, where kids can have reduced immunity, and handlers use leashes and balls designed to be cleaned. People must sanitize hands before and after touching the dogs, and if a patient is in isolation, the dog stays outside the room—except when a dying child wants a dog close, and caregivers say comfort needs can outweigh germ concerns in those cases.
A day with Hadley begins when handler Schellie Scott arrives at the hospital; Scott, a child life assistant, said her job is to help keep patients’ lives as normal as possible. Before entering patient areas, the dogs get time to run: on a recent morning, Hadley raced around a grassy play area with a canine co-worker, Grover. Scott said Hadley gets so excited she shakes her head as she tosses balls herself, and she described the dog’s energy with the line, “Hadley loves life,” adding, “Hadley lives big.”
Inside the hospital, staff said the dogs draw attention from patients and families in ways that include closed-circuit television shows filmed by the hospital, holiday-themed photos along hallways, and mailboxes where children can send letters and receive replies. Caregivers also create materials for children, such as trading cards with details like breed and birthday, bandanas for decorating, and books that explain procedures or treatments kids are about to undergo.
For patients, handlers describe the dogs as a steady presence during longer stays and demanding treatments. Aspen Franklin, 14, who has been coming to the hospital since she was a toddler for a life-threatening immune disorder, said of Hadley, “She has a calming presence,” adding, “That is a comfort to me.” When Aspen recently had weeks of hospitalization, staff said Hadley sometimes snuggled beside her in bed, and for a bone marrow transplant, Hadley spent time with Aspen and with visiting siblings, including when Aspen’s younger brother Emory donated his cells. Aspen’s mother, Brittney Franklin, said having Hadley around was “really nice because they’re away from their animals at home.”
Hadley also meets patients as they recover and regain strength. After Calvin went inside, Hadley greeted 11-year-old Bethany Striggles, who finished chemotherapy for bone cancer; the girl threw a ball down the hallway for Hadley, and when the dog retrieved it and returned it gently, Bethany rewarded her with an ice pop. Bethany said, “She helps me exercise more,” adding, “She’s energetic and happy and always likes to see me.”
The facility-dog workday does end, staff said, with Hadley eventually returning to a room referred to as her lair, where she has treats, toys, and a large dog bed. Above the bed, caregivers have posted drawings and notes, including a message on orange construction paper with a pink handprint that reads, “Thank you for being my BEST FRIEND.”
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