Hospital hounds heal East Tennesseans

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - There's a special something that happens petting a dog. It's hard to explain, but it makes a person feel good.

Phyllis and Ken Hirsh bring their dogs, Bear, the Goldendoodle and Sam, the Labradoodle, to University of Tennessee Medical Center every Monday and Wednesday.

"Sam is an incredibly intuitive dog, Bear not so much, but Sam, yes. He's just very calm, very receptive to being touched and he loves the attention he gets here and he gets a lot of attention,"

said Phyllis.

It's part of the H.A.B.I.T. program, which stands for Human Animal Bond in Tennessee. The dogs comfort patients, visitors and staff.

"He'll just approach them and accept their hugs and attention. Often he acts sweetly to someone who's really feeling sad,"

said Phyllis.

"It's who he is. Can't take any credit for training him that way."

It's hard to explain who needs their love, but it seems as if it's something Sam can detect.

"A woman here once, she had a tear running down her face and he walks over to her and licks the tear off her face. You can't teach a dog to do that,"

said Ken.

Phyllis has volunteered with H.A.B.I.T. for 11 years. Ken jumped on board two years ago, when the trauma nurse manager, Teresa Day, asked them to visit their floor.

"There's just something about being able to reach down and rub their ear for a minute and feel better,"

said Day.

She said the dogs help with staff retention. Research has proved being around animals lowers blood pressure, reduces stress and evens heart rate.

"There are too many studies to ever read about how treating the whole person helps them get well and this is about treating the whole person,"

added Day.

Even though it's hard for people to explain that feeling of being with a dog, perhaps the dogs understand.

"What else they get here, other than the affection and love, that we don't know what it is, but they love it,"

said Phyllis.