Working Dogs Spend Valentine’s Day Delivering Cards and Smiles to Children at Texas Hospital

Dexter, Pilot, and Declan, the facility dogs at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, work at the hospital 40 hours a week

Dexter, Pilot, and Declan had dozens of valentines to celebrate on Feb. 14.

The trio of canines are all facility dogs at Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston. In their roles, the dogs help young patients at the hospital take medication, attend physical therapy, and cope with the often overwhelming experience of being hospitalized.

"Having Dexter, Pilot, or Declan lying next to you while you pet them, look at them, talk to them, or hold their paw, can make the procedure a little less scary," Christy Lange, MS, CCLS, tells PEOPLE.

Lange is the facility dog program coordinator at Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital and Dexter's handler. For her, the work is gratifying.

"We're about to celebrate our 5-year program anniversary, and something consistent from day one is the impact that Dexter has on people simply by being here and being himself. I love that I'm the person who gets to see that multiple times every single day. We might just be walking past someone in the hallway, and their face lights up, and they comment on how much joy he brings to them as they see him," she says.

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The facility dogs are full-time employees, working 40 hours a week at the hospital to help children meet their medical goals and stay smiling. The canines are in the hospital Monday through Friday, so when holidays fall on a weekday, Lange and the other handlers make a point of doing something special.

For Valentine's Day this year, that meant setting up a station at the hospital where patients could make goodie bags with the dogs. Dexter, Pilot, and Declan also visited patients who could not make it to the station to deliver Valentine's Day cards.

"When we show up with a Valentine's Day card to a patient who isn't able to leave their room, it still brings a sense of normalcy and acknowledgment. If kids were in school on Valentine's, they'd probably be having a Valentine's Day Party with their classmates, and we want them to still be able to do the things they'd be doing even though they've now become patients in the hospital during a holiday," Lange says.

Staff at the hospital got a Valentine's Day treat, too. Ahead of Feb. 14, the facility dogs set up a Smooch-A-Pooch booth, where hospital staff members could grab a quick cuddle with one of the pups.

"Since most of our time is spent directly with patients and knowing that even the grown-ups benefit from the love of dogs, we host this annual event for our human colleagues to come and get some of that love too," Lange explains.

Dexter, Pilot, and Duncan also adore the opportunity to spend time with others.

"Dexter loves coming to work! He walks in each morning a little extra peppy, and he loves it when he's given an active role, like carrying something for a patient. He wags his tail like he loves to show off his skills! He equally loves it when he's invited onto a bed next to a patient — he's the perfect snuggle buddy," Lange says.

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The facility dogs at Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital are not service dogs because "we as handlers do not need them to open the doors for us or pick up the items that we drop, but we very intentionally incorporate their training into helping our patients meet their medical goals," Lange shares.

But just because the pooches aren't service dogs doesn't mean they didn't go through training before taking on their important jobs.

"All of our facility dogs were trained through the organization Canine Companions. The dogs are very intentionally raised from birth to about 18 months with volunteer puppy raisers and then transition to professional training with professional dog trainers for 6 to 9 additional months of training, learning 40+ different task-based skills, all with the end goal of becoming a working dog," Lange says.

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To learn more about facility dogs and their work at Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital, visit the hospital's website.

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