Dr. Emmy visits again!

"Welcome to Holland Hospital....can I be your friend?"

Posing outside of the hospital

Emmy's cool Pet Therapy bandanna!

Dr. Emmy returned to the hospital today for another therapy dog session. This time, Amy was able to go along to see how well Emmy does. We were able to visit a few patients and Emmy enjoyed every minute of it. In fact, she seemed sad every time we went to leave a room because she had made herself right at home with each patient. She of course got lots of attention from nurses and other hospital staff. Probably her favorite spot was visiting the ladies at the welcome desk, because so many visitors and staff walked by and said "Hi!". Jillian, the Pet Therapy coordinator even gave Emmy a cool bandanna to keep for when she comes back again...and also as a souvenir of her trips to Holland Hospital! Thanks for letting us come visit Jillian! Check out our link on the right hand side for Holland Hospital's Healing Environment. There is even a link there for a story about their pet therapy program.

Dr. Emmy

Emmy had a unique opportunity to play "doctor" today. This summer, Bill is interning part time with Holland Hospital as an Assistant Chaplain. While he has a variety of responsibilities in the hospital, Bill has also taken particular interest in the canine version of care...the Pet Therapy program. A few weeks ago, Bill shadowed the pet therapy coordinator to see what the pets do to care for patients in the hospital and after it all thought, "Emmy could do that!". Well, today she got just that chance. After Bill reported to the hospital this morning, he found out that they were short on therapy dogs coming in today and they had a backlog of requests for therapy pet visits throughout the hospital. When her heard their cry of need...Bill knew just the dog to step in..."Super Dog"....a.k.a. Dr. Emmy! He raced home to get her and brought her back where Emmy was able to visit with 6 patients of ranging ages. Emmy was AMAZING and was the perfect representative for Paws with a Cause! She was SUPER solid on her commands and the most touching thing of all...she knew exactly what to do to make each person feel better. Whether it be a sniff on the hand, or a nose rested on the bed...she brought a smile to the patients' faces...and of course there was lots of oooooo's and ahhhh's from the nurses station! Emmy was a hit! When she got home, Amy was already home for lunch and she ran in, tail waving high in the air with an attitude of, "MOOOOOOOOMMMM! Guess what I did today?!?! I WAS SO GOOD!!!" You could tell she was so proud of herself...it just brought tears to my eyes...and of course a great big peanut butter kong for Emmy too! GOOD JOB EMMY!

More summer fun!

This past weekend Emmy continued to enjoy the perks of summer. On Sunday we took Emmy to church for the second week in a row. She did much better this week...even slept through part of the service! YAY! After church, we went over to a friend's house and they have Emmy's dream come true - another dog to play with, a fenced in yard....and... a swimming pool! Emmy spent the afternoon chasing their dog around, playing all over the yard and of course refining her swimming skills. Emmy conquered her fear of jumping into the water and fell in love with flopping into the water. She is quite the swimmer...and very fast! Of course she was also exhausted after all of this.

We also had a second round of hives this weekend with Emmy. Last weekend she got hives on her face and the vet thinks she ate a bug, such as a bee, that she was allergic to. Well, needless to say she did it again this past Friday night...this time we think it was a lightening bug. By Saturday morning she had hives all over her body and was quite itchy. A few more doses of Benadryl and she was all cleared up. Now we just have to figure out how to get her not to eat bugs!

I like swimming

Well it has been a busy few days!!!! First Bill and Amy went to Chicago for their anniversary and Emmy went to spend a few days with her best friend Duke!!! If she wasn't tired enough already, then Bill's mom came to Holland for a few days, which was a great opportunity for Emmy to get petted and loved to her little heart's desire. Then for the finale we went to Bill's friend cottage at Gull Lake, and Emmy not only got to spend time running around the yard chasing ducks and geese, but Emmy had her first chance to swim!!!! You can see the videos, she was a little skeptical at first, but once she got in, she was clearly a natural!! She was all over the place splashing and chasing balls, it just gets me tired describing it all. To top off the weekend Emmy went to church on Sunday. Emmy was extremely well behaved and handled sitting still during church relatively well. The only issue is that sometimes she likes to sleep on her back upside down, and she rolled under a pew and began to scratch and tap the seats of those in front of Amy.....oooops, sorry. After church we went to a friend's house and Emmy met, Cooper, a 7 month old puppy who weights about 10lbs. Let's just say there was lots more running and play. Well after all that it is time for a nap for all of us, enjoy the pictures and videos.

What is it Lassie?

I love swimming

The First Dive