Thursday was Hollie’s first day to go with me to a Seattle hospital where we met with stroke recovery survivors.

I had a stroke 13 years ago, and Hollie is my recovery dog.  I needed a lot of sleep and recovery time, and Hollie was right with me, all the time.

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Two years ago, Hollie’s leg was had a hairline fracture that was caused by sarcoma. They said the bone would not re-heal, so they needed to take the leg off.  While taking a leg off is really difficult for humans, dogs seem to be very resilient.  Shortly after the surgery, Hollie came home and jumped right up into her favorite chair.

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When I retired, I wanted to help stroke recovery survivors.  I soon met a Pet Partner therapy dog at the hospital.  The people I worked with at the hospital learned about Hollie, and asked If I would like to work with Pet Partners to get her registered as a therapy dog, and then bring her with me on my visits.

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Pet Partners was wonderful to work with when we took the course, tested and did our group evaluation.

Thursday was a great day. Hollie is the best part of our team.

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