About Ladybug
Ladybug is an English Springer Spaniel, born December 12, 2022. She earned her Canine Good Citizen Certificate in December, 2023 and was certified as a Therapy Dog in February of 2024.
Ladybug is full of energy, and an astute observer of everything that goes on around her. She likes to chase anything that moves, including squirrels, birds, frogs and all kinds of balls. She can also be calm and cuddly, lounging up against someone and just hanging out, especially if there’s a belly rub involved.
Her therapy dog work takes place in Greenville, NC weekly, beginning with a visit to the cardiovascular and cancer floors of ECU Health in the morning. That afternoon she returns for a visit to the Maynard Children’s Hospital.
About Annabelle, 2015-2024
Annabelle was a Golden Retriever, and served for over 7 years. We began our work together in in-patient hospice, and eventually moved on to the Maynard Children’s Hospital as well as adult care areas in ECU Health.
She was born September 21, 2015. When she was only six months old it was clear she had an unusually calm and accepting demeanor, so we decided to try and train her for what’s known as animal assisted therapy. We had a little help from experts along the way, and her apparently deep calling for the work made her an enthusiastic learner. In turn, she taught much about what compassion really means.
When not working she enjoyed long walks, chasing balls and being anywhere it’s wet. She also liked spending time with Sweet Pea the cat, and chasing and wrestling with our other pup, Ladybug. Ice cubes were her favorite snack.
Annabelle passed unexpectedly on September 10, 2024. She is missed.
Pictures of Annabelle by Her Friends
I never take pictures while we’re working; not only is it required that a handler stay focused on the dog and its behavior at all times, but there are myriad privacy rules within institutions that forbid it. Patients, families and staff are allowed to photograph her however, and sometimes they send us copies.
In training volunteers to care for patients at our Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco, we tell them that they receive more from their service than they give. Initially volunteers might feel that their role is to give comfort and spiritual support as an act of charity. But in the end, volunteers experience that they are the ones to whom charity has been done. The patients, acting however unintentionally as good spiritual teachers, have somehow guided the volunteers to open up, to become whole. Besides, whatever you think you are giving - time, money, possessions, love - was never yours in the first place. It was a gift, given for no particular reason, and you are merely passing it on.
From The World Could be Otherwise, by Norman Fischer