The seven are a grab bag of breeds: Italian greyhound, Pembroke Welsh corgi, whippet, Labrador retriever, Akita, Samoyed, German shepherd. They are a mix of small and tall, shorthaired and longhaired. But they have one important thing in common: they are all part of the Woody Pet Assisted Therapy Program, the successful dog therapy program at the Children's Hospital of Austin, . Though outwardly different, they each bring the same things to the children on their weekly visits: smiles, wet noses, gentle paws, and wagging tails.

Dia Moore, Director of Child Life Services, oversees the Woody Program, established in 1987. She has seen many touching and remarkable things: "I have walked around a corner with volunteers and their dogs and seen children with blankets over their heads, not interacting. Once they notice the dogs, their eyes light up and they throw off the covers." She frequently hears that the dog visits are the highlight of the children's days.

Moore recalls one visit by a canine volunteer to a 13-year-old boy who was in the pre-op room with his family, waiting to have brain tumor surgery. "He was scared and anxious. Once the dog and volunteer walked in, the [atmosphere in the] room changed immediately. He began to smile and pet the dog." His mother was then able to talk about the following week, after the surgery, when the dog would be back. The presence of a friendly, furry face – a touch of normalcy in a strange, frightening place – and the knowledge that he would see the dog again, relieved the boy's tension and allowed him to share a quiet moment with his family.

Call it what you want – pet-facilitated therapy (PFT), Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT), Pet Partners, Therapy Dogs, or even Pets-On-Wheels – having dogs make therapeutic visits in clinical settings makes good sense. There is documented evidence that animals not only enrich our lives, but help us live longer. According to the Delta Society of the United States, a non-profit organization dedicated to the use of companion animals for promoting human health:

A visiting dog might remind patients of their home lives, and thus serve as a "validation therapist." Patients who have had damaged limbs might reach out and pet an animal – the contact serving as a form of physical therapy. Or patients may become curious about different types of dogs – the pet therapy then becoming an educational experience. These are just some of the more tangible benefits of therapy dogs; the intangible ones are even greater.

Therapy dogs are not service dogs. A service dog is trained specifically to work with a person with a legally defined disability. Such a disability, covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, enables the owner to take the animal into all public places, including venues that might otherwise not allow animals. A companion animal, or pet, is a social animal that provides company for its owner. A therapy animal is a companion animal trained for visitation in hospitals, clinics, rehabilitation centers, institutions, and private settings.

All breeds, large or small, are suitable for consideration. Robert Rhyne, DVM, owner of Northwest Veterinary Hospital of Austin, cares for many therapy dogs as part of his regular practice. The primary consideration, according to Dr. Rhyne, is disposition. When considering whether a dog would make a good therapy candidate, he asks its owner questions like these:

Owners must remember, however, that it is not just their dog that will be doing volunteer rounds: owners will also visit with their dogs. So when considering this type of volunteering, a person must ask: Am I friendly and outgoing? Do I enjoy meeting new people and exchanging pleasantries? Do I mind being in hospitals? Can I handle encounters with clinical staff who don't understand why animals are on the premises? (Volunteers are trained to manage such confrontations.) And most important, can I handle the emotional strain of the visits? The only problem Dr. Rhyne has seen in the program involved not a dog, but the owner, who had to stop making visits to a nursing home because she became too involved with the patients.

Katie Coates (not her real name) visits hospitals in , with her dogs. She understands the importance of therapy dog visits, but finds dealing with lonely, ill, and elderly patients very taxing emotionally. Coates particularly remembers one elderly woman who told her that the weekly visits with Coates's dog were the only reason she had to go on living. "How sad is that," Coates says, with a slow shake of her head, "to have as your only reason for living, a weekly 10-minute visit from someone else's dog?"

To become volunteers in the Woody Program, both dogs and owners must meet a series of requirements. To learn procedures, each owner must shadow a dog and its handler on their rounds on two separate occasions. Before the animal starts work as a therapy dog at the hospital, a veterinarian must update its immunizations, perform a dental check-up, and do a general health assessment. Finally, the dog must meet the obedience, behavior and temperament criteria of the Delta Society's Pet Partner program. (Moore, meanwhile, works closely with the infection control department to allay any concerns the staff might have regarding furry visitors to the hospital.)

Once accepted, volunteers say their dogs are ready from the time they step off the elevator onto the ward. Visits with each patient last five minutes, or slightly longer. Some dogs, particularly larger ones, are "floor dogs," while others sit on the patient's bed for strokes and cuddles. A dog that knows tricks may also perform for the patients.

Program coordinators and volunteers find that visiting is physically and emotionally strenuous for the dogs. One volunteer explains that because the dogs are on an adrenaline rush during their visits, they become tired and restless near the end of their "shift." As a result, dogs work for no more than 90 minutes each week.

Often, says Jennifer Phillips, who visits with her dog, Thistle, volunteers keep in touch with patients and families after they leave the hospital. And sometimes, she adds, they attend the funerals of patients they have worked with. In fact, the human volunteers at the Children's Hospital have formed a support group to help each other deal with such emotional experiences. The volunteers continue to participate with their dogs because they have witnessed the value of their work. Phil Arkow, author of Pet Therapy, summarizes this value well: "Pets are little ambassadors from the natural world who can bring us joy and comfort, enhance the treatment milieu in a health care facility, and help to make a nursing home a home."