Pet Therapy - Tanner Health

Remarkable Paws Pet Therapy

Tanner’s pet therapy program invites people ages 18 and older and their registered therapy dogs to volunteer at a Tanner facility. By volunteering with your pet, you can make a remarkable difference in the lives of our patients, families and staff — sharing comfort, laughter and a moment of peace.

Ready to volunteer?

To join Remarkable Paws, start by completing Tanner’s online application, and choose Pet Therapy as your area of interest. We look forward to hearing from you!

Complete an application

Meet the pet therapy team

Age: 7 years old
Breed: St. Bernard/Labrador mix
Favorite toy: Anything squeaky!
Favorite treat: Cheese
Best Friend: Dori

Barnaby's favorite activity is meeting new people and dogs.

Age: 9
Breed: Goldendoodle
Favorite toy: Teddy Bear
Favorite treat: Carrots
Best friend: Her sister Kirby

Ellie's favorite thing to do is to play chase.

Age: 6
Breed: Labrador Retriever
Favorite toy: Her dog bone
Favorite treat: Ice cubes
Best friend: Her two little sisters

Julia's favorite activity is helping others.

Age: 3 years old
Breed: Black Labrador
Favorite toy: A retriever
Favorite treat: Pumpkin & Peanut Butter Cookies
Best Friend: Her mom

Lola's favorite activity is retrieving birds.

Age: 2 years old
Breed: Golden Retriever
Favorite toy: Chuck it ball
Favorite treat: Pup Cup
Best Friend: Her momma

Millee's favorite thing to do is to have a Pup Cup.

Age: 5 years old
Breed: Mixed
Favorite toy: Stuffed avocado
Favorite treat: Tuna
Best Friend: Othello

Gemma's favorite activity is to run two miles each day with her human daddy.

Age: 7 years old
Breed: Golden Retriever
Favorite toy: All things stuffed!
Favorite treat: Anything!
Best Friend: Grace, her human sister

Hosanna's favorite thing to do is to snuggle with her family and go for walks off her leash.

Age: 5 years old
Breed: Yorkie
Favorite toy: The family cat
Favorite treat: Nudges Beef
Best Friend: Her human and Smidgen

Skit-Little’s favorite thing to do is sit in her mom’s lap when she’s not out looking for rabbits.

Age: 2 years old
Breed: Part Yorkie
Favorite toy: Squeaky toys and balls
Favorite treat: Nudges Beef
Best Friend: Her human and Skit-Little

Smidgen's favorite things to do are playing hide and seek with her favorite toys or going for a walk, and sometimes chasing the kitty cat of the house.

How does pet therapy at Tanner work?

Through Tanner’s pet therapy program, you and your therapy dog may visit waiting rooms, staff areas and patient rooms.

Our human volunteers must be:

18 years or older.
Able to volunteer with their therapy dogs once a month, for a minimum of six consecutive months.
Willing to follow CDC recommendations for hospital volunteers, including providing an immunization record - if born after 1957 - getting an annual flu shot and TB test.
Willing to submit personal references, have a background check and complete an interview and training.

Our therapy dog volunteers must be:

One year or older.
Registered with The Alliance of Therapy Dogs, Therapy Dogs International or Pet Partners, and can provide documentation.
Able to volunteer with their handler once a month, for a minimum of six consecutive months.
Able to provide proof of current annual health and fecal exam by a licensed veterinarian along with current vaccination records.
Clean and well groomed, with trimmed/filed nails, clean teeth and in good general health.
Able to provide documentation of pet therapy insurance.
Able to successfully complete a pet therapy “interview” before being added to the regular visit schedule.