The Hudson Hospital Dog Party

           (It seemed like a good idea at the time)

by Robert Molenda

This is the story that everyone at Hudson Hospital remembers most about Finnegan and Therapy Dogs.  

The event was held at lunchtime to introduce the Therapy Dogs to other handlers, families, staff, other visitors and guests including their children. 

Finnegan had been a Therapy Dog at the hospital for about a year.  He is a Labrador retriever, but has a really laid-back approach to anything remotely connected with being a typical Lab. A gentle soul, Finnegan was difficult to train, but turned out to be first in his Therapy Dog class because of his good attitude.  

Finnegan and our party of friends arrived, and he had on his special collar and Therapy Dog bandana.  There were about twenty other people and four other dogs in the room when we arrived. There were also children, other visitors and staff who would arrive in a short time.  I had Finnegan on a leash at the time, but he is very good off-leash and this was a special occasion, so I took him off-leash to allow him to meet people while I started a conversation with some of the other visitors and attendees.

In a short while, I heard one of those loud gasps that usually comes from a crowd of people that just witnessed something bizarre and unexpected. When I turned around to see what everyone was watching, it was Finnegan, standing on the countertop near the far wall, gingerly eating all the dog treats in a bowl that was prepared for the event. There was another loud gasp, the first was for the jump onto the counter, the second for when he ate the treats. My dog had smelled and seen the treats in the dish on that countertop and it was a party and his lunchtime. He had never done this before and has never done it since. It is a little like how some of our children behave at their own birthday parties. I quickly went over and brought him down from the countertop and put him back on the leash.

By this time, one of the hospital staff, a woman who was not very tall, was walking with the refilled dog treat dish, carrying it above her head as she passed us. Before I could react, Finnegan jumped up and pushed the bowl of treats out of her hand and the bowl and its contents spilled all over the floor. Finnegan next pulled me over to get his fair share of the spilled loot. This was all that the other dogs and children in the room needed for encouragement.  This time, it was not a gasp, it was loud, uncontrollable crowd laughter. It was a little like a Piñata party, where everyone was scrambling for the treats! Everyone thought it was part of the event plan. Dog Therapy became Chaos for about five minutes while children started to toss the treats to all the dogs, who have already scrambled for the treats that were spilled. This and the rest of the story became part of history at Hudson Hospital. The dogs loved everything about the party.

We did not capture the dog party chaos on camera, but there was a formal picture of all the Therapy Dogs and their handlers, taken at the end of the  party. The dog to the right of Finnegan in the photo is Ceasar. His owner and handler is Dick Ottino. When the photo was taken, the photographer asked Dick to get his dog to stand up for the photo. Mr. Ottino’s dog is a combination Labrador/Bassett. He has the body of a lab and the short legs of the Bassett. Dick replied to the photographer, “He is already standing!” Everyone was already in a laughing mood at this point and Ceasar did not disappoint the crowd. Ceasar and the other dogs are all good Therapy Dogs. They come in all sizes and colors and all have wonderful caring attitudes when it comes to working with people and their families. Finnegan has been a  Therapy Dog for about eight years after this memorable party was given for the dogs. Rosa, the volunteer coordinator is at the far left of this same photo.

The volunteer coordinator always wondered what her manager, who was there, thought of the situation. The manager was not known as a person who liked the idea of Therapy Dogs in hospitals. On my next visit to Hudson Hospital, I met with the manager, who was watching us interact with visitors in the waiting room. Until this very day, more than ten years later, this man does not believe these two events were common to the same dog. Finnegan was on his best Therapy Dog behavior. He is so popular, sometimes it takes a full hour to visit with all the people in the waiting lobby on our way to visiting patients. Finnegan’s favorite part of the hospital is the lobby. The blame for the chaos of yesterday was passed onto some other impostor dog, while Finnegan secured his own reputation this day in front of many of the same witnesses.

There were other gatherings as well. The one that I remember well is the “Blessing of the Hands”, a blessing conducted by the hospital chaplain each year for all the care-givers.  One time, he included a special invitation to the Therapy Dogs for the blessing of the paws ceremony. We have also been given similar blessings by many other priests and ministers while conducting our visits. I mean we were given an actual, spontaneous personal blessing upon for making visits with patients and care-givers in the hospitals. Everyone takes Finnegan’s visits very seriously. Dogs generally figure out a way to take your mind off whatever problem you happen to be dealing with.