Host Pet Therapy Visits at Your Facility
Bring the healing power of pet therapy to those you care for in the Greater Houston area.
Our Certified Therapy Pets Visit 240+Facilities a Year!
Our fully certified and insured pet therapy teams visit schools, libraries, hospitals, senior tiered living communities, rehabilitation facilities, hospice centers, colleges, universities, and other organizations that request our services, bringing joy, comfort, and unconditional love to those who need it the most.
Learn how you can apply to host our therapy pets at your facility and make a real difference below.
The Benefits of Animal-Assisted Therapy
Scientific research shows that pet therapy offers many benefits, including greater feelings of calm, connection, companionship, and hope.
Our therapy pets bring positivity, energy, and a sense of community to those they visit, enhancing overall well-being and happiness. Pet therapy has even been shown to lower blood pressure and help alleviate pain.
For facilities, these benefits translate into a calmer, more peaceful environment. By hosting pet therapy visits, your facility can create a supportive and nurturing environment that improves the emotional and physical well-being of everyone involved.
Facilities We Serve in the Greater Houston Area
Our mission is to bring unconditional love to adults and children in the Greater Houston area.
Faithful Paws’ certified teams visit nonprofit organizations, including schools, libraries, hospitals, senior living communities, rehabilitation facilities, hospice centers, colleges, universities, and other nonprofits requesting our services.
We also visit for-profit companies and organizations that make a donation to help us continue and expand our impactful work. Donations range from $500-$3,000 or more and help cover the costs of insurance, training, technological and administrative support, and marketing.
To schedule a visit for your for-profit company, read the how to become a host facility information below, complete the application in our membership portal, and make a donation.
What to Expect from Pet Therapy
A pet therapy visit from Faithful Paws can be life-changing. Our friendly and well-trained therapy pets, along with their dedicated volunteer handlers, arrive ready to spread joy.
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Expect to see smiles light up as our therapy animals interact with residents, students, or patients.
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Our visits typically include gentle petting sessions, playful activities, and moments of companionship that create lasting memories
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Each visit is tailored to meet the unique needs of people at your facility, creating a positive and memorable experience for all.
Did You Know?
Children with autism experienced a 54% increase in social behaviors after engaging tin animal-assisted therapy.
Our Highly-Trained Pet Therapy Teams
Every year, Faithful Paws teams log over 15,000 visits by highly-trained teams of pets and their owner handlers. Each facility has a dedicated team leader who coordinates all aspects of the visit to ensure excellent coordination.
At Faithful Paws, we adhere to strict standards to maintain the highest quality of care. Our pets meet veterinary recommended health standards while our handlers comply with the requirements of the facilities that they visit.
We also adhere to HIPAA confidentiality laws to protect the privacy of those we serve.
How to Become a Host Facility
Ready to bring the joy of pet therapy to your facility?
Follow the simple steps below to apply.
If your facility has never been approved by Faithful Paws before or hasn't had visits since 2021, please complete an application. Once we receive your application, we'll contact you to discuss the details of the visit.
While we make every effort to provide teams to all of the facilities requesting visits, it may take several months for us to find available Faithful Paws volunteers. Due to high demand, we may recommend that new facilities start with a one-time visit to start the program.
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Fill Out the Application
Complete the application with your facility's information. Be sure to enter the facility name where it asks for "first name" and "N/A" for "last name".
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Submit Additional Contacts
Include a second upper management contact to ensure we can reach your facility if the current contact leaves.
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Type of visit and details
Faithful Paws has ongoing, regularly scheduled visits and one-time visits. Please select the type of visit you are requesting and provide details about the visit. Also, please specify if weekend visits are possible.
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Submit Your Application
Once your application is submitted, our Facilities Coordinator will contact you to schedule your visit(s).
December and May are busy months for one-time visits to schools and universities. Please submit requests at least two months ahead of your preferred visit date so that we can coordinate teams for the visit.
How to Schedule Your Pet Therapy Visit
Already an approved facility?
Schedule your pet therapy visit by following the steps below.
If you already have an ongoing visit, you can work with the Faithful Paws Team Leader to reschedule any visits or request special event visits at your facility. The Team Leader will work with the Faithful Paws Facilities Coordinator to find additional teams if required.
If you are an approved facility but do not have an ongoing visit, you can use the form below to request an ongoing visit. Our Facilities Coordinator will contact you to discuss the details and set up the visit.
If you have previously had a one-time visit, additional one-time visits can be requested using the form below. To ensure that we can meet your needs, we recommend that requests for one-time visits be submitted at least six weeks prior to the preferred visit date.
For May and December visits, please submit your visit request at least two months prior to the preferred date. Our Visits Coordinator will contact you to discuss the details of the visit.
Hear from Others
Discover the powerful stories of individuals and communities who have been touched by Faithful Paws' therapy pets.
“Participants' faces light up in big smiles when they see the furry friends of Faithful Paws. The participants forget about dominoes and their art and friends and just smile and admire the animals present. Everything changes when the dogs arrive! When participants see another person’s pet those positive happy emotions of their current and previous experiences come rushing back.”
Tracey Brown
Executive Director, Amazing Place
“I am very concerned about physician and nurse burn-out particularly in the Emergency Department and all the Intensive Care Units. I wanted to share Duke (my Australian Labradoodle) with the hospital staff in the high stress sections of the hospital. When Duke and I enter the emergency department in Houston Methodist, they announce "Dr. Duke is at station one" and all the nurses come as soon as they can! . Then we go to the psychiatric unit and a patient said that he was the best (and cheapest) therapy they had.”
C. Richard Stasney, M.D., F.A.C.S.
Houston Methodist Hospital
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