We love spreading joy on our visits! Check out the articles and videos below to get a glimpse of our impactful work in the community.
MEET MAJOR’S FAMILY The Craft family – parents George and Emily, and their children, Caroline, 13, and George, 10 – includes a 6-year-old Golden Retriever named Major. He is a certified therapy dog with Faithful Paws Pet Therapy and pays visits to patients and their families all over Houston. (Photo: Kate Robinson Photography)
Karen Cadenhead and Omri completed 600 visits on May 3, 2024. They were accompanied by a few of their friends to celebrate the accomplishment! Well done! Read below for more on Omri from his mom, Karen:
“I adopted Omri from a shelter in 2015 when he was just 3 months old and very quickly recognized that he was born to be a therapy dog. He loves people and never meets a stranger! When he was about 4 months old, I took him to a “puppy social” class where the owners sat around the perimeter of the training area and let the puppies play. Omri went and greeted all the people and ignored the other puppies! I checked into therapy dog organizations and found Faithful Paws. We started class when he was a 4 ½ month old rambunctious terrier puppy, but somehow we survived and he took the CGC test at 6 months old. He was 7 months old when he made his first therapy visit.
Over the years, Omri has matured into a capable therapy dog, and he still loves his job as much as he did when he started. His sensitivity to how people are feeling is still amazing to me. Time and time again, he has randomly approached someone (on visits as well as out in public), and as they are petting and interacting with them, they start talking. The encounter invariably ends with something like, “I was having a really rough day/week/etc. and this is exactly what I needed.”
During the summer of 2020 when Covid brought everything to a halt, Omri started to become truly depressed without his visits. He had been doing about 12 visits a month and suddenly that all stopped. He already knew a lot of tricks and enjoyed performing, so we went into intense tricks training mode. That summer, Omri earned all 5 of the trick dog titles offered by AKC and now knows over 50 tricks (and is still learning more). Now, when he walks into visits, we are often greeted by “oh, that’s the dog that does all the tricks!” and he is immediately in his element. He puts his whole heart into every visit and is never happier than when he is doing his job.
Thanks again, and thank you for all you do! You are a blessing.” ~Karen Cadenhead and Omri
Congratulations to the Adopt A Pet Program Team for completing over 1000 visits! The Adopt A Pet Program was established in February, 2022, by Roberta Schwartz, Vice President of Houston Methodist, to encourage the staff. Thank you for all the smiles you spread throughout the hospital.
Faithful Paws was featured in the Rice Business School Magazine!
