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Cardiology patients at Texas Children’s Hospital celebrated Valentine’s Day a little early with a special dog parade today, courtesy of the hospital’s furriest team members.

Pet therapy dogs Elsa, Bailey, Pinto and Pluto made personal visits to the hospitalized children throughout Texas Children’s Heart Center, delivering smiles, Valentine’s cards, and festive beaded necklaces. As always, the golden retrievers brightened the days of the sick patients, their families, and the hospital’s physicians and staff.

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“Bailey is my best friend,” said Kyleigh Ward, 6, who has been hospitalized for nearly 150 days as she awaits a much-needed heart transplant. “I was very excited! I love the dogs’ kisses!”

Kyleigh’s mother, Briancca, appreciated how the canine parade warmed the heart of her daughter who was in need of a special treat. “We love the dogs. It was very therapeutic to see them come around and spend time with the families. It was fun seeing them all again. I’m glad Kyleigh had a good time — I had a good time, too!”

Elsa, Bailey, Pinto and Pluto are the cornerstones of Texas Children’s Pawsitive Play Program, designed to enhance the emotional well-being of patients and families in the hospital. The dogs are specially bred and trained to work as service dogs in a pediatric hospital setting, and they work full time alongside Child Life Specialists throughout Texas Children’s Hospital. Additional therapy dogs Angus and Cohen work at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus and Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands, respectively.

“The Child Life Heart Center team and Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) team came together to make the dog parade happen, and I’m so happy it went so well,” said Victoria Ramos, Child Life Activity Coordinator at Texas Children’s Hospital. “My role is to bring normalization and play to patients and families while they are in the hospital. Bringing in the AAT dogs makes the job even more special because they provide support to our patients and families in more ways than you expect. What could be more fun than a parade where we come together and create fun memories for patients and their families?”

In addition to making stops in Texas Children’s Cardiac Intensive Care Unit and throughout Legacy Tower, the dog parade also visited patients in the hospital’s Adult Congenital Heart Program, specially designed for adult patients with congenital heart disease.

Texas Children’s Heart Center was named No. 1 in the country for pediatric cardiology and heart surgery for the fifth year in a row in U.S. News andamp; World Report’s 2021-2022 Best Children’s Hospitals rankings. For more than 60 years, Texas Children’s Heart Center’s multidisciplinary team has joined elite cardiac teams with state-of-the-art technology, shaping the field of pediatric cardiology and heart surgery in the United States.