Remington, University of Tennessee Hospice in Morristown, TN

Remington is a volunteer pet therapy dog at University of Tennessee Hospice in Morristown, Tenn. He is a boxer-mix adopted from a local animal rescue. After regular obedience training, he went through the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine to be tested and certified as a therapy dog through their HABIT (Human-Animal Bond in Tennessee) program. His owner is Anne Wing, bereavement and volunteer coordinator in Morristown.

He works every day and is so busy that he has his own calendar! Sometimes he greets staff
members as they walk in, and can often sense when someone has had a “bad” day. He
accompanies Anne on bereavement visits and knows just how to comfort families. He also
visits patients at home and in facilities. Anne said that he often walks up to his “friends” and nuzzles their hand or places his head in their lap to let them know that he cares. Remington participates in the reading program at the local library and is invited to help with children’s grief camps.

One family talked about how much Remington meant to their mother, who lived out her final days at a local hospice house. She had to re-home her own dogs when she moved to the facility and loved her visits with this special dog. He would always gently crawl up in bed with her to comfort her.