Angie Gordon, MSW, looks forward to the moment when dogs arrive at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh each day.

And she's far from alone.

"Everyone loves seeing a dog," says Angie, lead coordinator of Volunteer Services at UPMC Children’s. "You hear families, you hear staff saying, 'Oh, my gosh, so-and-so's here,' or, 'There's a dog. This is the best day.'"

Angie oversees the Pet Friends Volunteer Program at UPMC Children's. For more than 30 years, the pet therapy program has brought smiles to children, family, and staff at the hospital.

"I believe the Pet Friends program is extremely important here," Angie says. "It provides moments of joy. It provides moments of comfort.

"I can see when I visit with a pet therapy team just how kids light up. I just see the interactions. I just know that they are providing a moment that is impactful for our patients and families."

A Long History of Wagging Tails

Pet Friends is one of several pet therapy programs at UPMC hospitals. It began in its current format when the hospital moved to its current location in Lawrenceville.

The program currently has 21 dogs, comprising a wide range of breeds. There are collies, goldendoodles, Portuguese water dogs, Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers, and many more. They range in size from a Chinese crested named Oliver to a Newfoundland named Morgan.

"We are really fortunate that we have a variety of sizes and different types of dogs," Angie says.

Angie took over the program just over eight years ago when there were more than 40 dogs involved. At that time, the program operated with a more flexible structure, with no minimum monthly visit requirement. Dogs also weren't assigned to specific units.

While that allowed dogs to see children in different units, it didn’t provide continuity. Visiting the same unit week after week develops a sense of community with the unit staff, patients, and families. 

When Pet Friends went on hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure patient safety, Angie took the opportunity to survey program participants.

"We determined that having dogs weekly on specific units was the most impactful," she says. "And that quality over quantity would be the most important piece

Volunteers and their dogs now have to commit to at least two visits per month. Dogs are also assigned to specific units of the hospital, based on where they fit best.

The changes brought stability to the program. Now, Pet Friends teams conduct about 2,500 visits per month. They've conducted 104,000 visits since May 2022, when the program resumed after COVID-19.

"The reason why I love this program is just knowing that all of our visits provided something," Angie says. "(They) gave our families, our staff, our kids something to look forward to, gave them joy, helped them through hospitalization."

Bringing Smiles — and More — to Patients, Families, and Staff

Angie believes strongly in the importance of Pet Friends at UPMC Children's. Many children are at the hospital long-term. The therapy dogs provide kids and their families with a small bit of normality during their stay.

“First and foremost, our stakeholders are kids," Angie says. "We want them to be kids while they're here. We want to normalize this environment.

"Part of many of our kids' lives are their dogs, or their cats, or their fish, or their birds. So I think one of the big things for our patients is it provides a way for them to be normal, for them to be a kid."

Research has shown that pet therapy can have significant benefits in hospital settings. A 2025 study in JAMA Network Open reported that therapy dogs in a pediatric emergency department reduced children's anxiety.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought this to light for Angie. When the in-person pet therapy program was on hiatus, she noticed that kids missed the dogs. So, she set up virtual Pet Friends visits for them.

"We had a dog at that time who sang on camera with a few different songs, and he would dance," Angie says. "So, we would have him on with those kiddos that really needed just that boost."

A dog also came to the UPMC Children's vaccination clinic during COVID-19 to reduce anxiety.

"The dog that I chose to have there, it sounds really funny, but he has really big paws," Angie says. "He's a good hand-holder. And so, we were able to do that with our kids."

The dog ended up staying for over an hour after completion of the vaccines because people wanted to see him.

“This helped to reinforce the importance of the program," Angie says. "The Pet Friends team helped reduce stress during and after the clinic, and really showed how the kids benefited from having a dog there."

UPMC Children's Child Life Department obtains consent for Pet Friends visits from patients' caregivers. They also ensure visits are OK from a medical standpoint, as preventing infection is important.

Most Pet Friends visits last 10 minutes. Many occur at the bedside, with kids getting to pet, hug, and spend time with the dogs. Other times, dogs stay with kids to reduce their anxiety during a procedure, such as a blood draw or port flush.

"We can provide a moment of joy, and that is really important," Angie says. "This could be the worst time in a family's life, and to be able to provide that joy by having a dog visit has just been integral to patients' experiences."

The dogs are there for families and staff, too. Dogs spend time with families as they await news about their child's heart transplant. They also help pick up UPMC Children's staff members when they're having a difficult day.

“We conduct more staff visits than we do patient visits at this point, just because our staff really need that support as well," Angie says. "I often send extra dogs to our pediatric intensive care unit, or to our cardiac intensive care when it's been rough. And they spend some time and just kind of decompress as well with the dogs."

But the benefits of Pet Friends go beyond the emotional, Angie says. The Pet Friends program also works with inpatient units, including the Rehabilitation unit, actively helping in a child's care.

For example, if a child needs to work on walking in physical therapy, they can "walk" a dog using a special leash (with the dog's owner controlling the other end). Or, they can push one of the smaller dogs in a stroller.

Another of the Pet Friends dogs — Hettie, a black Labrador — loves to play ball, Angie says. Children who are working on gross motor skills will throw tennis balls to Hettie, who retrieves them and brings them back.

"Kids aren't realizing that they're meeting a medical goal," Angie says. "They think, ‘Well, this is really cool.'"

Angie had trading cards created for each dog in the program. The dogs' owners pass them out when conducting visits.

"The trading cards have really added to the celebrity status of the Pet Friends participants," Angie says. "Some of our staff even collect the cards. I joke that they're trading them like they're baseball cards or Pokémon cards."

A Growing Program

Angie gets many inquiries from dog owners about getting involved with Pet Friends. But the process isn't as simple as just signing up.

“It is a really long process to get a dog onboarded, as it should be," Angie says.

All dogs involved with Pet Friends are certified therapy dogs. They must be up to date on their vaccinations and pass fecal and heartworm exams. Owners must pass required clearances to volunteer at UPMC Children's, too.

Dogs must also go through what Angie calls a "sniff test." They walk through the hospital to make sure the dog — and owner — can navigate the hospital environment.

"I want to make sure that (dogs can handle) what they're smelling, what they're seeing, what they are hearing (the beeping)," Angie says.

"But I also gauge how the owner's doing. I've had some dogs that were exceptional and some owners who immediately tear up. They can't handle what they're seeing. And it's just not a good placement if either the dog or the owner is distressed."

If they pass the sniff test, the dog and owner go through orientation, then begin visits. On their first visit, they shadow a veteran Pet Friends team. They also have a guided visit before Angie adds them to the regular schedule.

"I do check-ins at least monthly with them just to make sure that everything's OK," she says. "Our dogs do get recertified every year through their certification agency. It's important that they keep up their training as well, so that I'm confident that they're going to be the best team for the hospital."

Angie onboards a few new teams per year, which helps the program continue to grow. In the future, she hopes the hospital will get a "facility dog" — a therapy dog that stays at UPMC Children's full-time.

"More dogs, more happy people," she says. "That's my philosophy."