PrintOutside the Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center one Thursday, three handsome, cream-colored standard poodles, hanging out with their owners on a shady stretch of grass, made an arresting sight.
The dogs - Ollie, Swayze and Cheyenne - were getting reacquainted since their last outing together, preparing for "show time."
In a few minutes, they'd be petted, exclaimed over, talked to and hugged by cancer patients waiting for radiation treatment.
"They bring a break from the day," said Stephanie Johnson of the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, of the dogs.
Eighteen years ago, she founded Tiger H.A.T.S. (Human Animal Therapy Services), a community organization sponsored by the veterinary school.
In August, the Tiger H.A.T.S. added Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, at the center's invitation, to the list of places where volunteers with the program regularly bring their dogs for visits.
The volunteers and their dogs also regularly visit the library, nonprofit organizations for children, the pediatric units and rehabilitative units of local hospitals, and assisted-living places and nursing homes for the elderly.
Johnson said that nursing homes were some of the first places H.A.T.S. volunteers began visiting when the program was started almost 20 years ago.
"The memories that are triggered for people are awesome," Johnson said of the pet visits.
In addition to the poodles at Mary Bird Perkins in early September, Gabby, a Shih Tzu-poodle mix; Rolex, a golden retriever; and Amigo, a Labrador retriever and cancer survivor, were also there.
June Landry, who was nearing the end of the second week of six weeks of radiation treatment for cancer, petted one of the tall standard poodles.
Landry's daughter Cheryl Hutchinson stood nearby.
"I've always had a dog," said Landry.
"I think it's good for the dogs, and the people like to see the dogs," she said of the visits of the H.A.T.S. pets.
At home, Landry has a golden retriever named Gager that's devoted to her, Hutchinson said.
"When she lies down, he goes to the foot of her bed until she goes to sleep. In the morning, he brings a toy to her," Hutchinson said of her mother's pet.
"They make a difference," she said.
"We were looking for opportunities to offer our patients something new and different," said Renea Duffin, vice president of Cancer Programs at Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center on Essen Lane.
In addition to the social services and counseling the center offers patients, it was also "looking at complementary, integrative therapy," Duffin said.
She said that one of the unanticipated effects of the H.A.T.S. visits is that it brightens the day for the staff members, too.
"It's a stress reliever for them as well," she said.
In the future, the center will also be looking at such options as music, journaling and scrapbooking for patients, she said.
Such programs, as the pet visits, would be offered as ways "to improve their emotional and mental well-being ... you just want something uplifting" for the cancer patients, their caregivers and family members, Mary Livingston, the program coordinator for integrative therapy at Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, said.
H.A.T.S. volunteer Melinda Renfrow said that she and fellow volunteer Laurice Teague did volunteer search-and-rescue work with their dogs, before Renfrow suffered a stroke more than two years ago.
She said that during her subsequent hospital stay, she missed her dogs.
When she got out, she had a litter of puppies to care for at home during her rehabilitation, she said.
"That's what got me through it," Renfrow said.
She and Teague decided that H.A.T.S. could be a new way for their dogs to help others.
Diane Sylvester, the director of Tiger H.A.T.S., said there are more than 75 volunteers in the program right now - not counting their dogs.
She first evaluates the dogs to see if they'd be good fits for the volunteer work.
"Can I put my hand in the dog's mouth?" is one question she has to answer, she said.
"Yes, I've been bitten," she said, with a smile. It doesn't seem to have bothered her much.
She said she has to be able to play with the dog's feet, ears and teeth, pull the tail a little and give the dog a bear hug - as many of a H.A.T.S. dog's "friends" will do at the places they visit.
Sylvester's own golden retriever, Rolex, is a H.A.T.S. "member."
The big, gentle dog has appeared as "Sandy" in a couple of "Annie" musical productions, she said.
"He's a ham," she said of her champion show dog.
"He loves the attention; he loves this job," she said, as Rolex stood beside her.
Sylvester said that volunteers, who complete two hours of training before going out on community visits, typically sign up to go to the same places on a regular schedule.
People bond with the owners, as well, she said.
But, she added, "They get to know the dogs' names; they don't know the owners."
One of the standard poodles, Ollie, owned by Nancy Hazlett, of Prairieville, who's been a H.A.T.S. volunteer for eight years, was getting an extra measure of attention.
Now that it's football season, Ollie's thick, luxurious coat had been meticulously trimmed and groomed in such a way that the letters "LSU" could clearly be read in fluffy dog fur on his sides.
He goes tailgating with Hazlett, she said.
"It's wonderful ... I love dogs so much," said Bob Dennie, who was at Mary Bird Perkins for radiation treatment that day.
The former editor of an outdoors magazine, Dennie said he once wrote a column about dogs for various outdoors publications.
"It's good therapy for sick people," Dennie said as he stroked one of the visiting H.A.T.S. pets.
"It takes their mind off what their problems are. Dogs do that; animals do," he said.
