Fit as Fido

Celebrating Therapy Dog Snow White — Pain Management Specialist

01.08.2013 // Fit As Fido // Dawn A. Marcus, M.D. // 2 Comments

If you’re read, The Power of Wagging Tails or Therapy Dogs in Cancer Care, you’ll know I have a special appreciation for “bully” breeds serving as both therapy dogs and breed ambassadors when they break down stereotypes and show us the healing power of their wagging tails.

After reading my research about therapy dogs helping people with chronic pain, pain practitioner Marilyn Oakes told me about the amazing work her therapy dog Snow White has done and agreed to let me share that story with you.

Here’s Marilyn’s story:

Rescued as a puppy

Snow White showed up on my doorstep, a starving, parasitic, beaten pit bull puppy who was so sick that her vet said if she survived the treatment for parasites, she’d probably be okay. She was, literally, days from death and would have died without treatment.
While she was recovering, I took Snow White to the office every day because I couldn’t leave her home unattended with my two healthy and frisky puppies. The first two weeks, she did nothing but eat and sleep. About the third week, she started greeting people at the door and begging into laps. Despite having no reason to trust a human, she accepted and loved everyone. Literally, you had to prove to her that you were a bad person. I thought — omigosh, this is a therapy dog.


Snow White therapy dog extraordinaire

Snow White and I went through basic obedience training, but she does things with people by instinct that simply cannot be trained. She is stunted at 25 pounds and about half-size for a white pit but the perfect size for a clinic puppy. She has done tremendous good and enables people to get through difficult and painful material more easily. Had I known how she’d revolutionize my practice, I’d have gotten a therapy dog long ago.